...prevents this type of wildcat strike. Airlines are governed under the RLA (Railway Labor Act) which makes wildcatting illegal. The parties must negotiate in good faith before being released to self-help. This is why consumers (travelers) get a 30 day heads-up before a shutdown, and why contract negotiations take 4 to 5 years. It's also why airlines will drag out the process doing only just enough to please the NLRB, resulting in lengthy and drawn out process. Management plays games too.
Outsourcing- plain and simple. This strategy is in use here in the US but so far has not succeeded. Everyone spits on labor, but this is what labor can do best for its constituency- protect companies from sending work to the cheapest bidder. Can anyone say that they want budget pilots? How about another Colgan Air in Buffalo. This is where paying for experience pays off, but management focuses on cost and fails to account for the value of quality.
Yes, unions are the real problem, not moronic overpaid CEO's. Everybody knows how easy it is for those drone pilots and drone aircraft http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/07/16/2041255/Can-Drones-Really-Get-National-Airspace-Access?from=rss and I would be perfectly willing to ride along in the back for a dollar cheaper ticket. Plus even though I don't know anything about how to circumnavigate weather, compensate for malfunctions, etc those pilots that use their training and experience to keep us safe are simply unneeded anymore. We can have software solutions in place in no time...Experience and judgment are way overrated.
Pilots are overpaid too- http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=135690&cid=11386330
Trust me, these guys wish they had fallen asleep. That's a perfectly explainable, and not uncommon occurrence that can be remedied in a number of ways (better scheduling and automation feedback are foremost) and does not represent a failure singularly attributable to the pilot. So yes, they did actually become distracted and overfly MSP and chose not to lie there way out of it (would have failed anyway). See an earlier post on the topic for more info: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1723508&cid=32945444
By "meatball" I think you mean Continental. I'm at UAL, and it was Contract 2003 that brought the current dismal compensation for all labor groups. Not to worry though for management- they did well post bankruptcy. Just hoping we can leverage the merger for some badly needed QOL and compensation gains!
I'll tell ya what's going on...
What nobody has cited is that bundling or not, air fares are historically lower than they have ever been in inflation adjusted dollars. It's safer and there are more choices for the traveler. PSM (passenger seat miles) are at about the same level as 2000 and could be considered at the optimal level for demand.
As for consolidation reducing employee costs, it might likely increase labor costs in the short term as new JCBA (joint collective bargaining agreements) must be negotiated in order to obtain a single operating certificate. (This is good news for me as I've not had a meaningful pay raise since 2003.) Labor costs are at steep historic lows! Don't blame labor.
Airlines have a poor record of profits- many lean years or losses and very few banner years. Never buy airline securities as a long term investment (personal experience is bitter though I never actually bought them but was awarded them...) Best hope is for quick moves or short sales.
A quick review of the replies here suggests that most are unconcerned with distractions in the cockpit. I'm impressed that everyone has such a calm disposition about this matter. What happened with Northwest in MSP was the first time that I know of where a crew lost contact with ATC and overflew a destination because they were distracted and not because of being having fallen asleep. There are several incidents where crews, as a result of fatigue, simply fell asleep. But becoming distracted in the cockpit won't be solved by banning PDA,'s, laptops and such.
IMO, existing policies are sufficient and need no adjustments. What does need fixing is the aircraft. The FAA should mandate pilot response equipment on all aircraft in Part 121 (scheduled air carrier) operations. This equipment alerts the crew if a specified amount of time has elapsed with no crew interaction, and escalates in intensity from an alert to a caution to a warning. Improving ground to cockpit communication would also help.
...here is fabrication. AMD have a terrific foundation from a technological standpoint. However, Intel have long crushed AMD in fab capability. Simply put they (Intel) survived the late 90's because they could make heaps of silicon, despite the fact that it was technologically inferior to AMD products.
AMD can only hope, at this point to create an integrated CPU/GPU solution that Intel cannot.
As an AMD shareholder, I'm hoping the integrated solution takes flight!
"Proponents often credit trade unions with leading the labor movement in the early 20th century, which generally sought to end child labor practices, improve worker safety, increase wages for both union and non-union workers, raise the entire society's standard of living, reduce the hours in a work week, provide public education for children, and bring a host of other benefits to working class families."
It appears that you've no idea about unions from a historical perspective. Your experience is arguably too limited to make a statement like this:
"they are a blight on society from my experience." While there may not be as dramatic a need for unions today as at the dawn of the 20th century, there most certainly remains a need.
Does this illustrate unionism as a foible or an advantage to the working man? On the one hand, it sounds like your non-unionized father got a better deal because of a union. Perhaps, if there were no union across the street, Dad would have been working harder for less money and fewer benefits. Further, I would contend that the moral isn't about respecting your employees (where's the respect shown by any CEO or upper management today- their pay has way outpaced the working man's?), rather it's that there's power in collective bargaining.
Aviation has a long history of safety. It was a perilous profession in the early days, and hanger talk saved many live before "safety" became quantified. NASA safety reports served as a means to "save your ass" if you committed an error that might get you a violation if discovered but not reported. They weren't the first. The concept is that a mistake made by one is a mistake to be made by many. All you need do was fess up and you might get a mulligan- no harm no foul (with limitations- intentional acts are not protected.) The lesson learned will be taught to those who follow- free as in speech! This specific program has ended, and regardless of how badly everyone feels NASA has dealt with public dissemination of the data, I must point out that the program ensured anonymity and this is why it worked. They never intended this program to become a public conversation piece by those outside the community.
Everyone take note here- no profession uses safety data as well as aviation. Whatever you do for a living, there are lessons to learn from this profession.
...I must propose that Slashdot editors are involved in a conspiracy. To wit: In the past few months or so, we have had at least three submissions that have incorrectly used the term "brick" to describe a problem with typically simple solutions- distinctly not problems without solution. Anyone interested enough to submit an article to Slashdot would know the meaning of the term. Therefore, the only explanation is that the editors are cultivating the submissions in a way calculated to stimulate numerous off topic posts highlighting the improper use of the term, in turn increasing the traffic in order to generate add revenue. What's the definition of troll?
FTA: "the entire overhaul will cost taxpayers up to $20 billion over 20 years. But the airline industry insists that any early advances can't come soon enough.
You can say that again. From a users perspective, they have been doing things the same way for as along as I've been involved (20 years)- well overdue for some significant technological advances! It really doesn't strike me as a difficult problem as it boils down to to a space/time/position equation.
And again: "We are at catastrophic levels in terms of congestion," says David Castelveter of the Air Transport Association, the trade group for major U.S. airlines. "The controllers are using age-old procedures and separation standards that they put into place decades ago.""
While this might make a difference for enroute control, it will have no impact on airport congestion. For that, only more concrete will make a difference and this is the primary driver of delays. Huge barriers exist to improving airports, both political and economic.
I think the issue all along has been that IP addresses are not persons. Yes, you can argue that the address has a responsible person behind it, and perhaps that's all the law cares about. But the RIAA needs to prove the infringing party is the same one who owns the IP address- not trivial. They are asking the ISP or University to decide who that is. All it takes is an uneducated person with an unsecured WAP and a savvy and unscrupulous wardriver and suddenly the ignorant have become copyright infringers. Leave your dorm room open and unattended or be unlucky enough to share an address with a dishonest roommate who points the finger at you could be enough to cause heaps of trouble.
"These days, if it's under 500 miles each way, I'll drive it"
I completely agree. The flight would be less than two hours, but you'd spend three hours per leg futzing with security, ground transportation, etc.
"I used to wish for the airlines to all go out of business"
Anyone ever said to you: be careful what you wish for. One good reason the fares are so cheap is because there are so many available seat miles. Just imagine if there were no AMD to counter Intel. Fares will rise as capacity is constrained.
"we (US taxpayers) were forced to bail them out after 9/11"
I have no idea what you are talking about here. If you are referring ATSB loans, you will find this enlightening: Bailout or boon? 9/11 loan guarantee program generates profit for taxpayers. To summerize, That program made money for the government. Incidentally, of the $10B pledged to the program, only $1.6B were granted. There were far more rejections than approvals and this ensured the resulting Ch.11 filings (more likely good for the corporations and taxpayers, bad for employees). JFYI, on average 25% of every dollar of fare is sent to government entities as tax.
Yes, the airlines are plagued with problems, but the most common issues consumers have about airlines' problems lie with the unrealistic expectations they have when they buy a seat. I know you're thinking I'm suggesting people just lower their expectations, but travelers complain to me all the time about problems that are beyond our control. We don't make the weather, we don't control ATC (they have been doing stuff the same way for decades- remarkably UNmodernized!), airplanes are well maintained but sometimes break (they aren't lawnmowers), crewmembers are human (not superhuman)- we have federally mandated work limits and we get sick, really.
No, I'm not asking people to lower their expectations, just align them closer to reality.
Their demise remains a sore spot for me. What would Macs be running now if Apple had acquired Be? (Not that OSX is so bad.) On a more financially painful note, I lost what should have been a small fortune when they folded. Palm further squandered the technology after buying the IP at, I believe, about $90M. If only someone had opened the source...
...drives humans to water for pain relief- not exactly mind control, but the same result: from Guinea Worm Disease Facts... What are the signs and symptoms of Guinea worm disease?
A few days to hours before the worm emerges, the person might develop a fever and have swelling and pain in the area where the worm is. A blister develops and then opens into a wound. When the wound is immersed in water, the worm begins to emerge. Most worms appear on the legs and feet, but they can occur anywhere on the body. After the worm emerges, the wound often becomes painfully swollen and infected. http://www.astdhpphe.org/infect/guinea.html Guinea Worm Disease Facts
Off topic, I know, but I can't let this go without a response. Congress is lily-livered? Airlines have been bailed out? I must have missed all of this. The present Congress is very right leaning and the current president is downright antagonistic to "old" airlines. This is primarily a concerted effort to defang labor, but this is another discussion. Regarding bailouts of legacy carriers, there have been no, repeat NO handouts to any airline. If you're thinking of ATSB money, of $15B earmarked by Congress for the industry to borrow, less than $3B was ever approved. More importantly, the media in general helps to perpetuate the misunderstanding by the public that this money is a "handout"- free as in beer. The government has only offered to guarantee loans to the industry- loans are paid back by the borrower, and the government is not even the lender. If you think you haven't benefited from deregulation, I ask you to consider the price of travel these days. I'm quite sure that one can travel far cheaper today than they could prior to deregulation. If (actually when) you get your wish that "old airlines" die off, rest assured you will see significant fare increases. As for the pension debacle, I quote ALPA: "The pension problem in the airline industry has nothing to do with irresponsibility or evil motivation of the parties who negotiated pension benefits in perfectly good faith. Hindsight is, of course, 20/20, but no one could reasonably have been expected to predict: (i) the events of 9/11 and their economic consequences for the industry; (ii) the 2003 SARS outbreak; (iii) the protracted period during which the securities markets declined dramatically in value at the same time as market rates of interest remained at historic lows, a confluence of events which is extremely rare, if not absolutely unique, in US financial history; or (iv) $55 a barrel oil (or even higher.). These factors, combined with an aggregation of utterly unrealistic laws governing the funding of defined benefit plans, have created the pension crisis of which we are the victims. None of these factors are within the control of any of the airlines or their unions." Most importantly, the funds used by the PBGC don't belong to you or the government- they belong to the parties insured by the PBGC. Incidentally, were you aware that out of every $1 you spend on a ticket, $.25 is tax?
Have to concur... I cannot recall how many boxes, buttons and switches went unused in the various military aircraft I flew. There were many but one example is SRS (a collection of RF antenae on P-3C's used for plot stab) that was never used and I'm not sure anyone even knew how. This is not the case on commercial equipment.
When troubleshooting some system anomolies on Airbus aircraft, I am often asked by maintenance to "reboot" the aircraft (disconnect all power and re-energize) to see if the problem disappears. Half the time this works, the other half turn out to be actual system failures. Ctrl-Alt-Del!
Where did you get your PhD in Transportation? You must know a lot about the logistics of airline operations to conclude that labor costs are the problem. Where do you feel the cuts should be made?
<begin sarcasm>Maybe the airline could conduct your flight from A to B with fewer people- perhaps one pilot, one or two flight attendants, rampers mechanics... passengers want lowest price, not safety, right? Pilots are the problem- they all make $250K to $300K a year and only work 75 to 80 hours a month. Sounds pretty clear cut to the public. The business oriented big media would never slant or misrepresent the facts. I get all my info from them and it shapes my flawless perception of reality.<end sarcasm>
On the other hand, maybe I could go here for a different perspective. Maybe I could read the Learn More... link to find out more about the pilot profession.
Here's my perspective (if your interested). I've been a pilot since 1988 (~17 years, 8 Navy, 9 commercial). I work at the second largest airline in the world and now make exactly what I would be making if I had stayed in the Navy. Does this make me overpaid? Management would like me (and most importantly, you) to think this is the case. It's labor's fault. I've got a wife, two kids, we're healthy, happy (but really tired of bad news), and I wouldn't want to do anything else. Thanks to labor, folks like you have a forty hour week, overtime, a safe working environment and countless other perks. Why do people rag on working class while the VP's and up have no consequences in failure.
This may not be what your after, but take a look here... http://www.microsoft.com/windows/sfu/unix proresour ces/ Shipping will go about ten dollars, but the software is free.
Slashdot Mirror
...prevents this type of wildcat strike. Airlines are governed under the RLA (Railway Labor Act) which makes wildcatting illegal. The parties must negotiate in good faith before being released to self-help. This is why consumers (travelers) get a 30 day heads-up before a shutdown, and why contract negotiations take 4 to 5 years. It's also why airlines will drag out the process doing only just enough to please the NLRB, resulting in lengthy and drawn out process. Management plays games too.
Outsourcing- plain and simple. This strategy is in use here in the US but so far has not succeeded. Everyone spits on labor, but this is what labor can do best for its constituency- protect companies from sending work to the cheapest bidder. Can anyone say that they want budget pilots? How about another Colgan Air in Buffalo. This is where paying for experience pays off, but management focuses on cost and fails to account for the value of quality.
Yes, unions are the real problem, not moronic overpaid CEO's. Everybody knows how easy it is for those drone pilots and drone aircraft http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/07/16/2041255/Can-Drones-Really-Get-National-Airspace-Access?from=rss and I would be perfectly willing to ride along in the back for a dollar cheaper ticket. Plus even though I don't know anything about how to circumnavigate weather, compensate for malfunctions, etc those pilots that use their training and experience to keep us safe are simply unneeded anymore. We can have software solutions in place in no time...Experience and judgment are way overrated. Pilots are overpaid too- http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=135690&cid=11386330
Trust me, these guys wish they had fallen asleep. That's a perfectly explainable, and not uncommon occurrence that can be remedied in a number of ways (better scheduling and automation feedback are foremost) and does not represent a failure singularly attributable to the pilot. So yes, they did actually become distracted and overfly MSP and chose not to lie there way out of it (would have failed anyway). See an earlier post on the topic for more info: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1723508&cid=32945444
It will be obviously difficult for mainstream media to cover this objectively. Hope the drillers are safe... BTW first post Oops second post
By "meatball" I think you mean Continental. I'm at UAL, and it was Contract 2003 that brought the current dismal compensation for all labor groups. Not to worry though for management- they did well post bankruptcy. Just hoping we can leverage the merger for some badly needed QOL and compensation gains!
I'll tell ya what's going on... What nobody has cited is that bundling or not, air fares are historically lower than they have ever been in inflation adjusted dollars. It's safer and there are more choices for the traveler. PSM (passenger seat miles) are at about the same level as 2000 and could be considered at the optimal level for demand. As for consolidation reducing employee costs, it might likely increase labor costs in the short term as new JCBA (joint collective bargaining agreements) must be negotiated in order to obtain a single operating certificate. (This is good news for me as I've not had a meaningful pay raise since 2003.) Labor costs are at steep historic lows! Don't blame labor. Airlines have a poor record of profits- many lean years or losses and very few banner years. Never buy airline securities as a long term investment (personal experience is bitter though I never actually bought them but was awarded them...) Best hope is for quick moves or short sales.
A quick review of the replies here suggests that most are unconcerned with distractions in the cockpit. I'm impressed that everyone has such a calm disposition about this matter. What happened with Northwest in MSP was the first time that I know of where a crew lost contact with ATC and overflew a destination because they were distracted and not because of being having fallen asleep. There are several incidents where crews, as a result of fatigue, simply fell asleep. But becoming distracted in the cockpit won't be solved by banning PDA,'s, laptops and such. IMO, existing policies are sufficient and need no adjustments. What does need fixing is the aircraft. The FAA should mandate pilot response equipment on all aircraft in Part 121 (scheduled air carrier) operations. This equipment alerts the crew if a specified amount of time has elapsed with no crew interaction, and escalates in intensity from an alert to a caution to a warning. Improving ground to cockpit communication would also help.
...here is fabrication. AMD have a terrific foundation from a technological standpoint. However, Intel have long crushed AMD in fab capability. Simply put they (Intel) survived the late 90's because they could make heaps of silicon, despite the fact that it was technologically inferior to AMD products. AMD can only hope, at this point to create an integrated CPU/GPU solution that Intel cannot. As an AMD shareholder, I'm hoping the integrated solution takes flight!
"Proponents often credit trade unions with leading the labor movement in the early 20th century, which generally sought to end child labor practices, improve worker safety, increase wages for both union and non-union workers, raise the entire society's standard of living, reduce the hours in a work week, provide public education for children, and bring a host of other benefits to working class families."
It appears that you've no idea about unions from a historical perspective. Your experience is arguably too limited to make a statement like this: "they are a blight on society from my experience." While there may not be as dramatic a need for unions today as at the dawn of the 20th century, there most certainly remains a need.
Does this illustrate unionism as a foible or an advantage to the working man? On the one hand, it sounds like your non-unionized father got a better deal because of a union. Perhaps, if there were no union across the street, Dad would have been working harder for less money and fewer benefits. Further, I would contend that the moral isn't about respecting your employees (where's the respect shown by any CEO or upper management today- their pay has way outpaced the working man's?), rather it's that there's power in collective bargaining.
Aviation has a long history of safety. It was a perilous profession in the early days, and hanger talk saved many live before "safety" became quantified. NASA safety reports served as a means to "save your ass" if you committed an error that might get you a violation if discovered but not reported. They weren't the first. The concept is that a mistake made by one is a mistake to be made by many. All you need do was fess up and you might get a mulligan- no harm no foul (with limitations- intentional acts are not protected.) The lesson learned will be taught to those who follow- free as in speech! This specific program has ended, and regardless of how badly everyone feels NASA has dealt with public dissemination of the data, I must point out that the program ensured anonymity and this is why it worked. They never intended this program to become a public conversation piece by those outside the community. Everyone take note here- no profession uses safety data as well as aviation. Whatever you do for a living, there are lessons to learn from this profession.
...I must propose that Slashdot editors are involved in a conspiracy. To wit: In the past few months or so, we have had at least three submissions that have incorrectly used the term "brick" to describe a problem with typically simple solutions- distinctly not problems without solution. Anyone interested enough to submit an article to Slashdot would know the meaning of the term. Therefore, the only explanation is that the editors are cultivating the submissions in a way calculated to stimulate numerous off topic posts highlighting the improper use of the term, in turn increasing the traffic in order to generate add revenue. What's the definition of troll?
FTA: "the entire overhaul will cost taxpayers up to $20 billion over 20 years. But the airline industry insists that any early advances can't come soon enough.
You can say that again. From a users perspective, they have been doing things the same way for as along as I've been involved (20 years)- well overdue for some significant technological advances! It really doesn't strike me as a difficult problem as it boils down to to a space/time/position equation.
And again: "We are at catastrophic levels in terms of congestion," says David Castelveter of the Air Transport Association, the trade group for major U.S. airlines. "The controllers are using age-old procedures and separation standards that they put into place decades ago.""
While this might make a difference for enroute control, it will have no impact on airport congestion. For that, only more concrete will make a difference and this is the primary driver of delays. Huge barriers exist to improving airports, both political and economic.
I think the issue all along has been that IP addresses are not persons. Yes, you can argue that the address has a responsible person behind it, and perhaps that's all the law cares about. But the RIAA needs to prove the infringing party is the same one who owns the IP address- not trivial. They are asking the ISP or University to decide who that is. All it takes is an uneducated person with an unsecured WAP and a savvy and unscrupulous wardriver and suddenly the ignorant have become copyright infringers. Leave your dorm room open and unattended or be unlucky enough to share an address with a dishonest roommate who points the finger at you could be enough to cause heaps of trouble.
"These days, if it's under 500 miles each way, I'll drive it" I completely agree. The flight would be less than two hours, but you'd spend three hours per leg futzing with security, ground transportation, etc.
"I used to wish for the airlines to all go out of business" Anyone ever said to you: be careful what you wish for. One good reason the fares are so cheap is because there are so many available seat miles. Just imagine if there were no AMD to counter Intel. Fares will rise as capacity is constrained.
"we (US taxpayers) were forced to bail them out after 9/11" I have no idea what you are talking about here. If you are referring ATSB loans, you will find this enlightening: Bailout or boon? 9/11 loan guarantee program generates profit for taxpayers. To summerize, That program made money for the government. Incidentally, of the $10B pledged to the program, only $1.6B were granted. There were far more rejections than approvals and this ensured the resulting Ch.11 filings (more likely good for the corporations and taxpayers, bad for employees). JFYI, on average 25% of every dollar of fare is sent to government entities as tax.
Yes, the airlines are plagued with problems, but the most common issues consumers have about airlines' problems lie with the unrealistic expectations they have when they buy a seat. I know you're thinking I'm suggesting people just lower their expectations, but travelers complain to me all the time about problems that are beyond our control. We don't make the weather, we don't control ATC (they have been doing stuff the same way for decades- remarkably UNmodernized!), airplanes are well maintained but sometimes break (they aren't lawnmowers), crewmembers are human (not superhuman)- we have federally mandated work limits and we get sick, really.
No, I'm not asking people to lower their expectations, just align them closer to reality.
Their demise remains a sore spot for me. What would Macs be running now if Apple had acquired Be? (Not that OSX is so bad.) On a more financially painful note, I lost what should have been a small fortune when they folded. Palm further squandered the technology after buying the IP at, I believe, about $90M. If only someone had opened the source...
...drives humans to water for pain relief- not exactly mind control, but the same result:
from Guinea Worm Disease Facts...
What are the signs and symptoms of Guinea worm disease?
A few days to hours before the worm emerges, the person might develop a fever and have swelling and pain in the area where the worm is. A blister develops and then opens into a wound. When the wound is immersed in water, the worm begins to emerge. Most worms appear on the legs and feet, but they can occur anywhere on the body. After the worm emerges, the wound often becomes painfully swollen and infected.
http://www.astdhpphe.org/infect/guinea.html
Guinea Worm Disease Facts
Off topic, I know, but I can't let this go without a response.
Congress is lily-livered? Airlines have been bailed out? I must have missed all of this. The present Congress is very right leaning and the current president is downright antagonistic to "old" airlines. This is primarily a concerted effort to defang labor, but this is another discussion. Regarding bailouts of legacy carriers, there have been no, repeat NO handouts to any airline. If you're thinking of ATSB money, of $15B earmarked by Congress for the industry to borrow, less than $3B was ever approved. More importantly, the media in general helps to perpetuate the misunderstanding by the public that this money is a "handout"- free as in beer. The government has only offered to guarantee loans to the industry- loans are paid back by the borrower, and the government is not even the lender.
If you think you haven't benefited from deregulation, I ask you to consider the price of travel these days. I'm quite sure that one can travel far cheaper today than they could prior to deregulation. If (actually when) you get your wish that "old airlines" die off, rest assured you will see significant fare increases.
As for the pension debacle, I quote ALPA: "The pension problem in the airline industry has nothing to do with irresponsibility or evil motivation of the parties who negotiated pension benefits in perfectly good faith. Hindsight is, of course, 20/20, but no one could reasonably have been expected to predict: (i) the events of 9/11 and their economic consequences for the industry; (ii) the 2003 SARS outbreak; (iii) the protracted period during which the securities markets declined dramatically in value at the same time as market rates of interest remained at historic lows, a confluence of events which is extremely rare, if not absolutely unique, in US financial history; or (iv) $55 a barrel oil (or even higher.). These factors, combined with an aggregation of utterly unrealistic laws governing the funding of defined benefit plans, have created the pension crisis of which we are the victims. None of these factors are within the control of any of the airlines or their unions." Most importantly, the funds used by the PBGC don't belong to you or the government- they belong to the parties insured by the PBGC.
Incidentally, were you aware that out of every $1 you spend on a ticket, $.25 is tax?
Have to concur...
I cannot recall how many boxes, buttons and switches went unused in the various military aircraft I flew. There were many but one example is SRS (a collection of RF antenae on P-3C's used for plot stab) that was never used and I'm not sure anyone even knew how. This is not the case on commercial equipment.
When troubleshooting some system anomolies on Airbus aircraft, I am often asked by maintenance to "reboot" the aircraft (disconnect all power and re-energize) to see if the problem disappears. Half the time this works, the other half turn out to be actual system failures. Ctrl-Alt-Del!
P.S. Never reboot while inflight.
Where did you get your PhD in Transportation? You must know a lot about the
logistics of airline operations to conclude that labor costs are the problem.
Where do you feel the cuts should be made?
<begin sarcasm>Maybe the airline could conduct your flight from A to B with
fewer people- perhaps one pilot, one or two flight attendants, rampers
mechanics... passengers want lowest price, not safety, right? Pilots are the
problem- they all make $250K to $300K a year and only work 75 to 80 hours a
month. Sounds pretty clear cut to the public. The business oriented big media
would never slant or misrepresent the facts. I get all my info from them and it
shapes my flawless perception of reality.<end sarcasm>
On the other hand, maybe I could go here ...
for a different perspective. Maybe I could read the Learn More
link to find out more about the pilot profession.
Here's my perspective (if your interested). I've been a pilot since 1988 (~17
years, 8 Navy, 9 commercial). I work at the second largest airline in the world
and now make exactly what I would be making if I had stayed in the Navy. Does
this make me overpaid? Management would like me (and most importantly, you) to
think this is the case. It's labor's fault. I've got a wife, two kids, we're
healthy, happy (but really tired of bad news), and I wouldn't want to do
anything else. Thanks to labor, folks like you have a forty hour week, overtime,
a safe working environment and countless other perks. Why do people rag on
working class while the VP's and up have no consequences in failure.
Do you really think its all labors fault?
Static charge?
Hey, I submitted this two days ago. What makes it slashdot worthy now?
This may not be what your after, but take a look here...x proresour ces/
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/sfu/uni
Shipping will go about ten dollars, but the software is free.