If you're planning on flying any time soon, the birds may not be your worst enemy

[Le Jacquelope]

Perhaps propeller boy aka sr71plt and his lapdog slyc willie can't be arsed to care about anything past the nose on their faces, but if you ever plan on flying in the near future, you ought to read this warning from our heroic airline pilot out east.

Sullenberger: Pay cuts driving out best pilots
By JOAN LOWY and MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writers Joan Lowy And Michael J. Sniffen, Associated Press Writers 9 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The pilot who safely ditched a jetliner in New York's Hudson River said Tuesday that pay and benefit cuts are driving experienced pilots from careers in the cockpit.

US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger told the House aviation subcommittee that his pay has been cut 40 percent in recent years and his pension has been terminated and replaced with a promise "worth pennies on the dollar" from the federally created Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. These cuts followed a wave of airline bankruptcies after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks compounded by the current recession, he said.

"The bankruptcies were used to by some as a fishing expedition to get what they could not get in normal times," Sullenberger said of the airlines. He said the problems began with the deregulation of the industry in the 1970s.

The reduced compensation has placed "pilots and their families in an untenable financial situation," Sullenberger said. "I do not know a single, professional airline pilot who wants his or her children to follow in their footsteps."

The subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee heard from the crew of Flight 1549, the air traffic controller who handled the flight and aviation experts to examine what safety lessons could be learned from the Jan. 15 accident which all 155 people aboard survived.

Sullenberger's copilot Jeffrey B. Skiles said unless federal laws are revised to improve labor-management relations "experienced crews in the cockpit will be a thing of the past." And Sullenberger added that without experienced pilots "we will see negative consequences to the flying public."

Sullenberger himself has started a consulting business to help make ends meet. Skiles added, "For the last six years, I have worked seven days a week between my two jobs just to maintain a middle class standard of living."

The air traffic controller who handled Flight 1549 said thought he was hearing a death sentence when Sullenberger radioed that he was ditching in the Hudson.

"I believed at that moment I was going to be the last person to talk to anyone on that plane alive," controller Patrick Harten testified in his first public description of his reactions to last month's miracle landing.

"People don't survive landings on the Hudson River. I thought it was his own death sentence," the 10-year veteran controller testified.

But Sullenberger safely glided the Airbus A320 into the river after it collided with birds and lost power in both engines.

Harten, who has spent his entire career at the radar facility in Westbury, N.Y., that handles air traffic within 40 miles of three major airports, struggled vainly to help get the airliner safely to a landing strip.

Making lightning-quick decisions, Harten communicated with 14 other entities in the three minutes after the bird strike as he diverted other aircraft and advised controllers elsewhere to hold aircraft and clear runways for 1549.

First, Harten tried to return the plane to LaGuardia Airport, asking the airport's tower to clear runway 13. But Sullenberger calmly reported: "We're unable."

Then Harten offered another LaGuardia runway. Again, Sullenberger reported, "Unable." He said he might be able to make Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

But when Harten directed Sullenberger to turn onto a heading for Teterboro, the pilot responded: "We can't do it .... We're going to be in the Hudson."

"I asked him to repeat himself even though I heard him just fine," said Harten. "I simply could not wrap my mind around those words."

At that moment, Harten said he lost radio contact with flight and was certain it "had gone down."

Afterward, Harten said he told his wife, "I felt like I had been hit by a bus."

NTSB investigators have said bird remains found in both engines of the downed plane have been identified as Canada geese.

Sullenberger and Skiles said anyone who's spent much time in cockpits has encountered bird strikes but that this one was exceptionally severe in knocking out both engines. Some gulls don't even dent the airplane, Skiles said, but this "was a bigger bird than I've ever hit before."

The crew and passengers of a helicopter that crashed en route to an oil platform on Jan. 4 weren't as lucky. The National Transportation Safety Board reported Monday that investigators have found evidence birds were involved in the accident near Morgan City, La., that killed eight of nine people aboard.

___

On the Net:

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee: http://transportation.house.gov/

 

[Leto Degeneres]

...you ought to read this warning from our heroic airline pilot out east.

...The pilot who safely ditched a jetliner in New York's Hudson River said Tuesday that pay and benefit cuts are driving experienced pilots from careers in the cockpit.

US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger told the House aviation subcommittee that his pay has been cut 40 percent in recent years and his pension has been terminated and replaced with a promise "worth pennies on the dollar" from the federally created Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. These cuts followed a wave of airline bankruptcies after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks compounded by the current recession, he said...

Captain Sullenberger also said this, as reported by Air & Space Smithsonian on February 18, 2009:

"Air & Space: Do you still love to fly?

Sullenberger: Oh, yeah. It’s been a passion since I was 5. I can remember at 5 years old knowing that I was going to fly airplanes. And I was just fortunate enough at every juncture to be able to get to the next goal. I’m not sure what I would have done had I not been able to fly. I never even considered anything else.

Air & Space: Any advice for aspiring pilots?

Sullenberger: Well, not just for aviators, but for all of us. My view of the world is that people are best served when they find their passion early on, because we tend to be good at things we’re passionate about."

How could that be said better? Find your passion and live it.

I know captains with DAL and AMR. They didn't like taking pay cuts, and they've already assumed their pensions won't be available. Having said that, none of them have even considered quitting or retiring. They all are more upset about the loss in value of their 401-K's. As for their kids, none of them have ever expressed anything other than the desire that their children do well in school, go to college, and are happy. with life.

One is thankful that his seniority is finally high enough (low number) that he can fly from SAN instead of LAX. That was due to time in position and a few retirements, not because anyone suddenly quit. He's so happy about that he doesn't even talk about his pay anymore.

Another just completed 777 training and is now sitting on the ground in Atlanta waiting for more equipment. He's happy to have the time with his family and to take care of chores and improvements around the house, but he'll be happy to be flying again.

...all that just to put a little personal spin on things when the rhetoric gets heated between the ALPA, the airlines, and Congress.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Captain Sullenberger also said this, as reported by Air & Space Smithsonian on February 18, 2009:

"Air & Space: Do you still love to fly?

Sullenberger: Oh, yeah. It’s been a passion since I was 5. I can remember at 5 years old knowing that I was going to fly airplanes. And I was just fortunate enough at every juncture to be able to get to the next goal. I’m not sure what I would have done had I not been able to fly. I never even considered anything else.

Air & Space: Any advice for aspiring pilots?

Sullenberger: Well, not just for aviators, but for all of us. My view of the world is that people are best served when they find their passion early on, because we tend to be good at things we’re passionate about."

How could that be said better? Find your passion and live it.

I know captains with DAL and AMR. They didn't like taking pay cuts, and they've already assumed their pensions won't be available. Having said that, none of them have even considered quitting or retiring. They all are more upset about the loss in value of their 401-K's. As for their kids, none of them have ever expressed anything other than the desire that their children do well in school, go to college, and are happy. with life.

One is thankful that his seniority is finally high enough (low number) that he can fly from SAN instead of LAX. That was due to time in position and a few retirements, not because anyone suddenly quit. He's so happy about that he doesn't even talk about his pay anymore.

Another just completed 777 training and is now sitting on the ground in Atlanta waiting for more equipment. He's happy to have the time with his family and to take care of chores and improvements around the house, but he'll be happy to be flying again.

...all that just to put a little personal spin on things when the rhetoric gets heated between the ALPA, the airlines, and Congress.

All well and true... but Sullenberger said these pilots aren't recommending this profession to newcomers. That's different from current pilots planning or not planning to quit.