Recently a lot has been said and written in the press concerning pilots’
salaries and compensation. We have been told about how much it will cost our
company, our job has been compared to others, and various subtle and not so
subtle threats and intimidation tactics have been hurled at our group. In light
of the current situation, please permit me, a pilot, to give you a small
glimpse into my world.

Don’t compare my job to other jobs:
How many boardrooms explode over Long Island Sound?
How many meetings conclude with hundreds of dead bodies?
How many trucks cost $82 million dollars?
How many doctors spend half the month away from their families?
Do the children of media representatives cry when Daddy puts on his uniform to
go to work because they know he’ll be gone for a week?
How many salesmen lose their jobs because they have high blood pressure?
How many lawyers spend Christmas alone in a crash pad?
When your spouse is watching TV and the program is interrupted does she
momentarily freeze in fear for what they might hear?
There is not another profession in the world where the consequences for
mistakes are so catastrophic and unforgiving.

The Price:
I pay the price when somebody loads full oxygen containers in the cargo hold.
I pay the price when a terrorist has a bone to pick.
I pay the price when weather forecasters err in their assessment of the
weather.
I pay the price when engineers design a fuel pump not quite correctly.

You Speak of the Cost:
Ask the CEO of ValuJet the cost of a DC-9 buried in the Everglades.
Ask Fred Smith the cost to scrape a DC-10 and MD-11 from the runways at
Steward and Newark.
Ask Korean Airlines the cost of a 747 that didn’t quite make the runway at
Guam.
Ask Fine Air the cost to clean up a DC-8 off a Miami street.
Ask Bob Crandall the cost of a B-757 impacting a Columbian mountain.
And if not for their cool, calm professionalism, what could have been the cost
of a UAL B-777 that lost oil pressure over the middle of the Pacific Ocean and
limped to Hawaii on a single engine? How much were they worth to you that
night? Industry standard or 25% below?

When you try to intimidate me, remember:
It was I who flew Cobra gunships in the jungles of Vietnam while you worked on
your master’s degree.
It is I who sits alone at the tip of an F-18 in the silent instant before I am
catapulted over a cold, dark sea, while you sleep peacefully in your bed.
It was I who one night watched my wings grow heavy with ice, miles from the
safety of the nearest airport, praying that I had enough fuel to find clear
skies, while you watched Monday Night Football.
It was I who flew a C-130 into Panamanian gunfire, while you decorated your
Christmas tree in 1989.
It was I who faced head-on the fourth largest army in the world over the
deserts of Iraq and brought it to its knees, while you watched it on CNN.
It was I who landed an A-6 on a floating piece of tarmac no bigger than your
backyard, while you mowed yours.
It was I who orbited in unarmed tankers over enemy territory to replenish
others sworn to protect you.
It was I, who watched missiles and bullets blossom in my face, yet didn’t turn
and run, while you watched the flowers blossom in your garden.
It was I who buried a friend.
It was I who knows a little boy who will never play catch with his dad, so
that you may play with you grandchild.
Sir, please don’t try to intimidate ME. I am not your enemy, I am your asset,
an asset that has experienced and accomplished things few dare to
try.

Ps. Ti propongo una cosa: ti andrebbe di pubblicare un articolo scritto di tuo pugno su come le testate giornalistiche creino disinformazione? Scrivendo quello che pensi? Mi farebbe molto piacere! Tu fai parte di quella fascia di utenti che “sanno”, visto che ci lavori!
Se non vuoi iscriverti e postare le tue parole e le tue idee da solo, mandalo a me e lo pubblico io su questo blog citanto il tuo nome come autore dell’articolo!
Fammi sapere!

Per fortuna che l’articolo è scritto su un sito di aviazione, sembra la brutta copia di un quattordicenne.

Scusate le critiche ma lavorando tutti i giorni su quegli aerei non ho altre parole.

Non ha senso nemmeno scrivere dell’intossicazione da fumo dei piloti perchè non è vero. I piloti si infilano la maschera d’ossigeno (molto più sofisticata di quelle per i passeggeri) ancora prima di dirlo al resto dell’aereo… Anche agli assistenti di volo!

Più informazione e meno titoloni ragazzi. Altrimenti l’aviazione di questo minuscolo paese non progredirà mai!