Final Blog

In the beginning of this semester my plan for after graduation involved flight instructing, regional airlines, and then the majors. My long term goal (working for one of the majors) has not changed however; the route I have decided to take has changed slightly. I would still be more than happy working for the regionals however my mind has opened to all the other opportunities out there. I have decided that I want to have some variety in what I do with my career.

The most interesting blog topic that we have done would definitely be the one on the Regional airlines. This blog post reminded me that the pay might not be the best but that this is job can be rewarding in other ways, and most likely this is most peoples first job that allows them the fly a jet engine powered aircraft. The blog post that I found least interesting was the one we did on GA in China. This post made me aware that there are a lot of job opportunities in China nevertheless moving to China is not something that I would be willing to do.

I really enjoyed all of the guest speakers that we had this year and wish that more had these guest speakers. I feel the information I gained from them is extremely helpful, and I feel that some of them should speak in some of the freshman classes in order to give them a better idea of what their future will hold and how to get there. The speakers I enjoyed the most were the two women from the Detroit TRACON. It is really interesting to get see the people that we hear and talk to all the time.

After graduation when I get a job flight instructing I plan to take it one day at a time for a while and just enjoy getting paid to fly. Of course I am still going to be pursuing more ratings such as CFII and MEI that is if I don’t have them already. I am also interested in getting my tail wheel endorsement and my seaplane rating after graduation.

EU ETS

The European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme was created in 2005 in order to reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere. The Trading Scheme focuses on many different sources of the carbon emissions including the global aviation industry.

Every year the EU ETS will grant every company an allowance, this allowance represents the amount of carbon emissions a company can produce. At the end of the year if the company has some of its allowance left over they have the option to sell the some or keep it for future years. If a company goes over their allowance they are given a heavy fine. The reason implementing this “trading scheme” is to lower emissions, and to reward the companies that are having success doing this. In order for the companies to evolve along with the new carbon reducing technologies their allowances are going to reduce each year.

This sounds like a great plan right?  Well maybe not for non EU countries. The United States and China are both strongly opposed to this new law. The US does not agree with the EU putting this plan into place because they feel that a plan like this should be developed by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization). This would make it more financially fair on a global level, whereas now most of the financial gain goes to the EU. The biggest controversy is over the fact that the EU ETS will starts measuring the emissions from takeoff till landing, even if the origin of the flight is not within the EU’s airspace. For example, if a there is a flight from Los Angeles to Paris it will get charged for the entire length of the flight. The US feels the EU does not have the authority to do this.

I definitely feel that there needs to be a solution to aviation emissions. With that being said I feel that the intensions of the EU are in the right place even with charging airlines for an entire flight no matter where the origin is. However, I feel that something like this should be handled by ICAO, and any benefit from a system like this such as money should be invested into developing even more technology that can help reduce emissions.

NextGen

The Next Generation Air Transportation system (NextGen) according to the FAA’s website at its most basic level represents an evolution from a ground-based system of air traffic control to a satellite-based system of air traffic management. This evolution is vital to meeting future demand, and to avoiding gridlock in the sky and at our nation’s airports. The NextGen air system will rely on four major pillars: economic impact, sustainability, flexibility, and safety.

            In my opinion safety is and always will be the FAA’s first priority. The implementation of NextGen will increase safety by allowing ATC to see more accurate aircraft location information. With NextGen being such a large change in the way our industry operates it seems obvious that this change would not be made if it was not improving the overall safety.

            Economic impact I feel would be the next most important pillar because this is what the general public will notice most especially in today’s economy. An article by The Washington Post is a perfect example. This article focuses on how much money it is costing the U.S.

            I feel that the next two pillars flexibility and sustainability go hand in hand with each other. For example in order for NextGen to be sustainable over the many years to come, it has to be flexible and be able to adapt along with all the new technological advancements.

            The presidents proposed plan for user fees is to charge $100 per flight to help cover the costs of this new system. As I understand the need for user fees, I believe that it needs to be done differently. I think that the government should charge according to who uses the system the most this of course would be the airlines. However, if the user fees are put into place the airlines would end up passing on the price to its customers by raising the ticket prices. With this being said I feel that it will have a negative impact on the aviation industry.  NextGen will have a large impact on my career as it will change the way the National Airspace System is operated.

GA in China

This week’s topic of discussion is General Aviation in China. Earlier this year there were talks between Hawker Beechcraft and a Chinese company called Superior Aviation Beijing Co. Unfortunately last Thursday the 18th Hawker Beechcraft CEO Steve Miller announced, "Despite our best efforts, the proposed transaction with Superior could not be completed on terms acceptable to the company." However, Cessna is producing its 162 in China by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (government owned). By doing this Cessna is saving approximately $71,000 in production costs which equals about 40% of the total cost.

According to export.com the reason for such rapid growth in China’s General Aviation is due to the demand for aerial work, private sector involvement, and civil aviation development and growth. A more obvious reason for the increase in GA is the population of China has been growing at an extremely fast pace.

If the General Aviation industry in China is growing at such a fast pace what does this mean for the United States. This means that there will be plenty of jobs available for the people that are willing to move. However, the people that manufacture the aircraft will be losing jobs due to the fact that China can get the same job done for a lot cheaper than what the United States can.

The Regional Airlines

Comair Airlines is a regional air carrier that was owned and operated by Delta Airlines from 1999 until September 29^th, 2012. Looking back before Delta bought the airline; Comair was established in March of 1977 by Patrick J. Sowers, Robert T. Tranter, David and Raymond Mueller. The company started with just two Piper Navajo aircraft. Comair’s headquarters was at Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport. Don Bornhorst, Senior VP of Delta Connection said “Delta plans on reducing their total number of regional jets from nearly 350 aircraft to 125 or fewer in the upcoming years. As a result of this reduction and changes to its customer-focused business strategy, Delta has made the difficult decision to cease Comair's operations." For the full memo regarding Comair’s cease in operations clickhere.

Looking at the airlines as a whole including the major airlines and regionals they both have been filled with mergers and closers. However, I feel that the current structure between both regional and major airlines is sufficient. If the majors were to change their use of regional carriers I would foresee a lot more of them following in Comair’s footsteps and closing down for good. Both types of carriers feed of each other regionals providing the short routes and the majors providing the intercontinental flights.

According to Pilotjobs.com SkyWest Airlines is hiring below is their qualifications and pay per hour.

Qualifications

	Minimum		Competitive		Preferred
Total Time	1200		1500
Last 6 Months:	0		200
	PIC	SIC	PIC	SIC
Multi Time:	100	0	200	0
Turboprop Time:	0	0	100	0
Jet Time:	0	0	20	0
Certificate	Commercial		ATP		ATP
CFIIME			Yes		Yes
ATP Written			Yes		Yes
Regional Jet Standards Certification	No		Yes		Yes
Education	No College Required		4-Year Degree		4-Year Degree
Age:	22

 

Pay Schedule

Pay Determination	Hourly
Aircraft & Notes	Guaranteed Pay Hours	Seniority	First Officer	Captain
CRJ 900 Per Diem : $1.70/hr	72 Line 75 Reserve	1 Year	$22.00/hr.	$63.00/hr.
		2 Years	$39.00/hr.	$66.00/hr.
		3 Years	$41.00/hr.	$69.00/hr.
		4 Years	$43.00/hr.	$71.00/hr.
		5 Years	$44.00/hr.	$73.00/hr.
CRJ-200 Per Diem : $1.70/hr	72 Line 75 Reserve	1 Year	$22.00/hr.	$59.00/hr.
		2 Years	$36.00/hr.	$61.00/hr.
		3 Years	$38.00/hr.	$64.00/hr.
		4 Years	$39.00/hr.	$66.00/hr.
		5 Years	$41.00/hr.	$68.00/hr.
CRJ-700 Per Diem : $1.70/hr	72 Line 75 Reserve	1 Year	$22.00/hr.	$62.00/hr.
		2 Years	$38.00/hr.	$65.00/hr.
		3 Years	$41.00/hr.	$68.00/hr.
		4 Years	$42.00/hr.	$70.00/hr.
		5 Years	$43.00/hr.	$72.00/hr.
Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia Per Diem : $1.70/hr	80 Line 75 Reserve	1 Year	$22.00/hr.	$47.00/hr.
		2 Years	$31.00/hr.	$49.00/hr.
		3 Years	$32.00/hr.	$50.00/hr.
		4 Years	$33.00/hr.	$52.00/hr.
		5 Years	$34.00/hr.	$53.00/hr.

 

Will the Airlines Ever be a Luxury Again?

Due to the Airline Deregulation act of 1978 the prices of all airline tickets dropped significantly because of the increase of competition. I feel that the ability to go from point A to point B should be affordable to most of the public. In the past, before the Deregulation Act, flying was primarily for the rich. Everyone would get dressed up in their nice clothes and it was considered to be part of the experience of a trip somewhere, instead of a hassle that it is considered today.

Maybe this is how people fly in the future?

There are many reasons why someone can fly somewhere for the same price they can drive a car. The first example is that with all competition between airlines everyone is always trying to be the least expensive choice. According to costtodrive.com it costs $146.86 in gas to drive from Detroit to Orlando. However, on the website I noticed that there was an advertisement directly next to the calculation. It was an advertisement for how much it costs to fly there. They say a flight would only cost $158.00. With such a small difference why not fly?

If the airlines did raise their prices, making flying commercially less accessible to the public, I feel that the industry in general would be a lot smaller with fewer planes, less jobs for people. Overall, I feel that there would be less money for the airlines. I believe that in order for the airlines to make money on a regular basis they need to raise the ticket prices to a point where they know for a fact they will be making a profit, but not to the point where it becomes unaffordable to the middle class. A very good article by USA Today goes in depth explaining how much the ticket prices have already increased and the effects on the industry.

Airline Safety

On August 1^st, 2010 President Obama signed Public Law 111-216 titled The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Act of 2010. This was a result of Colgan Air Flight 3407. The flight took place on February 12, 2009 departing from Newark, New Jersey and intending to land in Buffalo, New York. The plane crashed in Buffalo’s nearby City Clarence Center, New York killing all 45 passengers, four crew members, and one person on the ground a total of 50 deaths altogether. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) stated that the reason for the crash was the pilot’s improper reaction from the stall warning devices onboard the aircraft. The blame for this was then put on the pilot’s inexperience this of course sparked the creation for Public Law 111-216.

Some things that the law changes are:

- First officers are now required to hold an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate in part 121 operations (ATP)

- An ATP requires 1500 flight hours

- It is proposed that pilots with an aviation degree or military pilot experience will only be required to get 1000 flight hours

- The FAA is also planning for the pilots to be required to get a type rating in the aircraft being operated

I feel that these law changes were made both reactively and they were necessary. Unfortunately in aviation this is usually how new laws come into place, because of an accident or incident of some kind. These changes were implied in order to create a safer environment for passengers and the flight crew alike. Click here in order to view the law in full.

This is an issue facing me and many pilots that do not have anywhere close the 1500 flight hours for an ATP. The typical plan that many pilots do is go from flight instructing to a job in the regional airlines this is done around 700 hours and up. With the new law they are going to have to a little more patient and wait for the new minimum hour requirement, this is exactly what I plan to do. This will effect EMU’s future in flight training by not allowing the current flight instructors to move on to the regionals fast enough therefore not allowing them to hire in new CFI’s and allow them to start gaining flight experience.