The most notorious airlines for receiving government subsidies are Etihad, Emirates and Qatar airlines, all of which are owned by the governments of Emirates and Qatar, respectively. The subsidies are received by the airlines from their government as a loan at a heavily reduced interest rate or non existent interest rates so that the airlines can buy aircraft from aircraft manufacturers and still be able to keep the commodity price low.
With regard to subsidies provided to US airlines by the US government, the air carriers do receive fuel and tax subsidies, such as Delta, American and United. While the subsidies do not portray themselves to be glamours at first like with foreign carriers who receive the money directly from their government for the purpose of being able to provide a commodity at an affordable rate, they still do affect the companies revenue. Companies such as Emirates and Etihad have made claims that they do not think the subsidies they receive from their respective countries is unfair because the US air carriers have also received the equivalent of these incentives. (CAPA) The legacy carriers seem to think that the incentives they receive are the same as what US air carriers receive, but this is simply not the case.
The United States has developed an export-import bank with the primary function of granting reduced rate loans to foreign countries with the intent of lending capital to those countries so that they may purchase U.S made tools or equipment to be payed back at a later time and stimulate the U.S economy (Bhaskara, V). The United States legacy carriers see a problem with this incentive to foreign carriers because not only can the U.S carriers not take advantage of this but the foreign countries airlines have more than enough financial backing so that they could sustain themselves and their airlines without help from our export import bank but they see the potential and take advantage of it by purchasing numerous U.S made aircraft from Boeing, etc. This would be a fair practice that would also stimulate our economy if it were available to the U.S air carriers, such as Delta, American, and United, but it simply is not.
To a certain degree this whole practice that these air carriers part take in is fair. The foreign carriers see the problem with the way that the system currently is set up and take advantage of it, while the U.S carriers who give most to the economy are not offered this huge incentive. I get the idea behind the import export bank and how it can stimulate an economy tremendously but there needs to be limits to the people who can use it and for what purposes. The foreign carriers all originating out of the middle east are owned by some of the wealthiest people in the world who do not necessarily need the huge benefit of using the U.S bank but elect to use it anyways to further improve their business like any smart business owner would do. This is a huge benefit that is only plausible due to a technicality in the verbiage of the law.
Bhaskara, V. (2014, September 2). The Fight Over the Export-Import Bank Has No Easy Answers.
Retrieved October 22, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/airchive/2014/09/02/the-fight-over-the-export-import-bank-has-no-easy-answers/
CAPA. (2014, May 4). Chinese airlines overtake US carriers across the Pacific. The big dilemma: US-China open skies? Retrieved October 26, 2015, from http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/chinese-airlines-overtake-us-carriers-across-the-pacific-time-for-us-china-open-skies-222454
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Monday, October 19, 2015
Cargo Flight/Duty Regulations
The FAA changed many of the Part 121 and ATP requirements following the Colgan Air Buffalo accident, many which in my opinion were over kill and hardly addressed the real problem. Prior to the Colgan accident an FO at an airline was only required to hold a Commercial Pilot Certificate and a minimum of 250 hours, those minimum requirements have since changed and require all FO's to hold an ATP certificate and a minimum of 1500 hours (Depending on if a the pilot graduated from an approved school or is a military pilot (really hope Eastern gets this exemption)). The FAA and congress responded to the families of the lives lost in this accident and the general public by presenting these new regulations with hope that they would address the problem but if you were to take a further look you would see that that is not the case. Both the Captain and FO on this flight were more than qualified to fly the aircraft and had accumulated over 2000 hours each. The new regulation that requires FO's to have 1500 hours seems to me to be counter productive and just deter future aviations from wanting to become airline pilots (Collins, R)
Cargo carriers are subject to less restrictive flight and duty limits such as, no more than; 1200 hours a year, 120 hours a month, 34 hours in any 7 days, 8 hours during any consecutive 24 hour period, and 8 hours between required rest periods. Basically what i've taken from the regulations is that the regulations limit the cargo carriers from scheduling a pilot in a single pilot operation for more than 8 hours a day but if it is a two man operation or more then the pilot can fly more than 8 hours provided it is not within a required rest period. A minimum amount of rest must also be observed between the duty times to abide by the regulations (ECFR).
The cargo carriers have undoubtedly been excluded from the 121 fatigue regs due to the lack of outsider perception into the operation that cargo operators receive since they fly boxes rather than people. With regard to a part 121 carrier, the fuselage holds paying passengers who come into contact with the crew routinely the same is not the case in a part 135 carrier. Even though some part 135 operations involve unscheduled transportation of passengers the negative perception of tired pilots is not as forthcoming as with part 121 carriers.
In my own personal opinion I think it only makes sense for part 135 carriers to abide by the same duty and rest requirements that part 121 carriers do. The Colgan air crash was a direct result of fatigued pilots who made bad decisions most likely due to their fatigue. Regardless if there are passengers who can witness these unsafe acts or not, a fatigued pilot still can cause a lot of damage and loss of life if they suffer from the same fatigue and drive an aircraft into the ground. Although we dont hear about these cargo carrier accidents they do happen occasionally. The perception is of no importance with these accidents, regardless of whether a box or passenger is in the back of the plane a tired pilot is a tired pilot and can cause a lot of harm.
If the FAA were to mandate the part 121 rest and duty requirements onto the part 135 cargo carriers it would be a safer sky but potentially bad for business. The implementation of these rules would reduce the amount of legs or flights these pilots fly which would require a greater number of pilots which then would require a larger portion of the companies income to pay for the increase in pilots. The increase in the amount of required pilots would be good for the industry because it would promote more people into becoming pilots but at the same time it would be worse for the employed pilots because with a reduction in the companies income comes a reduction in the pilots wages.
Collins, R. (2014, March 28). A double tragedy: Colgan Air Flight 3407 - Air Facts Journal. Retrieved October 17, 2015, from http://airfactsjournal.com/2014/03/double-tragedy-colgan-air-flight-3407/
ECFR — Code of Federal Regulations. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2015, from http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=1c888f32227c060f4083b50b8bc020af&mc=true&node=pt14.3.135&rgn=div5#sp14.3.135.f
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Flying Cheap: The Regional Airlines
The pilot shortage that people have been talking about for years is a real thing and will affect the industry in one way or another in the future. We may never know whether or not this shortage is caused by the mandatory retirement age making a lot of major airline pilots retire, or young aviators choosing not to pursue the life of an airline pilot due to a cost deficit with regard to training cost vs regional airline pay. At the same time it is almost irrelevant, the pilot shortage does exist and I personally believe both arguments have truth to them regarding why we have a lack of pilots in America (The U.S Pilot shortage is real). The airline industry is pinnacle for the society that many of us enjoy living, transporting over half the worlds population each year, it is a necessity of our everyday lives. Without air transportation our world would be an un-conceivably different place.
The regional airlines either are concerned or should be concerned for the year future with regard to available pilots that they have to hire. The regionals right now are willing to hire almost anyone, from my personal experience I am not even close to the ATP minimums that the FAA requires pilots to have before they can fly for a scheduled airline yet I already have airline recruiters calling me and keeping tabs on me for the future when I am ready. The reason that the regional industry has gotten to be this way (willing to hire almost anyone) is simple. The raising cost of flight training with a degree attached is estimated to be about $120,000 when its all said and done which in itself is enough to drive away a lot of potential future aviators from the industry, not to mention the upcoming plethora of retiring pilots from the majors. This shortage caused by these two factors is what has drove the regionals to become so desperate. Overseas a lot of major airlines such as Lufthansa and British Airways have airline pathway programs established where they pay for a majority of flight training costs for flight students so long as they pledge an oath to that airline and sign a contract where the carrier gets its use out of the candidate. This system sounds skeptical due to the fact that these pilots are signing multiple year contracts where they are locked in, but in the grand scheme of things this might not be all that bad. These pilots who go through this system with these carriers will eventually be flying the heavy metal they want to be flying at a mighty generous pay scale. I personally think that this method of reimbursement from the airlines could work in the U.S
Professionalism can be defined as taking utmost pride in yourself and in your work and portraying it to the world. I think we can all agree that professionalism was not present in the corporate culture at Colgan Air prior to the crash such as, asking pilots to fly even though they were fatigued and the lack of management positions to adequately manage the rapid growth of the company. The most shocking fact that I gathered from the documentary was that management at Colgan not only disregarded pilots concern for fatigue but furthermore encouraged it with promises of incentives if they would just get the job done. I think that it goes without saying that first year pay and the compensation structure of regional airlines is definitely a contributing factor and demonstrates a lack of professionalism across the board (Salah, Oussama). It is obvious that there is a correlation between pay/rest and regional airline incidents/accidents, by comparison you very rarely see these type of slips occurring from within the major airlines. The corporate culture at these regional airlines is doomed to fail from the moment that the contracts are signed by their bigger major airline brothers. After the contracts are signed the airline whose sole purpose is to make money off a small margin must mitigate this by offering low pay and a pre condition for bad management decisions to be made. It is my goal to be a professional with regard not only to my aviation career but also everything that I do. I plan on doing this by removing myself from situations in which my professionalism factor could be compromised such as working for airlines that are notorious for cutting corners to finish the mission. Another possible way to excel with professionalism would be to join airline organizations such as AOPA and help reform the industry positively which will reflect upon your career extremely positively.
Salah, Oussama. "Opinion: The Pilot Shortage Myth, Maybe Not." The Pilot Shortage Myth, Maybe Not. 14 Sept. 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://aviationweek.com/ideaxchange/opinion-pilot-shortage-myth-maybe-not>.
"The Coming U.S. Pilot Shortage Is Real." The Coming U.S. Pilot Shortage Is Real. 16 Feb. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/coming-us-pilot-shortage-real>.
The regional airlines either are concerned or should be concerned for the year future with regard to available pilots that they have to hire. The regionals right now are willing to hire almost anyone, from my personal experience I am not even close to the ATP minimums that the FAA requires pilots to have before they can fly for a scheduled airline yet I already have airline recruiters calling me and keeping tabs on me for the future when I am ready. The reason that the regional industry has gotten to be this way (willing to hire almost anyone) is simple. The raising cost of flight training with a degree attached is estimated to be about $120,000 when its all said and done which in itself is enough to drive away a lot of potential future aviators from the industry, not to mention the upcoming plethora of retiring pilots from the majors. This shortage caused by these two factors is what has drove the regionals to become so desperate. Overseas a lot of major airlines such as Lufthansa and British Airways have airline pathway programs established where they pay for a majority of flight training costs for flight students so long as they pledge an oath to that airline and sign a contract where the carrier gets its use out of the candidate. This system sounds skeptical due to the fact that these pilots are signing multiple year contracts where they are locked in, but in the grand scheme of things this might not be all that bad. These pilots who go through this system with these carriers will eventually be flying the heavy metal they want to be flying at a mighty generous pay scale. I personally think that this method of reimbursement from the airlines could work in the U.S
Professionalism can be defined as taking utmost pride in yourself and in your work and portraying it to the world. I think we can all agree that professionalism was not present in the corporate culture at Colgan Air prior to the crash such as, asking pilots to fly even though they were fatigued and the lack of management positions to adequately manage the rapid growth of the company. The most shocking fact that I gathered from the documentary was that management at Colgan not only disregarded pilots concern for fatigue but furthermore encouraged it with promises of incentives if they would just get the job done. I think that it goes without saying that first year pay and the compensation structure of regional airlines is definitely a contributing factor and demonstrates a lack of professionalism across the board (Salah, Oussama). It is obvious that there is a correlation between pay/rest and regional airline incidents/accidents, by comparison you very rarely see these type of slips occurring from within the major airlines. The corporate culture at these regional airlines is doomed to fail from the moment that the contracts are signed by their bigger major airline brothers. After the contracts are signed the airline whose sole purpose is to make money off a small margin must mitigate this by offering low pay and a pre condition for bad management decisions to be made. It is my goal to be a professional with regard not only to my aviation career but also everything that I do. I plan on doing this by removing myself from situations in which my professionalism factor could be compromised such as working for airlines that are notorious for cutting corners to finish the mission. Another possible way to excel with professionalism would be to join airline organizations such as AOPA and help reform the industry positively which will reflect upon your career extremely positively.
Salah, Oussama. "Opinion: The Pilot Shortage Myth, Maybe Not." The Pilot Shortage Myth, Maybe Not. 14 Sept. 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://aviationweek.com/ideaxchange/opinion-pilot-shortage-myth-maybe-not>.
"The Coming U.S. Pilot Shortage Is Real." The Coming U.S. Pilot Shortage Is Real. 16 Feb. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/coming-us-pilot-shortage-real>.
Monday, October 5, 2015
UAV's
UAV's fulfill a unique roll in todays society, from providing an ariel view of human targets in a military application to a $499 version sold at electronic stores available to anyone and everyone. In the civilian sector UAV's fill a more broad roll in society than the relatively specialized roll that they serve in the military. To list the job functions that a UAV can fulfill would be a long list, but a few of the things that they do is; help create 3D modeling, provide guided tours at MIT, parcel delivery service via Amazon, assists in the coordinating of flood efforts (Carroll, J). Currently there are no official regulations pertaining to UAV's but there is a proposal to enact regulations to control the Unmanned Ariel Systems in the future. If the NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) did go into effect there would be a number of rules that would pertain to UAV's such as; UAV's must weigh less than 55lbs, they must remain within a visual line of sight (VLOS), they may not operate over any persons not involved in the operations, maximum airspeed of 100 mph, maximum altitude of 500 AGL (must remain out of controlled airspace), requires a preflight inspections, and no person may operate a UAV while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. While the proposed rules are not set in stone yet the website (www.knowbeforeyoufly.org) has a set of rules that were proposed by the FAA for operators to follow in the meantime.
I personally believe the implementation of UAV's into the NAS is going to be a long process with a lot of skepticism initially then eventually it will be almost as normal seeing a UAV in the sky as it is an airplane. The only thing that I think will be different between the image of UAV's and airplanes initially and further down the road is that I do not believe that people will ever accept UAV's for what they are with their ability to travel low, slow and right outside your house or window. With regard to their potential to violate peoples privacy is what is either going to make or break the future of them. Initially there is going to be a lot of problems regarding letting UAV's out into our airspace with regard to safety, privacy, and perception. First off, the NPRM that the FAA is writing up regulates UAV's up to and including 55lbs. At that weight if something were to go wrong and one of the engines malfunction or a guidance computer stop working you essentially have a 55lb piece of mass that will fall from the sky and have more than enough capability to fall and kill an innocent bystander. We accept this feat with regard to hundred thousand pound airplanes because of a couple reasons. First of all we all like the fact that we can travel hundred or even thousands of miles in a fraction of the time in an airplane and for the most part they are a safe method of transportation. Secondly in the event that something does malfunction in the air there are capable pilots who can maneuver the aircraft in most instances to avoid causing harm to other non participating persons or property. These two stipulations are not feasible with regard to a UAV, even with redundant systems it just is not possible right now to say they are 100% safe and on top of that the public is not really benefiting much from them.
The military has by far been the pinnacle of UAV operators to date and has demonstrated how they can be a great help with regard to manipulating war strategy. Since the mid 1990's the military has been experimenting with UAV's in the battlefield and they have proved to be a viable source of information that in turn safes valuable military service members from undue harm. With regard to UAV's and evaluating whether or not their implementation has been sufficient or not I think is hard to say. The department of defense has agreed to supply the armed services with a $2.9 billion dollar budget for the years to come (Gettinger, D). That figure is obviously a lot, roughly 6% of the total military spending budget. The UAV's that help us wage the war on terror overseas has saved a countless number of american lives which I believe justifies their presence in our military.
While roaming the web for UAS jobs I was surprised at how many that I inadvertently came across. One of the more prestigious of unique job postings I found was from the Oregon Employment Department and was a job posting for an overseas based Field Service Rep/UAV Operator. The job involves being deployed overseas for months to years at a time and conducting top secret private government operations enhancing war efforts. The job posting requires a top secret security clearance among other things, such as a FAA airmen certificate, FAA medical/psych eval, prior UAV experience, and foreign language experience. The job posting can be found at (http://www.simplyhired.com/job/field-service-representative-uas-operator-3-job/oregon-employment-department/sansfqmig5?cid=guqappotzkvqltgaalefiuslfyakkbdb)
Carroll, J. (2013, December 6). The future is here: Five applications of UAV technology. Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2013/12/the-future-is-here-five-applications-of-uav-technology.html
Cuadra, A. (2014, June 20). How drones are controlled. Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/drone-crashes/how-drones-work/
Field Service Representative / UAS Operator 3 - Oregon Employment Department | Bingen, WA. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://www.simplyhired.com/job/field-service-representative-uas-operator-3-job/oregon-employment-department/sansfqmig5?cid=guqappotzkvqltgaalefiuslfyakkbdb
Gettinger, D. (2015, February 4). Drones in the Defense Budget. Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://dronecenter.bard.edu/drones-in-the-defense-budget/
I personally believe the implementation of UAV's into the NAS is going to be a long process with a lot of skepticism initially then eventually it will be almost as normal seeing a UAV in the sky as it is an airplane. The only thing that I think will be different between the image of UAV's and airplanes initially and further down the road is that I do not believe that people will ever accept UAV's for what they are with their ability to travel low, slow and right outside your house or window. With regard to their potential to violate peoples privacy is what is either going to make or break the future of them. Initially there is going to be a lot of problems regarding letting UAV's out into our airspace with regard to safety, privacy, and perception. First off, the NPRM that the FAA is writing up regulates UAV's up to and including 55lbs. At that weight if something were to go wrong and one of the engines malfunction or a guidance computer stop working you essentially have a 55lb piece of mass that will fall from the sky and have more than enough capability to fall and kill an innocent bystander. We accept this feat with regard to hundred thousand pound airplanes because of a couple reasons. First of all we all like the fact that we can travel hundred or even thousands of miles in a fraction of the time in an airplane and for the most part they are a safe method of transportation. Secondly in the event that something does malfunction in the air there are capable pilots who can maneuver the aircraft in most instances to avoid causing harm to other non participating persons or property. These two stipulations are not feasible with regard to a UAV, even with redundant systems it just is not possible right now to say they are 100% safe and on top of that the public is not really benefiting much from them.
The military has by far been the pinnacle of UAV operators to date and has demonstrated how they can be a great help with regard to manipulating war strategy. Since the mid 1990's the military has been experimenting with UAV's in the battlefield and they have proved to be a viable source of information that in turn safes valuable military service members from undue harm. With regard to UAV's and evaluating whether or not their implementation has been sufficient or not I think is hard to say. The department of defense has agreed to supply the armed services with a $2.9 billion dollar budget for the years to come (Gettinger, D). That figure is obviously a lot, roughly 6% of the total military spending budget. The UAV's that help us wage the war on terror overseas has saved a countless number of american lives which I believe justifies their presence in our military.
While roaming the web for UAS jobs I was surprised at how many that I inadvertently came across. One of the more prestigious of unique job postings I found was from the Oregon Employment Department and was a job posting for an overseas based Field Service Rep/UAV Operator. The job involves being deployed overseas for months to years at a time and conducting top secret private government operations enhancing war efforts. The job posting requires a top secret security clearance among other things, such as a FAA airmen certificate, FAA medical/psych eval, prior UAV experience, and foreign language experience. The job posting can be found at (http://www.simplyhired.com/job/field-service-representative-uas-operator-3-job/oregon-employment-department/sansfqmig5?cid=guqappotzkvqltgaalefiuslfyakkbdb)
Carroll, J. (2013, December 6). The future is here: Five applications of UAV technology. Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2013/12/the-future-is-here-five-applications-of-uav-technology.html
Cuadra, A. (2014, June 20). How drones are controlled. Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/drone-crashes/how-drones-work/
Field Service Representative / UAS Operator 3 - Oregon Employment Department | Bingen, WA. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://www.simplyhired.com/job/field-service-representative-uas-operator-3-job/oregon-employment-department/sansfqmig5?cid=guqappotzkvqltgaalefiuslfyakkbdb
Gettinger, D. (2015, February 4). Drones in the Defense Budget. Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://dronecenter.bard.edu/drones-in-the-defense-budget/
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