Global Airlines

The United States airline industry is facing major competition from the international market, especially from the Gulf region. This is primarily due to government subsides given to international airline by U.S. government as well as their own governments. U.S.

Two long-haul foreign carriers that receive government subsidies are Emirates and Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways is the national airline of the State of Qatar and Emirates is Dubai based airline wholly owned by the government. Over the past 10 years, Qatar and the UAE have provided more than $42 billion in subsidies to Qatar airlines.

Long-haul carriers such as Delta, to American Airlines, and United have received government subsidies in the past. In 1999 all three major airline carriers received 71.5 billion dollars in government subsidies. “The independent Risk Advisory Group found that the vast majority of the $71.48 billion granted to American Airlines, United and Delta has been paid since 2000” (businesstraveller). American Airlines, United and Delta have also benefited from bankruptcy protection, which relieved United $26 billion and Delta $4.6 billion, and American of $6 billion dollars of debt. Risk Advisory has estimated that United Airlines received $44.4 billion, Delta $15 billion and American $12 billion in government subsidies. This study also shows that the three major carriers have also benefited from a federal jet fuel tax of 4.4 cents per gallon instead of the 21.9 cents that other carriers pay. In addition to the other government subsidies Delta Air Lines received a total of $761 million from the state of Minnesota to build a fleet maintenance facility. In 2003 the State of Missouri awarded American Airlines $80-85 million in redevelopment funds. 6.3 million dollars was given to United Airlines in the form of a tax credits from Colorado.

The Import Export Bank of the United States is the official export credit agency of the United States federal government (EXIM). The mission of the Import Export bank is to create and sustain jobs in the United States by facilitating the export of goods and services from the U.S. to international markets (EXIM). The bank’s guarantees give an unfair cost advantage to foreign rivals, particularly carriers from the Persian Gulf that have been aggressively building up their fleets with jets like the Boeing 787 and 777 (NYtimes). Between 2000 and 2010, the bank provided more than $52 billion in guarantees to help foreign airlines buy Boeing aircraft, providing the financing for 950 jet planes (seattletimes). The sad thing about this is domestic airlines are not eligible for such subsidies even though they are some of Boeing’s largest customers.

Reference

Export-Import Bank of the United State. (n.d.). AUTHORITY HAS LAPSED. Retrieved from http://www.exim.gov/authority-has-lapsed/

Boeing use of Export-Import Bank can fly at cross purposes. (2012, February 22). Retrieved from http://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-use-of-export-import-bank-can-fly-at-cross-purposes/

Clark, N. (2014, July 13). Boeing Optimistic That Export-Import Bank Will Get Funding. Retrieved, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/business/international/boeing-optimistic-that-export-import-bank-will-get-funding.html

US carriers 'have received $71.5 billion in state-aid' - Business Traveller. (n.d.). Retrieved, from http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/101647/us-carriers-have-received-dollar-71.5bn-in-stat

Cargo Not Accepted

In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) specifies regulations for pilot’s flight and duty regulations. The following is a list of some pertinent regulations:

Under the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 117 dictates flight and duty regulations limitations for commercial passenger carrying pilots.  Under the new set of rules commercial passenger pilots must have longer opportunity for rest between work shifts before they enter the cockpit. The new rule state that a pilot must have 10-hour minimum rest period before a schedule flight duty time, this is a increase of two-hour in comparison to the old rules. The new rule also states that a pilot must have the opportunity to get 8 hours of continual sleep within the 10-hour rest requirement. In addition to rest requirements the new regulation state that pilot are allowed to be on-duty anywhere between 9 and 14 hours in a single day. This number changes based on the number of flights a pilot flies in one day as well as the time in which the pilot’s began their day. The new rules also take in to consideration time zone changes. Under the new rules pilot’s flight time is restricted to 8 or 9 hours, these numbers also depend on when the pilot began their work day.  Pilots must also have a minimum 30 hours off in a week, which is a 25 percent increase over the previous minimum. Under the new rule at the start of each flight, pilots must report they are “fit for duty.” If not, they will be taken off the flight.

Cargo pilot are exempt from the new rules, which govern pilot’s flight and duty times.   Cargo pilots fly under the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 121.471,which are the older rules. These rules do not require as much rest, authorizes longer times on duty as well as permits cargo pilots to fly over eight hours in some cases. Under the old rules there are no restrictions on flight time during the night, when cargo pilot are hard at work. In addition cargo pilots are allowed to work more time in a single week.    

In the preamble of the final ruling it state that cargo operations were excluded from the new regulation because "while a passenger-operation accident can result in numerous fatalities, an all-cargo accident would consist primarily of property damage" (Final Rule,2009).  Cargo pilot are excluded from the ruling because they do not conduct passenger transport operations.  In addition cargo operation were excluded from the new rules all has to do with money.  If cargo pilots where to have the same flight and duty times as commercial passenger pilot’s the cargo carrier would have to hire more pilot to fill the time slots where additional rest is required to still perform their operation at it current status.  In an article entitled “UPS pilots urge more rest for cargo crews” it states that the reason the FAA, has excluded cargo pilots from the new regulation was because it would cost the industry $550 million to comply, outweighing safety benefits.

I do believe that cargo pilot should be included in the new rules.  “Cargo pilots fly the same aircraft, routes, as the commercial passenger pilot’s.  They also operate their flight inside the same airspace as every other pilot, and they use the same airports as commercial pilot’s,” (Bachman, 2014).  To ensure the on time delivery of packages cargo pilot’s operations their flights during the night or early morning hours, therefore increasing the potential for pilot fatigue.  I thought the whole mission of the FAA was to promote safety within the aviation industry.  How are they accomplishing this if they excluded half of the aviation community?    

If cargo carriers were to be included in the new rules this would require companies to hire more pilot to compensate for the pilot shortage due to new rest requirements. This would create more jobs and maybe lower the hour minimums for hire because the cargo industry as well as the commercial industry would be short of pilots. This would in turn cost the cargo companies more money but the public and the airways would be safer. 

  

Reference:

Bachman, J. (2014, February 20). Should Cargo and Passenger Pilots Fly With Different Rest Rules? Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-02-20/should-cargo-and-passenger-pilots-fly-with-different-rest-rules

Carroll, J. R., The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal. (2014, March 13). UPS pilots urge more rest for cargo crews. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/13/ups-pilots-urge-more-rest-for-cargo-crews/6402615/

Far-fc 2016: Federal aviation regulations for flight crew. (2016 ed.). (2015). Newcastle, Washington: Aviation Supplies & Acade.


Federal Aviation Administration. (2009). Flightcrew Member Duty and Rest Requirements. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/recently_published/media/2120-AJ58-FinalRule.pdf

Professionalism Flying Cheap

My Experience:

I have been in the aviation industry for eight year so nothing in the documentary “Flying Cheap” was a surprise to me, because most of it I have heard about or lived through. The commuting to work on multiple flights, been there done that.  Sleep in the crew lounge before you check in for work, been there too.  Sharing a “crash pad” with multiple people, I experienced that too.  Working while your sick or injured is nothing new either I have done both most of the time not by chose. 

In the airline there is no place for being sick and injured.  For example lets say you are scheduled to work today but you woke up this morning and you didn’t feel well.  You look at your watch and your check-in time is about 4 hours away.  To a normal person in a normal job that should be plenty of time but in the airlines it’s not.  So now you get a suddenly sick call noted on your schedule.  Fine nothing happens the company says nothing to you.  So now it February of 2016 and you call in sick 24 hours in advance okay your schedule get notated sick call.   Now the company may or may not call you to address your dependability.  Now lets say it is October 1, 2016 and you have to call in once again because you’re sick.  This time the company will definitely contact you to talk about dependability.  Now most people will see this as you have called in sick twice in the year of 2016 but the company see that you have called in sick three time in 12 months and that a problem.  So what will now happen is you will be put on a dependability level. This means that if your call in anymore for the next 12 to 18 months (whatever time frame the company says) you maybe fired for dependability issues.  Not to say the first officer’s action were right but understand why she did call in sick.  Barely making enough money to pay your regular bills and now having to pay for a hotel because you’re sick and depending on if you have called in before you could loss your job.

Regional Outlook:

The regional airline industry is in state of instability, as discounted pilot workforce is quickly becoming ancient history. Presently the regional airlines are forced to cancel flights due to a pilot shortage.  The pilot shortages as well as the service cuts have left a bold impression on the regional airline industry.  Republic Airways Holdings (RJET), one of the largest regionals, plans to stop flying 27 of its 41 Embraer (ERJ) 50-seat jets because of the pilot shortage (Bachman, 2014).  I think that the current state of the regional airline is due to the fact of the low salary as well as the more experienced pilot are reaching retirement age.

Compensation Pilot Shortage:

Regional airline pilot pay has become a big issue in recent years. The enactment of the new pilot rest rules and more stringent pilot training requirements have caused most regional airlines to fall short of their hiring quotas (Levine-Weinberg, 2014).

The starting salary for a first officer at a regional airline is a little more than $21,000 per year—about $40,000 lower than the same job at Delta (DAL) and United (UAL), according to the Air Line Pilots Association, the largest U.S. pilot union (Bachman, 2014).

Check out this website for pilot salary comparison

http://www.pilotsalaryhq.com/how-much-do-pilots-make/

In addition the miserable salary, in turn, worsens the shortage of pilot. Not only does it make pilot jobs less appealing, but the small salaries also combine with the more onerous federal training rules to put many new pilots deep in debt (Bachman, 2014). Paying for the necessary hours of training flights before getting a first job can cost more than $100,000 (Bachman, 2014).

Old Age Shortage:

The other factor contributing to the shortage of pilot is a large group of pilots in the their 50s and early 60s approach the mandatory retirement age of 65 (Maxon, 2013). Because of that mandatory retirement age, more than 800 American Airline pilots will be leaving by the end of 2018 (Maxon, 2013). They'll be walking out the door just as it gets harder for a new group of inexperienced pilots to walk in the door.  This is because of new rules that require the first officer to have as 1,500 flight hours before they can work in a cockpit. 

American Airlines mandatory age-related retirements over the next 20¼ years (Maxon, 2013):

Year	Retirements	Cumulative
9/30/2013 – 12/31/2013	23	23
2014	79	102
2015	107	209
2016	130	339
2017	185	524
2018	300	824
2019	415	1,239
2020	534	1,773
2021	579	2,352
2022	646	2,998
2023	699	3,697
2024	715	4,412
2025	709	5,121
2026	705	5,826
2027	593	6,419
2028	519	6,938
2029	478	7,416
2030	414	7,830
2031	432	8,262
2032	384	8,646
2033	363	9,009

New Regulations:

The new regulations in reaction to the Colgan Airline crash of flight 3407 requires an Airline Transport Pilot certificate (ATP) pilot must be at least 23 years of age (which is the minimum age for ATP), and have 1,500 hours (Maxon, 2013). In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration requires that a pilot have a minimum 1,000 as an airline first officer before flying as captain. The minimum age for an ATP license is 23 years (Maxon, 2013).  Regional airlines may be concerned with this because this new regulation is limiting the number of candidates they have to select from.  Aspiring pilots in light of the new regulation would have to spend more money to accumulate flight time and additional certifications. With the current cost of flight training and the current first years pay for a regional pilot, this new regulation is sure to make some reconsider their career path. A possible solution would be to increase beginning salary for first officers at the regional airline.  Another possible solution would be for the FAA to reduce hour requirement college graduates with a bachelor’s degree.  I know that there are exceptions in place for ATP certificate, such as 750 flight hours for pilots in the military, 1,250 flight hours for college graduates who obtain an associate’s degree in aviation and 1,500 flight hours for a pilot 21-year-old (Maxon, 2013). If the minimums were reduced some there would be a large selection of pilots entering the field from 4-year colleges.

Aviation Representation:

Organizations that represent the aviation industry are the National Association of Air Traffic Controllers (NATCA), Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), Association of professional Flight Attendants (AFFA), International Association of Machinists (IAM), Allied Pilots Association (APA), Air Transport Dispatchers Association (ATDA), Flight Engineers International Association (FEIA), International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), Independent Federation of Flight Attendants (IFFA), Professional Airline Flight Controllers (PAFCA), Ramp Operation Provisioning Association (ROPA), Southwest airline employee Association (SAEA), Transport Workers Union (TWU), Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), and Union of Flight Attendants (UFA) (NewMyer Ph.D., D., Thiesse Ed.D., J., Johnson, C., & Kaps, R.,1992)

What is Professionalism?

The question was asked how do I define Professionalism.  The word professionalism encompasses a great deal things.  The first would be having the ability to be a great leader and upholding the highest moral values. It is the way in which a person carries himself or herself.  It is the way a person speaks and acts. Professionalism is finding in a person mannerisms and in their ability to handle difficult situations. In the aviation industry I think professionalism is also a person’s ability to understand and communicate safety concerns in addition to following training, and safety procedures set forth by the company. It is working efficiently; as well as going above the requirements to ensure a safe outcome.   Professionalism is exhibited when a person has mastered his or her craft (experience level, rational judgment in unfamiliar situations) and just doing the right thing when no one is observing you.

Lack Professionalism:

In the documentary “Flying Cheap”, there was a few times where both pilots and management demonstrated  “lack of professionalism”.  The first instance of “lack of professionalism on the part of the pilot was seen when a captain Jared Kyle Angstadt forging the load manifest of a flight after being told by his first officer Ben Coats that it was over weight. In this situation captain Angstadt never considered the safety of his crew nor his passengers.  Even though no major problems were reported about this flight the outcome could have been different because we all know what could happen when flying heavy.  For example of what could happened would be the fatal crash of pop star Aaliyah.  Who’s plane crashed due to being over its maximum take-off weight by 700 pounds as well as bad judgment on the part of the unlicensed pilot and the company for hiring him.   Another instance where poor judgment was made on the part of the was when first officer Rebecca Shaw decided to pilot Continental flight 3407 while sick and fatigue. 

In the case of management “lack of professionalism” was shown when the Vice President of Colgan Airlines offered to forge paperwork for duty time of an over worked fatigue pilot.  Another instance where poor judgment was sighted on the part of management was when Colgan Airlines deiced to place unqualified pilots in control of aircrafts they were not qualified to operate just to fill the void of their pilot shortage.  The next incident came at the hands of former Secretary of Transportation Federico F. Pena, inability to tell the truth even though the overcome may not have been favorable.  After the crash of ValuJet flight 592 Mr. Pena reported that ValuJet now AirTran Airways was a safe airline even though he knew they were not.  Mr. Pena lied to the nation in an offered to cover up FAA’s lack of oversight on an airline that was riddled with problems.    

Is Professionalism Lacking?

First year pilot pay is partially to blame for the lack of professionalism demonstrated by regional pilots.   I also think that many other factors also contribute such as age, a person emotional state, where or not a person takes their job serious or if they just feel it is a stepping stone to where they want to be. I think that lack of experience and inadequate training also plays a role in how professional someone is.  Professionalism is the way a person thinks about their work.  Professionals just don’t understand the tasks they are getting paid to do, they understand how and why everything works together.  Professionals care enough to learn about their careers and  not because they have to but because they want to be great at what they do.     In addition I believe that when the leadership in the company break the rules it sends a message to everyone else in the company that this kind of behavior is acceptable.  So when you have a company structured around a group of unprofessional leaders (management). You get a group of rule breaking followers (everyone else). 

Maintaining Professionalism:

Two ways that I plan to expand my level of professionalism would be by merely being aware, interested and informed on what is going on in the aviation industry. Being a real professional requires people to avoid contentment, which may lead to performing job duties in the quickest, most inefficient and unsafe way.    I plan to perform my job duties to the best of my abilities in the safest way possible. I plan to rely on my skill and judgment on a daily basis, rather than luck or reliance of a machine (system) or the ability and skill levels of others.  I will also maintain my professionalism by holding myself accountable for my high personal standards in safety as well as in my job performance. I will uphold my integrity, following the procedures and policies created by the company as well as other law making bodies.  I will also avoid unnecessary risks and reckless behaviors. Clear communication and proficiency as a pilot are the tools required to maintain professionalism as a future commercial pilot. I know that occasions will arise where deviation from the procedures and policies are more convenient, but because I aspire to be a real professional pilot that has integrity and high moral standard I will do things the correct way and the safest way.

Reference:

Bachman, J. (2014, February 11). Pilot Shortage: Regional Airlines Are Cutting Flights. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-02-11/yes-theres-a-pilot-shortage-salaries-start-at-21-000

Laing, K. (2013, November 5). FAA boosts training requirements for regional airline pilots. Retrieved from http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/189301-faa-boosts-training-requirements-for-regional-airline

Levine-Weinberg, A. (2014, March 31). The Regional Airline Industry Suffers Yet Another Casualty -- The Motley Fool. Retrieved from http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/03/31/the-regional-airline-industry-suffers-yet-another.aspx

Maxon, T. (2013, July 10). FAA will require airline pilots to have at least 1,500 flight hours. Retrieved from http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2013/07/15604.html/

Maxon, T. (2013, September 30). Retirements will prompt about half the 1,500 American Airlines pilot hires over next five years. Retrieved from http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2013/09/retirements-will-prompt-about-half-the-1500-american-airlines-pilot-hires-over-next-five-years.html/

NewMyer Ph.D., D., Thiesse Ed.D., J., Johnson, C., & Kaps, R. (1992). Airline Unions Since Deregulation: The View s of Selected Airline Unions. Retrieved from http://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1064&context=jaaer

Schaal, D. (2013, August 29). Regional Airlines' Pilot Shortage is Heading Toward the Perfect Storm. Retrieved from http://skift.com/2013/08/29/regional-airlines-pilot-shortage-is-heading-toward-the-perfect-storm/

UAV's

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are becoming more mainstream; they are often in the news not only for military operations but also for civil operations. Outside of military functions UAVs are becoming linked, with various civilian applications, such as aerial surveying of crops, acrobatic aerial footage in cinematography, search and rescue missions, power line and pipeline inspections, wildlife calculations, medical supplies delivery to isolated regions (PTFS). UAV’s have also been found to be use in such task as policing, forest fire detection, and firefighting (PTFS). Further uses include investigation tasks, environment monitoring, border patrol missions, surveillance, coordinating humanitarian aid, illegal hunting detection, land surveying, landslide measurement, and illegal landfill detection (PTFS).

Currently the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires that all operators obtain approval to fly their UAVs. Permits are issued depending on the intended use.

Unmanned aircraft (UA) operator must be at least 17 years of age and able to pass an FAA knowledge exam.  Under the proposed rules set forth by the FAA a UA must weigh less than 55 pounds and remain close enough to the operator for the operator to be capable of seeing the aircraft with vision unaided by any device other than corrective lenses (Press Release, 2015). The UA’s can only be operated in the daylight (sunrise to sunset). A complete list of the rules and regulations for Unmanned aircraft can be found in the FAA’s Overview of Small UAS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FAA).

I think UAV’s will be integrated into the National Air Space (NAS). I believe they will be used by many US agencies for surveillance purposes. The FAA will must determine how to make UAV’s safe and practical for use in the National Air Space. I anticipate there will be some issues with the implementation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the NAS.  Some issues that will arise are safety, mishandling of the UAVs by individuals and companies with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle approval and abuse by individuals who are not approval to operate them. The only potential perception problem I can see that the general public would have about UAV is privacy issues. Most people would think that the government is spying on them and with the civil operation of UAV people would feel that their right to privacy has been taken away

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have transformed military strategy by allowing them to conduct an entire military operation without using any military personnel.  UAV’s have give the military the ability to make more educated decision, helped save the lives of our military personnel as well as resources. In 2005, tactical and theater level unmanned aircraft (UA) alone, flew more than 100,000 flight hours in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) and Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) (The UAV). This has encouraged enormous expansion in the number of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems  (SUAS) that are being utilized on the frontline of military operations. The military does not only use UAV for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, even though this still remains to be the main function (Gertler, 2012). The unmanned aerial vehicles roles have increased to include areas such as electronic attack strike missions, suppression and/or destruction of enemy air defense, network node or communications relay, combat search and rescue (CSAR), and derivations of these themes (Arizona).

Using unmanned aerial vehicles in the military seems to be cost efficient in the long term.  When UAV technology is analyzed from the standpoint of how much each UAV cost and the training required to operate then it looks like it’s not worth it. But when you think about all the equipment, time and supplies that would be needed for the military to deploy one team to complete the task that the UAV could have completed.  It even seems to be cost efficient when you think about how much money the military will have to spend of medical treatment if someone was injured while trying to complete the mission.   

Now the question is asked, is the use of UAV’s ethical? This depends on whom you ask.  Everyone definition of ethical is not the same. Is choosing your life over another ethical? So I’m not sure if I feel it’s ethical or not. 

With the invention of new and promising technology come employment opportunities. A few job positions that I found being advertised for civilians were for operators, engineers, pilots, systems specialist, trainers, salesperson, software support, managers, avionics, coordinators and repair technicians. The list for UAV job go on and on, but any and every job you can think of has a position that needs to be filled.  UAV employment opportunities can be found on

http://www.indeed.com/q-Uav-jobs.html

http://jobs.uavjobbank.com/a/jobs/list/

http://www.careerbuilder.com/Jobs/Keyword/Uav/

http://www.simplyhired.com/k-uav-jobs.html

Reference

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (n.d.). Overview of Small UAS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. Retrieved from http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/media/021515_sUAS_Summary.pdf

Gertler, J. (2012, January 3). U.S. Unmanned Aerial Systems. Retrieved from https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42136.pdf

Press Release – DOT and FAA Propose New Rules for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems. (2015, February 15). Retrieved from http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=18295

PTFS Content Managemetn and Library Soultion. (n.d.). The Emergence of Commercial Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Retrieved from http://www.ptfs.com/library/public/ArchivalWare-Literature/The-Emergence-of-Commercial-Unmanned-Aerial-Vehicles-UAVs-.pdf

The UAV - The Future Of The Sky. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.theuav.com/

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV/UAS). (2012, August 31). Retrieved from http://arizonaexperience.org/innovate/unmanned-aerial-vehicles