I think that this applies to "ANY" thought of concessions now or in the future in our contract negotiations...
Recently a lot has been said and written in the press concerning pilot's salaries and compensation. We have been told about how much it will cost our company, our job has been compared to others, and various subtle and not so subtle threats and intimidation tactics have been hurled at our group. In light of the current situation, please allow me, a pilot, to give you a small glimpse into my world...
DON'T COMPARE MY JOB TO OTHER JOBS:
How many boardrooms explode over Long Island
Sound?
How many meetings conclude with hundreds
of dead bodies?
How many trucks cost $82 million dollars?
How many doctors spend half the month away
from their families?
Do the children of media representatives
cry when Daddy puts on his uniform to go to work because they know he'll
be gone for a week or two?
How many salesmen lose their jobs because
they have high blood pressure?
How many lawyers spend Christmas alone in
a crash pad?
When your spouse is watching TV and the program
is interrupted by a news flash of an aircraft accident, does he/she momentarily
freeze in fear for what they might hear?
There is not another profession in the world where the consequences for mistakes are so catastrophic and unforgiving.
THE PRICE:
I pay the price when somebody loads full oxygen
containers in the cargo hold.
I pay the price when a terrorist has a bone
to pick.
I pay the price when loaders forget to set
the locks.
I pay the price when engineers design a fuel
pump not quite correctly.
I pay the price when Mother Nature decides
to shift the winds...I pay the price.
YOU SPEAK OF THE COST:
Ask the CEO of Value-Jet the cost of a DC-9
buried in the Everglades.
Ask Fred Smith the cost to scrape a DC-10
and MD-11 from the runways at Steward and Newark.
Ask Korean Airlines the cost of a 747 that
didn't quite make the runway at Guam.
Ask Fine Air the cost to clean up a DC-8
off a Miami street.
Ask Bob Crandall the cost of a B-757 impacting
a Colombian mountain.
And if not for their Cool, Calm, Professionalism,
what could have been the cost of a UPS B-727 that suddenly went dark and
silent four miles above Chicago? How much were they worth to you that night?
Industry standard or 25% below?
WHEN YOU TRY TO INTIMIDATE ME, REMEMBER:
It was I who flew Cobra gunships in the jungles
of Vietnam while you worked on your masters degree.
It was I who sat alone at the tip of an F-18
in the silent instant before I am catapulted over a cold, dark sea, while
you slept peacefully in your bed.
It was I who one night watched my wings grow
heavy with ice, miles from the safety of the nearest airport praying that
I had enough fuel to find clear skies, while you watched Monday night football.
It was I who flew a C-130 into Panamanian
gunfire, while you decorated your Christmas tree in 1989.
It was I who faced head-on the fourth largest
army in the world over the deserts of Iraq and brought it to its knees,
while you watched it on CNN.
It was I who landed an A-6 on a floating
piece of tarmac no bigger than your backyard, while you mowed yours.
It was I who orbited in unarmed tankers over
enemy territory to replenish others sworn to protect you.
It was I who watched missiles and bullets
blossom in my face, yet didn't turn and run, while you watched the flowers
blossom in your garden.
It was I who buried a friend.
It is I who knows a little boy who will never
play catch with his Dad, so that you may play with your grandchild.
Sir, please don't try to intimidate ME. I am not your enemy, I am your asset, an asset that has experienced and accomplished things few dare to try. Realize this and there are few obstacles we can't overcome...
Mark Brasfield
MD-11 FO
