The Finish Line

At the beginning of this course a few months ago I had a dream to become a corporate pilot flying around taking vacations and playing golf on my trips. At the beginning I was also thinking about focusing a bit more on doing good with my skills and talents with flying. I believe I also made the comment that I just was going to go where ever life takes me. This is still pretty much true. Through other life experiences I have realized my amazement with the human body, as many of you know especially the heart, my big dream job would be to fly and transport organs, or help take patients to a better facility...really anything to help. It was on my mind when I started this semester and to this day is a daily re-occurring thought. I can't really say that anything in this class has changed my mind, but has definitely shined some light on topics I really wasn't that aware about, such as how far behind China is.

Not growing up in an aviation family has put me a bit behind the curve plus the fact that if there aren't cool pictures next to an article I generally don't read further than three sentences. Saying that, the fact that if I didn't do the research for the discussions my grade would have suffered really forced me to read at least five sentences with our without the picture. Out of the topics I would have to say that the most interesting was on the Regionals. It shined a bit of light on foreign land that has never really been explained to me. It must have been really apparent as to which topic I did not like the most. Call me whatever you feel like, but I have ZERO interest in the environment...need I say more?

I had a lot of fun in this class and I think it goes without saying that the best guest speaker we had were the two ladies from the TRACON. It's always been a side that is in a way mysterious to pilots, we don't understand their thought patterns and they don't understand ours. To know more about their training and how they ended up where they are now is really cool. To finally be shown how they train and whose job is more stressful helps me as a pilot on the other end to do what I can to help them as much as they help me.

As for the future I say what I said earlier...I'll go where ever it takes me. Currently I am instructing at Solo Aviation. There are many opportunities for me at Ann Arbor Airport since there are a lot of corporate companies coming in there as well as University of Michigan Health Care helicopters stored right next door. The plan is to take things one step at a time, and right now first on the list is graduation!!! Almost there :)

EU ETS stands for Emissions Trading System. Basically what this system does is controls how much emissions can be released by participants. These participants are able to sell and trade their allowance as they please just like playing cards. Each participant is given a stack of playing cards and can trade with other participants and try to get the best set to win. However you can only do what your cards allow you to do, if you go beyond that then there are consequences such as having to pay x amount of money for every bit you go over.

One of the articles handed out in class says that the money received from countries for going over their allowance is not required to be spent on environmental purposes. Plus the money that America would be losing in this would actually be put to better use here with jobs in the airlines. Honestly why not create some environmental jobs here in the states as well with that money. The U.S. has gone out of their way to try and make the world that we live in safer from carbon dioxide. By improving fuel efficiency, taking cars off the road that were dangerous to the environment and building new cars that are more affordable and better on mother nature. They didn't just improve cars, airplanes now have fuel saving engines. The U.S. is at least trying and to have someone come in and tell you it's not good enough is not they way this world should be run.

There are other countries that are not in favor such as China, and India. This money can be better spent in the countries then in the European Union. We all have neighbors some we like some we don't, but you can't force one of your neighbors to give you money because you don't like that they use a gas snow blower rather than an electric one. It's not your driveway, and not your property. If you were the one that was in charge of removing all snow in the neighborhood then by all means use your electric snow blower, but last I checked the European Union doesn't own all the airlines and all the routes in the world.

Of course EU thinks that they are trying to save the world. Look at it this way EU, if you want to reduce the amount of emissions that the aviation world gives off than reduce yours more than the other countries let off and maybe they'll follow in your footsteps, but don't force them to and then charge them money if they don't.  You think that you're really going to be hurting us by not allowing our airlines to fly into your country? Both countries will hurt from it. If EU doesn't let planes in from China then China is going to do the same thing right back, and so will other countries. In the end all EU will be doing is hurting themselves.

As for the last question, I bet you already know where I stand. If I want to wear a graduation gown made out of recycled plastic bottles than I would, but if I don't want to, then don't force me to. If I want to own a plane that let's off a lot of toxic fumes and is a hard core gas guzzler than I have the right to do so because I live in the United States of America...not Europe.

NextGen

NextGen has four pillars: economic impact, sustainability, flexibility, and safety. Economic impact deals with how aviation has impacted the U.S. economy and creates millions of jobs. With NextGen it will help make the industry more efficient and possibly bring in more money. Sustainability is a pillar because it benefits the environment because NextGen will help to reduce the fuel burn and decrease carbon dioxide. There is also the possibility of having aircraft be quieter for the neighborhoods around the airport. Flexibility is that now routing is more direct which will help in fuel burn and can help with avoiding bad weather and other delays. Safety is always important in the aviation world. NextGen plans to have more accurate aircraft location information for ATC and for pilots flying. Weather information and information on airspace to help with communication between the controllers and those on the plane.

Out of these four pillars I would say that obviously Safety is the first priority next to flexibility because that also aids in a higher level of safety. Then economic impact to help bring in money followed by sustainability.

The next hurdle to jump with NextGen is how is it going to be funded? As said previously the aviation industry already brings in money and helps to grow the economy. I say why not say thanks for working so hard and actually trying to help the U.S. become better financially, unlike other programs. Plus if NextGen can prove it will have even more of an economic impact then why not invest? If not there is always the standard bake sale.

As for my future who would not be for safer and more modern way to travel. This article even goes into detail about how politicians are for this as well. The big problem right now to deal with is of course the funding, but once that is taken care of hopefully we can see an even bigger impact on the safety of air travel and the economy.

Retirement Age

Since the dawn of time the retiring age for pilots has been 60 years, until recently when a new bill was passed in 2007. Today the mandatory retiring age is 65, which could have happened for multiple reason. It could have been that people would feel safer with a well experienced pilot on board flying the aircraft, or that there could have been a shortage and in order to take care of the problem just increase retirement age by five years to buy us some more time. My personal favorite is that someone was paid off, but who really knows what happens behind closed doors.

How this effects everything five years from now is that at the age of 60 a pilot would have to retire. But now they have five more years to go, and it gives them five more years to share their stories and pass down their knowledge. For me personally I love that part, I enjoy listening to peoples stories and experiences. I learn so much from others, plus if I still have my medical at the age of 60 I will know that I have five more years of flying.

Who else wants to go to China?

Well, it's happened Hawker Beechcraft has been sold to Superior Aviation Beijing Co. Which begs the question as to who else has left to go to China...For a while China has had issues with their General Aviation, one blogger states that China is behind the curve and doesn't really know where to begin in order to bring General Aviation up to where the U.S. is. To me it makes perfect sense that China is purchasing U.S. manufacturers, how else are they going to learn the ways to have a successful world of aviation, and who is better to learn from then the leader? Today the Cessna Skycatcher is built in China and shipped on over to the U.S.. This saves the company $71,000 in production costs PER AIRCRAFT. Even though they save about 40% in cost on the down side over 650 jobs were lost in the plants of Wichita and Bend Oregon and that was just at the beginning of the sale over to China. By the end of it all over 8,000 jobs were lost in America so that the Skycatcher could be built in China...thank you China.

Now China is starting to learn our ways of how we are able to have a successful world of General Aviation they are starting to grow just like the U.S. When there's a company building faster and safer aircrafts people are going to be more willing to buy them, and that could be what China is going for. Having a safer GA there so they can make even more money off of us silly pilots.

One thing I've noticed with a few other companies that have ties with China is that they are just ties. China hasn't fully taken over. Just like the Cessna Skycatcher, China is only building that one type aircraft. They're not designing them and their not building all of the Cessna aircrafts. This seems to be the way with other companies like Cessna, China is only doing a part of it in order to reduce cost and in return making it more affordable for those looking to purchase.

If what I think is happening with China's GA actually happens this could potentially be bad news for the U.S. GA. More and more jobs will be moved and some might even go to China in order to purchase an aircraft completely Chinese made instead of keeping at least a portion of the money here in the States. But let's be honest here, what hasn't China partially taken over? It comes down to the person running the company if they're a gung-ho American lover or if they would rather keep some more green in their pocket.

Comair or Comsink?

Back in the 70s a couple of guys got together and purchased some Piper Navajo and flew out of Cincinnati. With their growth they purchased more and more aircrafts and became a public company in the early 80s. It wasn't until 1984 that they became a Delta Connection carrier and by 1999 Delta fully owned Comair and from then on Delta has owned Comair until it's resent closure. The story as to why they were shut down is because it wasn't financially smart to keep them running. The smaller regional airplanes cost more since they are not as fuel efficient, not to mention that as these planes age the cost to maintain them and keep them airworthy was almost not worthy (haha!). Another reason why Comair got the short stick in it all is that they weren't all that busy. From Detroit about 6% of the departing flights were from Comair and only 1% in Atlanta. The loss of jobs is devastating especially for the Cincinnati Kentucky area since they employed approximately 1,700 people.

The future for Regional Airlines is rather dark. Even though they account for almost half of the Nations schedules flights the costs are outweighing the profit forcing airlines to shut their regional down and closing the small routes. Because of all of the extreme prices the airlines are having to prioritize where their money goes. The major airports have more of a demand for the not only the airlines money but their attention as well causing the Regional Carriers to go on the back burner.

Coming from a Pilot who might have to take a job at the Regionals in order to build hours and reach higher jobs I hope that the major airlines will find a more suitable purpose in order to keep them alive. Comair may no longer operate however most Regional Carriers are merging together such as Pinnacle and Mesaba or SkyWest and ExpressJet. Hopefully this will aid in keeping the Regional Carriers alive and moving.

From this point I decided to look into First Officer jobs at the Regional level. I finally found a site that didn't require my money in order to look at the job posts and found out that CommutAir is hiring. The starting pay is low but somewhat normal for the first year at a Regional Carrier as a First Officer. Starting at $23-$25 an hour which may require me to live with my parents for a bit but I'm sure they won't mind and would enjoy my company. Plus who doesn't enjoy mama's cooking?

Is Flying Really Affordable?

Growing up and still today I have been very fortunate to have a family that goes on vacations about every other year to different places, typically to a beach though. Out of these several vacations I have been on a commercial airline only twice in my life, one to Disney World in Florida and the other to Denver Colorado where we departed from Chicago so we still had to drive. All the other places we've been to we've all piled in a car, sucked it up and started our adventure to wherever we were going. I must say that because of these car rides our family has become a lot closer, has many inside jokes, and stories. Not to mention all the experience we had from driving in different locations and in different situations. Typically my family travels in packs so my moms brother his wife and their three kids come along as well which just adds to the fun. This past summer the five of them the four of us (My dad, mom, sister and  myself) and my cousins fiance all traveled to Dauphin Island, AL which isn't your typical vacation spot and I understand that so this isn't my only example. We took a total of 3 cars to carry all of us and our luggage, plus another key factor to this is that all of us have drivers license even though the youngest just earned his a few months prior. This helps a lot because if we had to we could drive all through out the night but we didn't because we had travel points that we used to sleep in a hotel. Now to get into the nitty gritty of costs.

The closest airport to our destination that has airlines is Mobile, AL (MOB), there are four different airlines that fly into MOB. Not to mention that we would then have an hour car ride from the airport to our house on the beach and no car... Without the cost of the car a ticket for one person cheapest was about $455 per person from United and U.S. Airways round trip. I chose tickets from a Saturday to the following Saturday which is when we were traveling and made sure it wasn't on a holiday to get the best price option. The cost of gas for us to get down in my mothers 2008 Cadillac STS which gets about 22 mpg on the highway wast about a total of $650 to travel there and back. With 4 people in the car that totals to about $163 per person to travel down and back. Need I say more?

But like I said tickets to get into Mobile are probably higher because it's not the hot spot to be at. So earlier in the year once again my mother, sister, myself and my mom's brother, his wife, and their three kids went on a cruise. We chose to drive down to Miami, FL because once again driving made more financial sense then to fly. Even though the time of travel more than triples the savings meant that we could spend more on ourselves during the cruise. The cruise started on a Thursday and we returned on Sunday so I chose tickets on Travelocity this time because there were way too many options to search them all. I chose morning flights on Thursday so that we would make it in time for departure of the cruise and afternoon on Sunday which would give us time to load up and arrive at the airport in time for our flight home. The cheapest ticket was $321 per person from DTW to MIA. For this trip down we took my sisters 2011 Hyundai Elantra (which is a lot more comfortable than the Cadillac in the back seat) which gets about 38 mpg highway. We spent a total of about $700 in gas to make it to Miami and back, plus an $80 parking fee (which we would have had to pay at the airport anyways). But to make this seem more fair I'll leave the parking fee in. Three people (My sister, my mom, and myself) in my sisters car this came to be about $260 per person. The margin is closer for sure however it still would cost more to fly than to drive. And when you're saving $60 per person it comes to saving a total of $180.

I understand that a lot of pilots in training fly because they have a family member who is a pilot or is in the aviation industry with some flight perks. If that's the case more power to you why not travel by plane in arrive at your destination faster than if you were to drive. However my family doesn't have that luxury so we utilize our resources in order to find the cheaper option and to go where we want to go. All my life my mom says that she works so she can go on vacations, yes why not wait another year and save up the money for a plane ticket but if that were the case why not go somewhere nicer and still drive?

Is flying a luxury? That depends on who you're talking to. To my family it's an option for travel that we have taken a few times not necessarily a luxury. But why spend the extra money on flying when you can spend the extra time with your family and drive. If you were able to snag a great deal on airline tickets to go somewhere, more power to you. Or if you notice that flying is actually cheaper than driving once again don't be silly take the cheaper option. But some people are willing to spend the extra money to save time, and once again like I said it depends on who you're talking to.

So you ask, if we raise the time requirement if that will ultimately effect the price of an airline ticket? If a pilot wants to be an airline pilot I think they'll take the same measly pay and work their way up to a better salary even with the extra hour requirement in the beginning. That's just from talking to people in the area who fly, they are determined to make it in the airlines and that is what they've wanted ever since they were a little kid. "To be successful, you must decide exactly what you want to accomplish, then resolve to pay the price to get it." - Bunker Hunt. If a person wants it bad enough they'll do whatever it takes to get it. If you think there isn't enough people to go the extra mile I must say that I laugh at you. Look at the sports industry, all those athletes went the extra mile to climb to the top and they did whatever it took to get there. That is just the sports industry there are so many other fields where there are people who paid the price to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish, the airlines is a great example of that too.