When you put it in that context Blackmac, I'm all for it!! I suppose if we don't think our vote is taking us in the direction we want to go, there's nothing stopping us from simply leaving the organization.
So how do we join and how much??????
Charles W. said,
"A pilot is like a nymphomaniac, they just have to get screwed no matter what, and as often as possible".
Chas, I'm sorry you feel that way about pilots. Also, please count me out of that group.
I have no desire to get screwed, so I work for who I do, and they never even try to screw me.
Frankly, I don't know any pilots that WANT to get screwed. That is why there is such a strong feeling for the betterment of pilots through various suggested methods, i.e. an association, a union, re-regulation etc. etc. depending on personal choice.
P.S.....believing and regurgitate are the correct spellings. With no Spell-check, and no Edit, these things happen. Anyway, we know what you were meaning, Chas., I just don't agree with it.
JetBox: Go to the web page on the main forum, fill in the application form and mail as indicated, with the $200. dollar cheque made out to the organization.
Good on you that you work in the ideal workplace because you are capable of controlling your destiny.
However I believe that many pilots allow themselves to be screwed because the desire to fly overides all other factors.
With regard to my referring to "regurgitate" I use that word because it best describes what I have observed having seen what many of my employees in the flight training end of aviation do. They read, listen to lectures and then "reguritate" the exact content of what they have been taught, without ever having any background in actually having "done and experienced" many of the items they have been brainwashed to believe are the correct methods.
I guess I am at a real disadvantage in these subjects though by having the temerity to question all the "book" experts.
Oh well, I guess we all can't be accepted into the herd and be part of the "right stuff gang"
By the way I am in the process of deciding which of several contracts I will choose to accept this year, two of which require some very demanding decision making to safely bring them to their conclusion. I hope I manage to get it right because there are a lot of people who think I will be able to do so, I would hate like hell to fail at this late stage of the game because I did not understand the subject.
Don M/HEPAC Director: I think a few people need to go back and read some of the opinions and debates that were voiced for and against an Association. We have good memories, just short. The potential benefits of HEPAC are not lost on me.
I respect and appreciate what you have done in this very short time. At one point I stared down the barrell of this undertaking and can vouch for the fact that much fortitude was required, more than I possess. I let loose a sigh of relief when you grabbed the bull by the horns and took maybe one of the most important steps for this industry. The paperwork alone was intimidating!
Having said that, something has gone askew. I believe some powerful people in the industry cruise this forum trying to gather information. I become concerned when I see the current director of HEPAC dragged into catfights and name calling.
I appreciate your passion in some of the stances you have taken, but I would ask that you carefully discuss HEPAC policies with your other directors and then pose a non-confrontational response from HEPAC, not Don M. Perhaps this is being done, but it seems to be your name on most posts. You are now the lightening rod, and in the process have done some damage to your credibility. It's not irreparable. I think you still have the credentials to be involved, if not at the top, very close to it.
People want to join HEPAC. I sense that you want this to happen right now. It will take time. How long has it taken for the concept of HEPAC to become reality? Fifty years?
The other more important issue has got to be the fee. I am very embarassed to say that after all my ranting and raving about a good use of $200 for HEPAC, I just do not have $200 spare dollars right now. It has been a long lean winter, and I suspect alot of other people feel the same way. That in addition to some of the hostility really made people second guess the integrity of your efforts. Unfortunately you are now in the same position as our Liberal Gov't :angry: , trying to convince everybody that our hard earned money is safe.
I believe it is a very expensive undertaking, but are you willing to accept a smaller payment just to get things moving? Build it up a little at a time. The new season is just around the corner, and with it more cash. You are in a little catch 22 right now similar to the low time pilot who needs the hours to get the job....... You need bona-fide members to get your quorum so you make some issues real. We want to make it so, but some flexibilty is required.
Please take these comments from somebody who wants to see HEPAC succeed and perhaps help the industry one day.
Very well said Bubblebath, if things keep going in the right direction, I'll lend you the $200-.
Don Blackmac, your posts today have been calm, informative and professional. Just what we would expect from an association spokesman. Can we expect more of this lucidity in the future ?? I sure hope so, because I found my chequebook today, and am almost tempted to send one.
Chas W. good luck on the decision making.......(I suggest the contract with the cutest receptionist).
I support what Don has started, and believe that the Engineers and Pilots would benefit by such an organazation.
Having said that I probably do not have the social skills necessary to be involved in any direct contact with decision makers in the industry who treat crews like crap.
For instance lets pretend I was sent to discuss the way we used to be treated by some Alberta forest service districts.
Maybe things have changed since I used to fly the fire bombers, but air crew were treated like husky dogs chained to rocks at some bases.
My method of solving the problem would be to make an appointment to see the head guy in private.
I would pretend to offer my hand in greeting, but instead of shaking his hand I would quickly grab his nuts.
Once I had him in hand so to speak I would paralize him just short of his passing out.
My message would be short, precise and clearly understood by the recipient.
My crews " WILL" be treated with respect and fed like human beings from now on or I would come back and twist his nuts right off and throw them in the toilet....then I would squeeze just a little harder to reinforce the message.
You and I Cyclic Monkey are probably poles apart in our thoughts, you see I am lacking in the finer skills of todays society and am probably lacking in culture in some peoples opinion. Its to late to change me...but I get things done.
Just to touch on the decision making involved in our next several contracts the first one is to inspect and get a PBY ready for a ferry flight from London England to Tel Aviv...( we are pilot / engineers ) Then fly it there. It has been sitting out in the weather for ten years and never run.
The second is in Paris and we have to deliver it to Sao Paulo Brazil..that one is in very good mechanical condition, the most difficult part will be making the decisions necessary to penetrate the inter tropical convergence zone that will lie somewhere south of Dakar and of course our route will be at an angle to the general position that the ITCZ lies across the South Atlantic........ Last time we flew that route we spent hours weaving our way through the thunderstorms.
But hey, I don't need to attend some touchy feely decision making course to get it done, because getting things done is what I do best.
Oh, by the way I am not trying to sound condescending Cyclic Monkey, its just sweet little o'l me.
Yes, Chas, we would probably handle a Fire Boss differently, but I've been in enough bad Alberta fire camps to have certainly considered crushing some nuts.
Paris, Tel Aviv and Sao Paulo sound alot more interesting than Wabasca and Steen River.
Are you the guy that had the PBYs at Cassidy Airport???
I was sort of involved in the two PBY s at Cassidy, I brought one over from St Thomas Ont. about six years ago and am looking after one for the owner until someone buys it.
The other one was bought by Plane Sailing in London England and they are stuck in St. johns waiting for weather to cross the Atlantic.
So not much has changed the neandrethal's still inhabit the AFS management structure, huh?