H.R. 5900, known as the 1,500 hour and ATP rule, will significantly hinder the road to my ultimate career aspirations, as it will for many young pilots. Although I have trouble finding any hard facts about this law, it appears that there will be no grandfathering into the system. If you don't have 1,500 hours and an ATP by August 2013, then you can no longer be hired by a 121 carrier and must be let go if you already are working for one. This creates an especially large problem for me because I will not be turning 23, a requirement for an ATP certificate, until October of 2013, making it impossible for me to stay with a 121 carrier. With that being said, in recent days I have been rethinking my career plan, exploring new ideas of how to log 1,500 hours to make me eligible by the time I turn 23.
Once completing my CFI and graduating, I think searching for a position as a flight instructor somewhere is the most probable option right out of school. It will allow me to log time and actually start making a little bit of money doing it instead of spending huge amounts for my time. While logging these hours I will become more hireable for a 135 operation or something of the sort. Since I do not look forward to flight instructing at all, charter flying preferably in piston twins, would be a nice way to continue my journey toward 1,500 hours. I say multi-engine aircraft because multi-engine time is obviously what makes you more hireable to any airline and what is the most expensive to pay for on your own. After reaching the age of 23 (and hopefully having 1,500 hours by then) I would unfortunately be on my own to pay for an ATP course and take the checkride. On a side note, the full 1,500 hours is a worst-case scenario. If rumors are at all true, then because I was a graduate of a collegiate aviation program and a 141 school, hopefully the requirement would be lowered to around 1,000, although I still have to wait until October 2013 for the ATP.
The next step is applying and hopefully getting hired with a regional airline, if they still exist at that time (only kidding, well kind of). I will upgrade to captain when eligible in order to get the pay raise and start logging the turbine PIC time. The next move, thousands of hours down the road, is trying to get hired with a mainline carrier, preferably Delta. Being a captain at a "real" airline is still something I really want to do even though the industry is so vulnerable. Later down the road, depending on how I am enjoying my time mainline and how the industry looks, I would still consider applying at FedEx. They appear to be the best paying airline out there and the most profitable, and good to work for. Exploring a different part of the industry may be a nice change of pace.
With all this being said, the stars would have aligned and everything would have to go as planned and stay the same for all of my goals to come true. Especially since it is the aviation industry, I expect my plans to change over time along with the constant changing of the industry, so I will remain flexible with my plans and expect the unexpected.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Merger Mania Update
In this week's blog entry, I will be updating the past topic of airline mergers. I will update some of the most pressing issues and previously talked about topics from the last entry on this subject, discussing United Continental and American Airlines.
A hugely important day for the new United Airlines turned out to be a massive disaster on March 3rd. Prior to this day, United was still operating with two completely different reservations systems and frequent flier databases. The months of training and preparation that United's 15,000 agents received for the switch-over turned out to be a failure of epic proportions. Hundreds of flights across United's network were delayed, kiosks stopped working causing huge lines to speak to agents, and reservation lines were jammed. By the end of the week the flaws had been worked out of the system and operations were mostly back to normal. One could almost expect something like this to happen when two of the largest airlines in the world unite to form the world's largest airline, and millions of reservations must be combined.- The Daily Beast
In more recent times, the product of the merger between one of the best airlines in customer service and satisfaction- Continental, and perhaps the worst- United, has unfortunately begun to take on the characteristics of the latter of the two. Despite the former Continental CEO taking the reigns of the new airline, there seems to be a lack of emphasis on customer service. Only two airlines in the industry received lower ratings in customer satisfaction last year, American and Continental. The surprising one here obviously is Continental. But perhaps it actually is not so surprising, considering the reputation of the airline they merged with. Between changes to pet transportation procedures which make it very expensive to transport them, older aircraft being used on long haul flights, poor treatment of valued customers, and seemingly endless instances of employees "telling off" passengers, the new United has customers angry and disappointed.
With the nightmare of the reservations switchover being completed, the only thing left barring these two airlines seamlessly becoming one is pilot seniority integration. To date, the seniority lists are completely separate. United pilots only fly with United pilots and only fly United aircraft on United routes, and the same goes for Continental pilots. A member of ALPA says that negotiations between the two groups have picked up greatly since Capt. James Heppner, took office at the ALPA branch at United at the beginning of 2012. The negotiations haven't yet focused on the most important issues: wages, retirement and "scope"- the contract rules that govern how much outsourcing of pilot jobs United Continental can achieve through contracts with regional airline affiliates and code-sharing with other carriers -The Wall Street Journal. The two branches of ALPA have agreed to a six-month process for seniority integration and will resolve any differences by submitting to binding arbitration. At the earliest, seniority integration is not expected until the first quarter of next year.
In recent news, American Airlines can't seem to catch a break. Last week's hail storms in Dallas took out 55 of its mainline aircraft and caused 1,600 flights to be cancelled between American and American Eagle in the 3 days following the storm. This ads more cost to the airline already struggling to make it through bankruptcy.
U.S. Airways has reportedly become more aggressive in pursuing a merger with American Airlines, according to The Wall Street Journal. U.S. Airways has told some AA creditors that a merger could add $1.5 billion in annual revenues and cost savings. On the other hand, U.S. Airways interest could draw out the bankruptcy court proceedings, particularly because an anti-trust review would need to be completed prior to a merger. This could hurt creditors' recoveries because of the resulting lingering in bankruptcy court which would decrease the company's value. AMR Corp recently won ability to retain exclusive control over proposing a reorganization plan for another six months, but creditors could seek to end that exclusive period if they felt there were better options.
A hugely important day for the new United Airlines turned out to be a massive disaster on March 3rd. Prior to this day, United was still operating with two completely different reservations systems and frequent flier databases. The months of training and preparation that United's 15,000 agents received for the switch-over turned out to be a failure of epic proportions. Hundreds of flights across United's network were delayed, kiosks stopped working causing huge lines to speak to agents, and reservation lines were jammed. By the end of the week the flaws had been worked out of the system and operations were mostly back to normal. One could almost expect something like this to happen when two of the largest airlines in the world unite to form the world's largest airline, and millions of reservations must be combined.- The Daily Beast
In more recent times, the product of the merger between one of the best airlines in customer service and satisfaction- Continental, and perhaps the worst- United, has unfortunately begun to take on the characteristics of the latter of the two. Despite the former Continental CEO taking the reigns of the new airline, there seems to be a lack of emphasis on customer service. Only two airlines in the industry received lower ratings in customer satisfaction last year, American and Continental. The surprising one here obviously is Continental. But perhaps it actually is not so surprising, considering the reputation of the airline they merged with. Between changes to pet transportation procedures which make it very expensive to transport them, older aircraft being used on long haul flights, poor treatment of valued customers, and seemingly endless instances of employees "telling off" passengers, the new United has customers angry and disappointed.
With the nightmare of the reservations switchover being completed, the only thing left barring these two airlines seamlessly becoming one is pilot seniority integration. To date, the seniority lists are completely separate. United pilots only fly with United pilots and only fly United aircraft on United routes, and the same goes for Continental pilots. A member of ALPA says that negotiations between the two groups have picked up greatly since Capt. James Heppner, took office at the ALPA branch at United at the beginning of 2012. The negotiations haven't yet focused on the most important issues: wages, retirement and "scope"- the contract rules that govern how much outsourcing of pilot jobs United Continental can achieve through contracts with regional airline affiliates and code-sharing with other carriers -The Wall Street Journal. The two branches of ALPA have agreed to a six-month process for seniority integration and will resolve any differences by submitting to binding arbitration. At the earliest, seniority integration is not expected until the first quarter of next year.
In recent news, American Airlines can't seem to catch a break. Last week's hail storms in Dallas took out 55 of its mainline aircraft and caused 1,600 flights to be cancelled between American and American Eagle in the 3 days following the storm. This ads more cost to the airline already struggling to make it through bankruptcy.
U.S. Airways has reportedly become more aggressive in pursuing a merger with American Airlines, according to The Wall Street Journal. U.S. Airways has told some AA creditors that a merger could add $1.5 billion in annual revenues and cost savings. On the other hand, U.S. Airways interest could draw out the bankruptcy court proceedings, particularly because an anti-trust review would need to be completed prior to a merger. This could hurt creditors' recoveries because of the resulting lingering in bankruptcy court which would decrease the company's value. AMR Corp recently won ability to retain exclusive control over proposing a reorganization plan for another six months, but creditors could seek to end that exclusive period if they felt there were better options.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
The UAV Sector
1) What is the current status of this sector of the industry?
The total worldwide expenditure on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles currently amounts to $4.4-billion per year. This is mostly spent on worldwide military programs, used for surveillance on dangerous missions in dangerous areas. Currently 59 companies are manufacturing UAVs worldwide. 45 countries are building and buying UAVs and the US and UK are both working on tailless stealth designed UAVs. Traditionally, the leaders in UAV operations have been the US, UK, Israel, and South Africa, although South Africa has been losing its footing in recent years. In 2005, percentage of military aircraft deployed was only 5% UAVs, but that number had risen to 31% in the beginning of 2012, according to Defense Update. A recent entry into the UAV industry is Iran. They have begun to produce UAVs that among several other functions, are able to carry bombs. Their UAV program caught a lucky break when they captured a CIA Lockheed RQ-170 Sentinel and were able to see both the design and top secret surveillance information. Outside of the military realm, UAVs are used extensively in Japan for agricultural purposes. Since the rice farming industry has seen a large reduction of new farmers in recent times, UAVs are beginning to perform the work that as many as six individual farmers could previously accomplish. Also, UAVs are used by Border Patrol to patrol along the US-Mexico border for illegal aliens and drug trafficking.
2) What are the issues in these sectors that must be evaluated while moving towards the future?
The biggest issue in the United States as well as throughout much of the rest of the world is integrating UAVs into the civilian airspace system. The FAA has issued 285 special flight permits for UAV testing in the National Airspace System. With the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2012, the FAA is now mandated to integrate UAVs into the NAS. Some concerns that the FAA has with this integration are what the aircraft will do in the event of a loss of signal from its controller, controller distractions, the lack of ability to spot and avoid traffic, and further congestion of the airspace.
3) What is the 5-10 year outlook for this sector?
As mentioned above, the FAA is required to integrate UAV operations into the NAS by 2015. This will include performance and operational requirements to increase safety. Several test zones for UAVs in the airspace systems are supposed to be up and running by 2013. Currently for testing, the FAA requires that the operator of the UAV be able to keep the aircraft in sight at all times, which severely limits the testing capabilities. The integration will allow for much greater use of UAVs domestically for civillian use. They are expected to be used for things such as whale and fish spotting and tracking, agriculture, spotting wildfires, assessing disasters, and police work. UAVs are forecasted to be an $80 billion dollar industry worldwide in another 10 years. Furthermore, worldwide spending on UAV payloads is expected to rise from $2 billion in 2009 to $5 billion in the 2018 fiscal year, as stated by Engineering News. The military is developing stealth UAV technology and has plans to retire its Predator fleet.
4) What is/will the government's involvement be in this sector?
Also previously mentioned is the Congressional mandate that the FAA integrate UAVs into the NAS by 2015. Additionally the military is deploying a much greater percentage of UAV flights than ever before because of budget cuts as well as the increased safety by not having to send a manned aircraft into dangerous war zones.
5) What are possible career opportunities in this sector (be specific, which may require you to find actual job descriptions)?
With a simple search on Google, I was able to find jobs as a UAV operator (pilot), payload specialist, avionics specialist, and maintenance technician. It seems like there are an ample amount of jobs out there in the sector, especially as pilots. With the new testing program for the NAS, UAV pilots are needed in the FAA designated testing zones. As I have heard in the news and viewed while searching for jobs online, the most jobs in the UAV sector are for pilots, which is good for me. Employers included the National Guard, Textron, and several other private companies.
The total worldwide expenditure on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles currently amounts to $4.4-billion per year. This is mostly spent on worldwide military programs, used for surveillance on dangerous missions in dangerous areas. Currently 59 companies are manufacturing UAVs worldwide. 45 countries are building and buying UAVs and the US and UK are both working on tailless stealth designed UAVs. Traditionally, the leaders in UAV operations have been the US, UK, Israel, and South Africa, although South Africa has been losing its footing in recent years. In 2005, percentage of military aircraft deployed was only 5% UAVs, but that number had risen to 31% in the beginning of 2012, according to Defense Update. A recent entry into the UAV industry is Iran. They have begun to produce UAVs that among several other functions, are able to carry bombs. Their UAV program caught a lucky break when they captured a CIA Lockheed RQ-170 Sentinel and were able to see both the design and top secret surveillance information. Outside of the military realm, UAVs are used extensively in Japan for agricultural purposes. Since the rice farming industry has seen a large reduction of new farmers in recent times, UAVs are beginning to perform the work that as many as six individual farmers could previously accomplish. Also, UAVs are used by Border Patrol to patrol along the US-Mexico border for illegal aliens and drug trafficking.
2) What are the issues in these sectors that must be evaluated while moving towards the future?
The biggest issue in the United States as well as throughout much of the rest of the world is integrating UAVs into the civilian airspace system. The FAA has issued 285 special flight permits for UAV testing in the National Airspace System. With the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2012, the FAA is now mandated to integrate UAVs into the NAS. Some concerns that the FAA has with this integration are what the aircraft will do in the event of a loss of signal from its controller, controller distractions, the lack of ability to spot and avoid traffic, and further congestion of the airspace.
3) What is the 5-10 year outlook for this sector?
As mentioned above, the FAA is required to integrate UAV operations into the NAS by 2015. This will include performance and operational requirements to increase safety. Several test zones for UAVs in the airspace systems are supposed to be up and running by 2013. Currently for testing, the FAA requires that the operator of the UAV be able to keep the aircraft in sight at all times, which severely limits the testing capabilities. The integration will allow for much greater use of UAVs domestically for civillian use. They are expected to be used for things such as whale and fish spotting and tracking, agriculture, spotting wildfires, assessing disasters, and police work. UAVs are forecasted to be an $80 billion dollar industry worldwide in another 10 years. Furthermore, worldwide spending on UAV payloads is expected to rise from $2 billion in 2009 to $5 billion in the 2018 fiscal year, as stated by Engineering News. The military is developing stealth UAV technology and has plans to retire its Predator fleet.
4) What is/will the government's involvement be in this sector?
Also previously mentioned is the Congressional mandate that the FAA integrate UAVs into the NAS by 2015. Additionally the military is deploying a much greater percentage of UAV flights than ever before because of budget cuts as well as the increased safety by not having to send a manned aircraft into dangerous war zones.
5) What are possible career opportunities in this sector (be specific, which may require you to find actual job descriptions)?
With a simple search on Google, I was able to find jobs as a UAV operator (pilot), payload specialist, avionics specialist, and maintenance technician. It seems like there are an ample amount of jobs out there in the sector, especially as pilots. With the new testing program for the NAS, UAV pilots are needed in the FAA designated testing zones. As I have heard in the news and viewed while searching for jobs online, the most jobs in the UAV sector are for pilots, which is good for me. Employers included the National Guard, Textron, and several other private companies.
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