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Funny Business
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Thoughts for the day.
—Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants Detroit automakers to remake cars to meet tougher emissions standards, yet he wants environmental rules eased in California to help jumpstart jobs-creating infrastructure projects.
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Screen Actors Guild |
—Finally, had it with your boss or co-workers? Send a "tip" through Careerbuilder.com's Anonymous Tip Giver. You can pick a character, choose a voice, and write your own tip, like, "I sure wish you'd stop groping me." Or the site has pre-made tips, like, "One out of ten people think your barking ringtone is funny. That one person is you."
PLANES, THAIN, AND DYNASTY--YOUR EMAILS
A few emails about Former Merrill Lynch [BAC
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] CEO John Thain, who explains that he spent all that money on an office makeover because former CEO Stan O'Neal's style was not a-COMMODE-ating (heh, heh).
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From Mike F.: "Given the type of business deals he made in his short tenure as CEO, the commode was the most appropriate piece of furniture in the room."
Regarding Thain's war of words with Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, Rick A. writes: "Doesn't it remind you of Dynasty's Joan Collins/Linda Evans fight in the reflecting pond?"
Sigh. I remember that episode well, back in the days when I was a young reporter in Albuquerque and on "Dynasty" nights, another young reporter named Brooke Bradley and I would order pizza, watch the show, and play Trivial Pursuits. I managed to find the catfight on YouTube.
Notice that Krystal uses the "b" word (about 1:23 into the clip), long before that sort of thing was allowed on broadcast television, and witness the worst fake punch in TV history (around 2:14).
Meantime, my post on whether airline pilots should be able to move from airline to airline without having to start at the bottom of the pay/seniority list elicited quite a few emails, mostly from pilots.
First, however, Southwest Capt. Jack K. points out that the video I posted of what happens when a bird flies into an engine was misleading: "The You Tube video you posted as a bird passing through an engine is not quite correct. The test is for the engine losing a fan blade. Notice in the video that one blade is marked darker than the others. The engine casing must be able to hold the flying metal to keep it from penetrating the cabin or other parts of the aircraft. So although very dramatic, the video is not a bird passing through the engine as the article seems to insinuate, but a loss of a fan blade test."
Adds mechanic Jack O: "What you are actually watching is an explosive detachment of a fan blade to test the integrity of the fan case...In the case of a bird ingestion test you would actually see the bird being fired into the engine. There would be no flames and there would be much less damage. I have seen bird strikes in the course of my job and there can be anything from very minor damage to the engine compressor being completely destroyed."
Here's a better view, perhaps. of what a bird-into-the-engine might look like:
As for the way airlines pilots gain seniority and pay, Anonymous defends the current method: "While starting out at the bottom of a pilot seniority list seems archaic, it benefits not only the pilots, but also the traveling public. Safety can never be compromised for a promotion. As a Captain for a major U.S. carrier, a perfect flight for me is where flying from a A to B is seamless and safety is never impacted. I'm allowed a broad range of decision making authority, autonomous from my management, in determining the safety of my flight...If seniority is taken out of the promotion equation and based solely upon job performance and experience, we could be setting ourselves up for disaster...Sure pilots would love to skip from airline to airline in search of career safety and larger compensation. But there are pilots who could be intimidated by airline management into cutting corners for the sake of saving their job or the chance of a promotion. I'm living the nightmare of stagnation at my carrier, but I see too many benefits from date-of-hire seniority to change. Regarding Glenn Tilton, you have hit the head on the nose. I wish more would ask the tough questions."
Chuck H. reminds us that it's not only pilots who keep planes flying safely: "In response to your article about pilot outsourcing. I guess the 'Gods' are fearful they can be replaced at a cheaper rate....well join the ranks of outsourcing!! I am a 20 year aircraft mechanic with United Airlines here in Chicago. I just got laid off along with 700 other United mechanics. Reason?? My job gets outsourced to China, Korea and other foreign countries, where they have unlicensed aircraft mechanics with no oversight from the FAA. We are constantly doing rework from these places. I don't hear the airline pilots unions raising any grief over this outsourcing...It's always about the pilots....but do you or anyone else ever wonder who maintains these multi million dollar aircraft ?...Don't get me wrong, I have much respect for pilots (my son is one) but they think they are so high and mighty. I have flown planes with my son, and my job with United lets me taxi all types of commercial aircraft at O'Hare airport. Believe me...they can be replaced...
This country, namely the TSA, has more concerns in bringing a bottle of water on the plane versus some unlicensed mechanic in a communist country fixing the very plane they are about to get on."
US Airways [LCC
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] first officer Lance S. took issue with my comment that Capt. Sullenberger, who landed the plane in the Hudson, will not be the sort of pilot you'll see flying in a new United [UAUA
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] joint venture with Aer Lingus, as he's "too expensive": "Captain Sullenberger lost his retirement, twice, his post retirement medical benefits, numerous days of vacation, and suffered several steep pay cuts that leaves him and the rest of the original US Airways pilots as the lowest paid pilots in the United States flying for a mainline carrier. As if that isn't bad enough, he and the rest of his original US Airways pilots are paid $25 an hour less than his less experienced counterparts from America West and receives 10 less days of vacation a year. There are two separate pilot groups flying for USAirways, doing the same job. The former East pilots are working under a bankruptcy contract while the West pilots are compensated at a much higher level and in fact, got a pay raise last year...Whatever happened to the fundamental American principle of equal pay for equal work?"
Fellow US Airways pilot Mike G. adds: "US Airways pilots, the real US Airways pilots from the original US Airways who have all the experience you're referring to, are THE LOWEST PAID MAJOR AIRLINE PILOTS IN THE INDUSTRY. We make far less that United pilots. This came about because of a corrupt unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, who we finally ousted last year...Sully is going to retire on about 28 percent of what he was supposed to...Too expensive, indeed. Care to discuss what our extra, super-dooper talented management makes? Their talents lie in stealing from the employees and destroying a once proud profession."
And from Anonymous: "UAL and Tilton have got to be the dumbest corporate management team in America. Did anyone happen to notice that United Airlines announced the outsourcing contract with Aer Lingus, and then, 48 hours later, announced that United was laying off another 1,000 U S based employees? What are these morons smoking in Chicago?"
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