GeorgeZip:
I must agree with you, I think busdrvr is a very talented pilot. He is also the beneficiary of good timing, and god-given abilites that often determine the outcome of a pilot's career many years before the so-called prize is won.
As a fellow Air Force pilot, I also respect busdrvr's willingness to serve his country, and I know just a little bit about the sacrifices he's made to obtain and keep the wings of silver he earned. For that I salute him and respect his achievements.
However, there are a few things I vehemently disagree with him on. This particular subject happens to be the most recent example.
For some unknown reason, busdrvr has a strong distaste for some OAL pilots and their decisions to work for certain airlines. He attempts to use a flawed logic to assume that all professional/airline pilots can be separated into two camps:
1. Those who want to fly for a major airline (i.e., United Airlines), and are successfully hired by one. Or;
2. Those who want to fly for a major airline, and for some fundamental reasons (usually dealing with their professional abilities, or lack thereof) they must accept employment with an airline which is considered second-rate, and therefore appropriate for their station on the ladder of professional achievement.
While busdrvr may be motivated and raised to believe that such a scenario is true, he certainly doesn't know, or has lived the experiences of the 100,000's of professional pilots who journeyed the many, varied paths to reach their goals (or perhaps failed to do so)as professional pilots, in this often fickle and cruel business.
Yet despite this fact, he is more than happy to tell someone like myself why I work for an airline like jetBlue. I am not only offended by such an arrogant, and poorly thought out position, but I also amazed that such a person is willing to make such inflammatory statements on a public forum, and then attempt to defend them as he does.
Busdrvr,
Let me dispell your myth right here by using my experience.
First of all, I achieved high levels of success in my professional education, having graduated with honors both as an undergraduate (Accounting) and in post-graduate work (MBA).
Second, I was accepted into pilot training in the USAF and graduated to become a T-37 FAIP. I was a distinguished graduate at PIT, and went on to fly five different aircraft types & three different MWS. I also graduated as a DG in my initial training in one of these MWS platforms. In all types but one, I served as an IP. In one system I served as a stan/eval EP.
I've flown over 200 hours of combat time in two different wars (Desert Storm & Kosovo). I have extensive international flying experience, and have NEVER busted a form 8 checkride in my 20-year career with the AF. I have never received a violation, nor suffered a mishap in an aircraft. By all standards, I've had a superlative aviation career up to this point.
Now my reasons for selecting jetBlue as my employer involved many factors. The first one was my age. In 1990-91, I attempted to separate from the Air Force, but was unable to get out soon enough before all airline hiring ceased. I had to remain on active duty and take an onerous seven-year "pilot-bonus" commitment, or be placed in a non-flying tour. That sealed my fate to remain in the AF for 20 years.
Wind forward to 2000-01, I now find myself at age 43, trying to pick up a job at any airline on the tail end of big hiring boom. I knew enough to know that my chance for sitting at the bottom of a 10,000 pilot seniority list with a lot of younger guys and gals in front of me would mean a very slow upgrade to captain. Also the risk of quick furlough if the economy took a nose-dive was not an appealing option. But despite that I'd accept those terms.
I successfully interviewed with Delta & jetBlue in the fall of 2000. jetBlue however, offered me a class in early 2001, and Delta put me in a pool with a class date TBD. I figured I go with jetBlue, and at least wait for Delta with a later training date. As it turned out, that Delta class never materialized and I remained on at jetBlue.
What I lost ten years earlier in job and seniority opportunity, I regained with B6 in 2001. That being a quick upgrade to captain, and an excellent seniority position. It was a big risk, to stay with them, but external events which occurred to the industry made my decision easy. Since then I've been extrememly grateful for my employment and have never looked back.
Jetblue is an exceptional company, with exceptional management, and employees who are very happy to be there, and make my work experience very enjoyable and satisfying. For me and my personal situation, it is an ideal match for my career aspirations.
Is it the right choice? I won't know for another 15 years at least, but so far I couldn't have done better.
So you see busdrvr, it isn't always as you think it is.
33 AM George Zip wrote: 
