Kyle Franklin voices over his drunken Super Cub routine.
Meanwhile on a less humorous note (and courtesy of AvWeb and occasional reader Tuna), the Buffalo News is carrying a four part serial on who’s flying up front, especially when you fly commuter planes:
During an era of unprecedented safety at the major airlines, when only one person died in an accident tied to pilot mistakes, 64 died in regional airline crashes tied to pilot error between 2004 and 2008.
And that doesn’t include Continental Connection Flight 3407, the flight that claimed 50 lives in Clarence in February in a crash believed to be caused by pilot error.
Moreover, regional pilots make far more mistakes than their colleagues at larger airlines. An analysis of five years of federal data found that nearly 28 percent of regional airline accidents and incidents were tied to aviator error — twice the rate of the major airlines.
PS – don’t miss part three.
Don’t regional pilots tend to fly shorter routes? Doesn’t that mean more take offs and landings for a given duty day? And wouldn’t that tend to account for the greater number of errors? After all, that’s the time when pilots have the most opportunity the screw up with an audience.
That and the fact the Regionals also fly into second and third tier airports and even shoot non-precision approaches at times. Easier to miss a 5,000 foot runway than an 11,000 foot one any day.
I know some think you should be able to land on a ship. Can’t be done I say – controlled crash maybe but land????
Its always been backwards – those with the least experience fly the planes (regionals) that fly the most dangerous approaches (in general). Not sure how to fix that though.
As for the limited experience – the whole “flight hour” construct for measuring experience is lacking. We all know some flight hours are more “experienced” than others. Flying a super cub back and forth for endless hours towing a banner doesn’t do a lot to make one be able to grease an approach to minimums when the crosswind is 90 degrees and gusting 30 knots. Then again, those few moments picking up the banner teach a lot about energy management, angle of attack, etc….all useful skills to hone.
As for dwindling military experience in civilian cockpits – supply/demand at work – you can’t fool Mother Nature.
I’d say get away from hour based criteria and stronger demonstrated ability combined with more specific experience requirement – such as number of instrument approaches, number in IMC, total landings, total emergencies handled in SIM, etc.
I’d be interested the hear from the Arline pros on this….
Crop duster pilots! That is who should be flying the commuter flights.
But the guy who chased after Cary Grant hit a fuel truck.
Yeah, and the other guy crashed into the Mother Ship.
“You don’t want a doctor learning on you the first time or even a plumber. You don’t want them learning as first officers at a regional,” said a first officer for a major regional airline. Just goes to show he doesn’t understand surgical residency programs. Oh, the stories I could tell, like the time a resident at U. of Iowa did an emergency intubation of the carotid artery rather than the trachea… But I’ll admit, it is nice to know that with military pilots, besides experience, we’re not riding with them during their residency.
A number of people have recognized a problem with the pilot hires of airlines in recent years. Frankly, the problem isn’t going away soon.
Regardless of what they want to say, none of the civvie flight schools provide the quality of training the military does. Yes, you can get someone that’s just as good out of the civvie schools as you can out of Meridian or Tinker, but the likelihood is small. You can get a genius out of Podunk U as well, it’s just not the way to bet.
The entire airline system seems to be unraveling. Between the idiots in TSA, and airline management, I have little confidence in US Airlines anymore. I was planning to fly to Phoenix in April. At this point, methinks not. It’ll ruin 3 days to get there from western NC, but I haven’t been that way since 1970, and I don’t feel like being groped by some glorified rent-a-cop who really believes he’s doing something great.
I could be wrong, but isn’t a maj. of commuter traffic in NE & central & upper mid-west east of Miss. R. where wx is traditionally bad year round? (comparatively speaking) And with more freq. short hops and thus more landing/scheduled.route than commuter airlines in Southeast & West of Miss. R?
That’s where the population is most dense. They fly where people are.
Of course, in SE Asia, you flew where the people were too. You had a different purpose back then, however.
“That’s where the population is most dense.”
Um…how do you mean that?
How sad that Continental can get away with paying even a newly minted co pilot $16,000/yr. Ms. Shaw could have done better at McDonalds. It works out to the equivilant of $7.65/hr. One would think that paying a decent wage would just be a good form of self insurance for the air lines, pay well, attract and keep the good pilots. Oh, well, the MBAs screw things up again.
Just got back from Baltimore visiting my Son and Daughter-in-Law. Flew Continental from San Antonio to Newark, Continental Express from Newark to BWI. There’s a terminal change in Newark from where the Big Jets park to where the Baby Jets park with bus transport. The bus was not full, wife, daughter and I and two pilots from the Baby Jets. Not sure where they were going midwest somewhere, and as the tale unfolded, I was glad it wasn’t Baltimore. They each had an iPhone out and, I assumed, were doing the normal 20 something routine, texting, face book etc. Not so. One looks over at the other’s iPhone and asks what application he’s using. He responds with some weather related program, nothing to perk my ears. Then he says, looks like the weather’s bad over Chicago, we’ll probably need to up our fuel load. At that point, my attention was peaked. They proceeded to discuss the flight planning capabilities of this guy’s application with no mention of any “official” (e.g. Airline approved) flight planning software. As we broke left coming off the bus and they went right, I muttered my relief and my daughter (who was not yet alive the last time I piloted an aircraft) said, “I wondered if that’s how they’re supposed to flight plan Daddy”.
Between that incident, exploding underwear 3 days later and new details concerning Michael Yon’s Non-Arrest but handcuffing I’m seriously thinking unless the flight is intercontinental, I’m driving.
Used an iPhone yet? The apps make this thing a beauty. Besides checking weather at any airport, you can get the airport info (even AOPA has an app) and do all the weight & balance, fuel burn, time and leg length calculations you desire with some seriously able apps. Heck, you can even file an IFR plan via fltplan.com or DUATs.
I used my to back up my number crunching when working on my PPL and used it more when working on my IFR ticket. Of course, a call to FSS is good insurance. I’m pretty sure their dispatch guys are working the “traditional” software, but it’s a good way for pilots to get into the mental picture and broaden their SA – where I’d want my pilot to have his/her head.
Not only are commuters pilots short on experience, flight hours and training, there are also other worrisome factors involved. As has been mentioned, they fly many more legs a day than their major airline counterparts, and often lower and in weather.
After spending (or more likely in debt) what amounts to medical school tuition, why would they accept the pay of a McDonalds burger-turner? Answer: To build hours so they can move up to a major airline (which unfortunately is no longer all that desirable). In addition to working for slave wages, they get really jerked around with their schedule, and perhaps sometimes (often?) pressured into flying when they should not. They don’t complain because they don’t want to jeopardize their chances for a major airline slot.
Unlike major airlines, the commuter pilots are not as unionized and the ones that are, are understandably very weak. And the FAA rules are different for commuters. So you end up with a pilot who not only may be inexperienced and not well trained, but one unhappy with his lot, underpaid, jerked around by a cut-costs-to-the-bone employer trying to squeeze the last ounce of productivity that leaves crews often fatigued and maybe/likely bitter. But they cannot and do not complain, nor leave for obvious reasons. It is a rotten situation for most of them.
Which, of course, begs the question why they don’t seek out corporate pilot jobs, fly routes for UPS or FedEx, or otherwise look for a gig that keeps them in the air but without that Major Bankrupt Airline career path?
If you really want to see who’s getting screwed over, check the flight crew. 3 hours to commute from Chicago to Newark, 30 minutes in a hop to La Guardia, sit around another 4 hours then hop back to Newark, sleep a few hours in the crash pad you’re paying for along with 7 other crew, then back to Chicago to end your day. Total time is 8 hours in the air, total time paid is 60 minutes in the air on the job.
Given TSA fun and games I’m betting there’s going to be a lot of pilots going the charter route. If I’ve a bunch of sales guys I need to fly from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis or Kansas City for a presentation it’s worth a few bucks to have them on a charter rather than cooling their heels for 4 hours in the terminals waiting on security checkpoints — downtime for them hurts my bottom line. A charter flight operates on my schedule, I pay them for productivity, not waiting in airports.
Which brings up a question: if you’re commercial the FAA can pretty much dictate the rules. If you’re charter you’re still operating under the FAA aegis, but can you not bypass some screening as you’re a private enterprise?
– Max
Max – Charter ops still require “screening” but it is pretty much a joke (unlike the TSA screening, which is air tight!) We carry NBA/MLB/NHL/NCAA on charters and they have to go through screening at the arena before they get on the bus that brings them planeside. Just ask Gilbert Arenas…
My former commercial flight instructor, 24 years old, got hired by a regional flying under United colors. He is flying 50 pax jets from the right seat. Total flight experience was about 1500 hours, most of which were in the right seat of a C-172 giving flight instruction. He got a multi-engine rating and bought 100 hours of block time on a small twin. He flew solo all around the country for a month or so to fly off the 100 hours (Gee, I always wanted to see what Nebraska looks like!).
He made $22 per hour flight instructing. For a 1000 hour per year guaranty, he is making $20k per year, or a $2 per hour pay cut. The guy in the left seat makes about $35k. Just building time to move up to the majors, there is no such thing as a career in regionals.
Does that make you feel safe?
Unlike major airlines, the commuter pilots are not as unionized and the ones that are, are understandably very weak.
Fairy tale. 100% of the regional carriers flying for the majors have a unionized pilot group. Except in one instance (SkyWest — in-house group), the unions are either ALPA or the Teamsters, neither of which have ever been described as “very weak”.
To be the equal opportunity snopes.com guy that I am, what military was this blow-hard Tomcat guy (redundant, I know) in, where people look at trading a $140K job for the airlines? Only way you get to $140K is to be an O6, >24 w/BAH. That isn’t the guy who has to make the decision. He already made it.
OT, but not: A present the Hobbit could afford for the Lexmeister.
Since it comes from Oshkosh, after looking at the fuselage shape, I think they should paint it to look like a flying badger. Like Red Green’s Possum Van.