BA Pilot Strike - What does Balpa want?
Jul 24, 2019, 7:52 pm
#76
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 6,334
Qantas, 100 years old, kept flying through WWII, flown every almost every plane made until the end of their lifespan, wide and narrow body fleet, short hual and long operations, several records for the world’s longest routes... never suffered a hull loss or fatal accident.
An Australian would probably spit in your face for claiming that title for that mentally unstable Irishman’s fleet of puddle jumping 737s... and rightfully so.
Between 1927 and 1951 there were 12 crashes resulting in 71 fatalities (Those figures do NOT of course include the 33 lives lost in the two Short S23 Flying boats shot down by the Japanese in WW2)
8 De Havilland Aircraft of various types. 2 Short S23 Flying Boats. 1 Lockheed Lodestar. 1 Avro Lancastrian.
The claim that CAN proudly be made is that QANTAS hasn't had a fatal JET crash. THAT on its own is highly commendable. It is both unnecessary and actually counterproductive to make exaggerated claims about its record.
Jul 25, 2019, 8:23 am
#77
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Cork, Ireland
Programs: BAEC Gold, TK Elite, HH Diamond
Posts: 259
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But equally there is a marketplace, and within that a market price. The flying of an airliner to the required standard seem in effect to now be a commodity. Your dont even get to see them much anymore behind their closed doors.
This seems proven as promotions are based in huge huge part on time served not supreme ability. You have to understand the systems and fly it properly, hold the medical etc to get the job - so the entry requirements are high. It is probably the last industry where time served and hours flown are the almost sole determinate of seniority as opposed to ability.
Does hours flown make a difference. Absolutely. But there will be a point where you enter the law of diminishing returns as those hours will have allowed you to see a wide variety of weather, systems issues etc.
I know it would be nice to think of BA pilots as special but they will hold the identical licences to their colleagues, have identical line checks, medicals etc.
But equally there is a marketplace, and within that a market price. The flying of an airliner to the required standard seem in effect to now be a commodity. Your dont even get to see them much anymore behind their closed doors.
This seems proven as promotions are based in huge huge part on time served not supreme ability. You have to understand the systems and fly it properly, hold the medical etc to get the job - so the entry requirements are high. It is probably the last industry where time served and hours flown are the almost sole determinate of seniority as opposed to ability.
Does hours flown make a difference. Absolutely. But there will be a point where you enter the law of diminishing returns as those hours will have allowed you to see a wide variety of weather, systems issues etc.
I know it would be nice to think of BA pilots as special but they will hold the identical licences to their colleagues, have identical line checks, medicals etc.
why do waiters at michelin * restaurants get paid more than any normal fancy restaurant? why do limo drivers get paid more than taxi drivers? One is providing a (somewhat) premium product, the other is ryanair.
Jul 25, 2019, 8:42 am
#78
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: UK
Programs: Mucci, Diamond Status & on the Supreme Council des Conseillers, BA Ag, Bonvoy GFL/Plat, xVS Au
Posts: 832
At the end of the day they do the same tasks to the same standard. You are comparing very customer focussed jobs with one that has a limited interaction with customers.
Jul 25, 2019, 8:59 am
#79
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Cork, Ireland
Programs: BAEC Gold, TK Elite, HH Diamond
Posts: 259
I didn't try to belittle anyone, on the contrary, flying bigger jumbos, pilots are responsible for more lives, i.e. A380 or 747 with 300-400 people on it, than a 737 with 100-200. Flying a 737 and 747/A380 aren't quite the same.
Jul 25, 2019, 10:46 am
#80
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: HSV (formerly AUS)
Programs: AA MM (like it matters!) All of my flying was personal travel, and COVID-19 stopped that.
Posts: 223
Jul 25, 2019, 11:27 am
#81
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: BA Gold, VS Gold, IHG Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hertz Presidents Circle.
Posts: 1,446
Currently mid MAN-Dub-Man with them, fast rack security at both airports, priority boarding, seat selection.... More legroom (OK, trade off with the plastic seats but it's a 30 min flight), buy on board..... OK, no lounge access.
I'm no Ryan Air advocate by any stretch but I'm sure the pilot is doing pretty much the same as a BA pilot would be if they flew this route...?
Jul 25, 2019, 11:41 am
#82
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: UK
Programs: Mucci, Diamond Status & on the Supreme Council des Conseillers, BA Ag, Bonvoy GFL/Plat, xVS Au
Posts: 832
I’d also disagree with your second statement. They are very similar, yes there are differences in size for ground handling and some additional systems knowledge but you are operating essentially the same systems, flying through the same airspace, weather, dealing with the same ATC, have the same level of system challenges and risks of failures. Modern airliners are designed to be easy to fly. You can kill just as many people in a small aircraft as you can in large one through poor decision making (see Tenerife disaster). Essentially saying that you put the poor pilots on smaller aircraft so they only kill a few hundred is barking. You should be as safe in an a320 as you are in an a380.
Where it does make more sense is maybe in the older, more complex aircraft requiring much greater workload and with potentially greater failure rates. Not many of those left. Concorde would have been one and other pre-glass cockpits.
Jul 25, 2019, 1:14 pm
#85
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: BA Gold, VS Gold, IHG Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hertz Presidents Circle.
Posts: 1,446
Edited - he also said he knows Ryan Air captains earn around the same but it takes a few years to get to that level.