10 Years Today

[Walmartgreeter]

Exactly 10 years ago today a very senile and vindictive old man decided he would take revenge on the pilot profession, following a lifetime of arbitration decisions he apparently resented participating in. I wish him nothing but the worst, especially considering what his failed work cost thousands of pilots and their loved ones over the last decade. Good riddance to old man Nic, make sure you tell him that at your next coffee talk. He was a failure.

Shortly after that obscene decision a US Airways First Officer…… soft spoken, outstanding airman, well-educated, and fine family man said it would never stand that a pilot with 17 years unbroken service would ever, for any reason, be placed on a seniority list behind a new hire at a merging airline.

He acted, he led, and he did the impossible. He kicked the largest pilot union in the World off the property, and forever blocked the implantation of the Nic. He built that wall.

This day somewhere an internet countdown clock still rolls in tribute to selfish idiots that somehow thought it just they benefit from such a vile decision. About 200 of them still managed to win the lottery. The other thousand or so sit on a combined list many thousands of numbers lower than they ever expected thanks to their greed. “Gear Up!”

I hope you all give Steve Bradford a strong handshake whenever you see him, and a big “Thank you!”


And never, ever let him buy a beer in your presence. You all owe him big time. The profession owes him even more.

 

[dariencc]

I hope you all give Steve Bradford a strong handshake whenever you see him, and a big “Thank you!”

And never, ever let him buy a beer in your presence. You all owe him big time. The profession owes him even more.

Thanks indeed for the timely reminder. Steve Bradford stood tall when it was needed.

 

[dariencc]

Hat tip today for Captain Mike Cleary as well. He never lost heart for the battle.

The brilliant actor Holt MaCallany got him just right.

 

[Claxon]

Bradford and Cleary took the east pilots to and through the gates. The america west pilots attempted to steal their seniority.
Mr. Nicolau is to be admired for his courageous service in WW2.
Everyone makes a bad call in life, and Mr Nicolau made his worst decision ever in the awa US integration.
The LAA pilots in LAX are being crushed by west influx.
Bradford is going to always be the hero of east pilots.

 

[Claxon]

Rerouting a career to new heights
Passion and persistence helped him become an American Airlines captain.

Steve Gay always wanted to fly. As a boy, he was inspired by many trips on Pan American 707 Clipper jets from Houston to São Paulo, where his dad was an audit partner and briefly, the São Paulo-office managing partner for Price Waterhouse.

At age 18, Steve enrolled in the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University aviation management program. But a saturated employment market put his plans on hold. Instead, he turned to accounting. After graduating from the University of Texas - Austin in 1979, he took a position with Price Waterhouse in Houston, later moving on to computer sales. But it was a chance conversation with a commercial airline pilot that awakened him once more to the idea of flying.

Steve expressed concern about obstacles such as his age and the fact that he wore glasses. But the pilot stopped him, saying: “The rules have changed. There’s no age restriction, you no longer have to have uncorrected 20/20 vision, and they’re hiring lots of civilian-trained pilots. You can fly for the airlines now!”

It was the push Steve needed. Two days later, he enrolled at a Houston flight school and went on to gain FAA commercial and flight instructor certificates. He later served as a flight instructor, gaining hours and experience, and then worked his way up through positions with regional carriers, commanding smaller commercial aircraft. In 2004, he was promoted to Captain at America West in Phoenix. The next year, the airline absorbed US Airways Group and adopted the US Airways name. Eight years later in February 2013, US Airways and American agreed to merge, forming the world’s largest airline. In December 2014 the merger became official. The FAA is expected to issue a single operating certificate in April 2015, meaning all employees will follow the same procedures and receive the same training. The FAA issued a single operating certificate in April 2015, meaning all employees now follow the same procedures and receive the same training.

The thrill of flying has never worn off for Steve. “Truly, it never gets old,” he says, “I love coming to work; I like greeting the passengers. I still relish showing that wide-eyed kid the cockpit before or after the flight to get a glimpse of the controls, because I was once that kid.”

On rerouting himself to the career of his dreams, he is firm, “If the door is cracked, even in the slightest, you have to try to push it open.”

 

[Claxon]

Steve Gay, would have leaped over thousands of east pilots hired years before him........

 

[Claxon]

Steve Gay has leaped over thousands of AA and former TWA pilots hired years before him.

 

[dariencc]

Captain Gay is well known to viewers of the Crew News videos on Jetnet. He is the weirdo who repeatedly badgered Kirby about having kiddie wings on the airplanes. Kirby humored him but clearly saw that he was totally nuts.

"Captain" Gay has also been identified as one of those who intentionally left cockpit equipment out of their normal position when the aircraft was about to be passed on to East crews. Typically, the America West holdover management never took any meaningful action against any of them. A completely unprofessional douc*e. The truth is that he is unfit to hold an FAA license.

 

[dariencc]