AirGuardianC141747

Never trust CEOs, CFOs, etc. Very few names come up as stand up folks. They’re like politicians, take the credit during good times, lay the blame elsewhere during hard times which they contributed too behind the scenes or blatantly in your face. “Mongo just a pawn in game of life!” A dropped ball never bounces as high from whence it came. The rebound is dependent upon the gravity of the situation, in this case specifically public health, confidence and any surplus savings. Paychecks have stopped completely in many areas. Stay strong, stay inside and we don’t need this to spike twice or more. Thank God for truckers amongst many others. *Just flew into JFK early this morning from ANC, still too many people out joy riding around. Definitely less than last week so that’s good. Oceanic control had some turmoil last night due to virus concerns kind of like New York shutting down temporarily for virus exposure. Yeah, good times - not.

Are you an early riser Huggy? Or late to bed sleep all day type. Impressive. I just flew in from ANC, here in quiet JFK / New York City. Toooo quiet. But it’s a good sign that these people need to hunker down. We’ll see what victims to be daylight brings. Had my mask and thankfully my Uber Driver had his, granted he was Asian and well ahead of the game. Not his first rodeo. Log jams of applications - totally agree. Cargo applications especially. Compass to close 7 April and even sooner Tran States (Regionals) closes its operations 1 Apr. GoJet is mixed up in this as well with its relationship with Delta which may disappear by the end of 2020. So far that’s nearly 1,100 pilots out of their jobs. This may be just the beginning as the Majors consolidate themselves into critical mass to survive. Won’t disappear as transportation is a critical/vital national asset, but the structure/landscape will change and yes retirements will damper the effect and hopefully offset this crushing situation. Sooner we bounce back the better and that is why the public needs to be disciplined just for a few weeks. Longer it goes, the longer it will take to recover having depleted savings, retirements, small and large businesses, trade conventions, etc.. More debt, less leisure travel. Companies swung back quickly to video teleconferencing, etc and the bean counters may find it’s a more profitable venture and limit former employee travel having set up shop with VTC. We did in the DoD during budget constraints so we know it all too well. Google, Microsoft, Zoom to name a few offering free trials for companies = “the new call for video will lead to a “fundamental, permanent shift in how people work.” - Zoom CEO. We’ll See how this matures and it worries me somewhat. Of course there will be the must travel for actual sales and hand shake agreements, but it is concerning. We all have a Big Flat-Screen TVs now in your homes, it can’t be too hard with telecommuting running the show right now. Our appetite for entertainment and social gatherings will come back fastest after being cooped up for awhile is just my guess. Some things will come roaring back hopefully, but others will have morphed into a non-travel adaptation forced by this crisis at hand. Flatten the infectious curve fast is the key judging by the more successful nations coming thru this. It will take some time unfortunately. Military aviators have very competitive resumes. Having civilian airline hours as well even shines brighter as proof of your assimilation from Blue to gray (or whatever mil background you come from.) As you are witnessing unfortunately but a proven fact, timing is everything.

Totally agree, the faster we do the right thing and confront reality of separation, the quicker we come out of it. Taiwan, Singapore, HKG numbers makes other nations look bad. S. Korea had their own way to stifle it with 10-15,000 tests a day and flattened their curve. Just walked thru HKG streets 2 days ago. Smaller crowd but very large amount still shopping constantly dodging each other, masks on and more cordial than normal. Billboards stating Wear your masks, be vigilant, etc. Someone placarded a cardboard statement with “Hey You Gweilo, are you too poor to buy a mask?” Embarrassing since I saw several without them ( a few HKGers weren’t either, but limited and the ratio was far less). 1 every 100 vs 3 out every of 5 of us. I wore the mask they gave me, gloves, wipes, contact list and thermometer given as well. It was blatantly obvious. We will spike, don’t be a Spring Breaker, etc.

I believe this is the key (above) as “pawnman” indicated. Find a way, lockdown has been proven and our military is the most disciplined within our country to execute this within their community. You will not be combat effective in the near term and be ready long term if this is not implemented. Our civilian sector, not so much with our current culture of selfie before others it’s all about me. We are not practicing social distancing, masks, staying inside unless needs need to be met = sustenance, etc. Look at NY right now, this is just the beginning of the spike. Asian culture has been through this and several maintained structure/discipline without so called Draconian measures. Having our military entirely shutdown would work, but not feasible and no one should be advocating this, but separated shift work and cleanliness is the game. With your remaining supplies it’s not beyond policing yourselves. I wipe down every touchable area I normally use as I bounce around hotels:, switches, locks, door knobs, phones, lights, table, especially the remote, etc. (thankfully I brought a ton of wipes with me). In Asia my remote was cleaned and sealed, total pain to rip off but I respect it. I don’t doubt how they mitigated it when I watch them clean our aircraft. Not a perfect situation, but they are sincerely doing their best. I clean the flight deck multiple times every leg. It’s a mindset, get on board. Spray that Lysol, etc. If your truly out, it is what is and drive on. We really have no excuses because we were not lead car in this race. The best solutions at this point were practiced by cars, 2, 3, 4, (Dang China being #1) and some of the following cars are bouncing off the walls (Italy, soon France, etc. and US most likely) Taiwan, Singapore, HKG, and more or less were able to flatten the curve. Just returning from Asia yet again and having been through their process, we unfortunately are lagging way behind with our populations lackadaisical attitude in many areas and the false sense of security of a superior healthcare system is being overwhelmed. I’m just saying. Hope I am wrong but the spike looks like it’s well on its way.

Enjoy your career. It’s the camaraderie/life long friendships that makes the difference thru thick and thin. Some of the Best Times of my life we’re running missions with my fellow patriots knowing they had my back and I had theirs. Have some cheers with beers responsibly and getter done. Welcome aboard to the Best AF in the world and it’s the warriors that make it happen, politicians who watch what happened and those who never knew what the heck happened. Press on!

I see what you did there. That’s awesome as I am not a lyrical genius.

I know it’s situation dependent, but from my vantage point I totally agree with xaarman. It’s rather odd some younger newcomers show up and talk about when they make their Big Move to one Major airline or another and start rolling in the cash needing the 3-400K (it’s weird that they don’t know it doesn’t happen overnight). Maybe they are smart and are just “Preppers”, getting ready for the 2-3 wife, RV, Boat package, etc. I still let them know, if you can’t manage 3-400K, you definitely can’t manage 1-200K. I know there’s a bottom limit, but it’s being tested right now.

If we could just get our public on board expeditiously like they did/have here in Hong Kong, we would have had a much quicker recovery no doubt. It’s also a cultural based momentum and previously had their butts kicked by SARS and gained a huge learning curve from it, so there’s that. Although the initial choke point has passed for the US, we really need to hunker down accordingly and tamper down the effect as best we can as a society. Met with mask kits, temp checks (airport & hotel), paperwork, escorted as needed, even the hotel TV remotes are sealed accordingly. People may argue overkill, but the effectiveness whatever it may be specifically is undeniably working. If we’re going to subsidize incomes (not calling it a bailout, it’s a natural disaster if you will) with $ our nation really doesn’t have, discipline and adherence must be attained. The more protracted this becomes, the worse it will be. Just my thoughts. Super eerie landing here midnight and taxing to the cargo ramp where there’s minimum parking available (Very large ramp) and cargo/workers everywhere and like an anthill. Other side almost completely dormant, no movement, no people to be seen, pax carrier silhouettes on the vast ramps where they left a few lights on. Truly surreal... You can’t make this sh*t up. We need to get these economies rolling again. Great to hear some measure of subsidies/provisions are being given and people have planned accordingly. Drive on, Press on and be safe!

Yup, just made a deal with the Wendy’s manager across from my hotel to be able to walk thru the drive thru and get some grub. Frozen meals might get super boring I stay here too long, variety is better. Gotta do what ya gotta do.

Won’t lie, not fun after operating from Anchorage. At least it was a Tahoe and not a Camry and have a couple of days off sleeping/working out (nothing worth venturing out for ) here in DE. Heck, even the Wendy’s shutdown dining-in at 8 PM / drive thru only for the foreseeable future today. Lucky I made a deal with manager today, making the drive thru a walk thru if I don’t want to eat hotel food or microwave food. This is getting messy, but I have food access for now and I am logistically sound with TP. Catch up on my reading, rest and movies I guess.

Briefed BG Orcutt several times before I retired from the AOC at Tyndall. He seemed a nice enuff guy, but behind the scenes he didn’t want any of us calling each other by our call signs and he made it known when 1st AF Bossman wasn’t anywhere to be seen. What a PC bend over or whatever you want to call it. 1st AF Boss didn’t care... he used our call signs. Cucumbered would be fine with me, 😐 sorry that wasn’t too funny...

Landed JFK today (Sunday 4 PM) and as we taxied to the cargo ramp I counted 11 Delta Heavies (767, A330, 777) clustered amongst ground vehicles (ice trucks, etc.) behind the terminal which had another actually 4 Delta Heavies attached to it. Are these 11 aircraft backup maintenance aircraft, overflows or “parked”??? Our Tahoe driver drove thru part of NYC to the Holland Tunnel since it was faster he said. We never go thru the City in the evenings due to traffic. We listened to the Mayor speech live as he indicated NYC schools are closed officially and first plan is to evaluate reopening end of April and be prepared to call the 2019-2020 school year over. Driver was right, it was quicker up to Dover, DE barely any traffic therefore constant fast movement... Granted, it was Sunday but very weird.

I hope you land rubber side down and sit-out this fiasco comfortably. Great to hear you didn’t cut ties with your unit. Always good to have options which is a gem. May you land safely and content, at least for now while this thing burns up, down and eventually out...

I envy you, I hope to leave at 60 myself for personal reasons of health, financial health and the ability to focus on family, hobbies and travel (ground travel) while I can still hike around and not stumble around significantly. I stumble now. I was wrong not to state there is another study that shows pilots live longer than the general population as well and yet other data indicating we all are the same regardless of occupation. I can get on board that genes play a big role and pilots of today tend to be much more fitness conscious and have changed their eating/drinking habits these past several decades compared to the aforementioned studies form 1992 (pass earlier) and 1996 (live longer) therefore live longer. Couple of FedEx guys who jumped with us last year gave me the following info which bodes well in your case “Springer.” I still have this in my notes: Retire 60 - Live an average of 18 years after retirement = 78 Retire 65 - Live an average of 8 years after retirement = 73 I think you’ll live longer as long as you remain engaged in some form of mindful activity. My father passed at 78 and he was at the pinnacle of specialties as a doctor when he retired and created other challenges to keep his cognitive skills sharp as a tac, but cancer attacks the best of us. 3 times in his case, true fighter! My CPAP and Colonoscopies barring other anomalies will increase my longevity whatever that might be. Dang, I envy your 59 departure. Going to be tuff walking away from this gig not necessarily the monetary value, but the pond hopping adventures I get myself into aside from the current fiasco going on.

Well, you will be in a better position using the recommended strategy by most consultants and just plane common sense based on previous markets. Unfortunately we add yet another debacle which proves this investment strategy in an extreme environment. Very true regarding - none of us want to work ourselves to the bone during our final years, let alone now. Studies have shown that those who retire at 60 vs 65 live quite a bit longer in our business (Cargo studies based on some of the extreme schedules). Retiring early from any walk of life: It is highly recommended to have some kind of hobby to keep your mind busy; otherwise, you decline rapidly. 5 folks I know have passed within 5 years of retiring from the military. Coincidence maybe, but I will admit you lose your mission sense when you leave after many years of service and I myself had to refocus and create another mental game of that drive on attitude using my family, friends and contributor to our great nations economy. Regardless of the minutia and suck you all go thru, you are part of a small and very special group of warriors which no one (aside from your immediate family who rides the suck with you) will understand not having been a part of it. Great respect for you all in the military, law enforcement, Fire Fighters, and First Responders who maintain the highest standards to keep our nation from going full tilt. I will always remember it has been an voluntary force for many decades and it is a calling! My apologies for sliding off the tracks there.

Boom! This would be a Willy Wonka Ticket during this situation, especially if all were kept on board with benefits and it truly would be cheaper in the short term 6-9, 12 months (whatever the gonculator says) especially with interest free loan injections vs cutting and then retraining. I am unaware of the furlough criteria protections at specific airlines, but others on their APC forums have mentioned they have a lot of monetary penalties associated with this. My company not so much, it’s flying rubber dog crap out of Hong Kong. Limited dog crap, limited pilots, but thankfully there is a plethora of dog crap for the foreseeable future. I hope everyone is senior enough to attain what they want/need (positive plug).

Expanding upon nunya’s point. “Voluntary unpaid leave“ will not be enticing for the majority either, regardless of the airline. Unless your very wealthy, part of the youth group or new hire that has buku $$$ saved or an alternate income source, etc. and wouldn’t mind a break = “Survey says” - you won’t budge unless forced out for the time being. Granted, it would be an exceptional time to land an AGR position within the ANG or Reserve equivalent. While your seniority may slow for a bit due to the lack of hiring under you, the retirements above you will keep you moving. The increase of pay per year (if under 12 or 15 maxed depending on carrier) will be nice to come back to of course and maybe even an upgrade. Also, this may be the opportunity to go beyond the 5 yr USERRA limit and snag a retirement (I would get that authorization in writing by your company) or at least gain a substantial amount of points/$ for your eventual retirement. Understandably, the Senior airline folks especially those close to retirement would be silly not to max it out to the end = further pad your 401K, grab any matching, continue direct contribution, get yourself closer to max Social Security benefits (67), etc and unfortunately I must say - recover your losses these past several weeks via the stock market. Delta has indicated the most drastic measures thus far. The others will probably follow suit. Airlines will execute major moves to save their themselves for the most part, lending themselves more in tune for loans or bailout assistance perhaps. It’s obvious (just my thoughts) they are running down their checklist of cuts (not in order): Fleet size reduction, Route reduction, voluntary unpaid leave, reduced pay rates, retirement of older aircraft earlier than planned, stop share buybacks, freeze hiring, cut outside contractor help, deferring aircraft orders, etc. All of this leads to the proverbial “we did everything we could before even considering Furloughs.“ Pray this hysteria is short lived and the initial cutbacks work accordingly. If not, you park too many planes you park pilots. Even the Air Force (AF) had their “banked pilots” in the early 90’s, but those folks just did another paying AF job while they awaited their turn to fly aircraft after pilot training...

Congrats, well done! Stay focused, do well and never quit which you have figured out in spades! Great to hear/read! Awesome and great to be hired regardless of the Crazy 😜 CV19 going on. Civilian sector not so much, but that is cyclic as always.

Mississippi 69 Offenders: Aside from the age difference and kinship they shared this was impressive. “According to the police, tests showed that Gibbons consumed close to 27.5 times the legal limit for alcohol.” Pretty good tolerance level to get as far as he did. Ha! I would have been truly useless, that’s not saying much though.

The VP position is what concerns me. Let’s say either Bernie or Joe does pull it off in Nov and they have their puppet masters pulling their strings like so many others (either party) who have held the position in years past, OR it’s not too far fetched a VP would eventually move up in seniority as needed/required.

Because we have “The Donald!” I definitely would have leaned towards her from the other side of the fence, but this next debate will be about one pushing entitlements with no real cost numbers declared and the other will likely fold into a push-up challenge. It’s about time we witness the cognitive abilities one on one with no distractor conditions looming about. Popcorns ready! Just more material for Mr. T and he will not pity the fool! I will send in my AR-14 if/when I could ever find it. Let Beto know he doesn’t need to waste his time nor mine.

Epstein, hahaha, that’s good stuff right there. I myself just had the flu. Came back from a trip. Saw the Doc, one word about international travel and bam, into quarantine glass cube for 90 min while they did their tests. Diagnosed as Flu type B, and then they kicked me back to the house and recovered in a week.

https://media.swalife.com/docs/news/public/media/video/swatv/2020/200309GaryCoronaCaptioned.mp4 Brace for impact. While the airline industry will reset itself accordingly and continue to thrive in the near future hopefully, it just goes to show you that this “FLU like syndrome“ should be given the respect it deserves, but not panic driven like it has been. Perception is reality for the public. Drive on America, Thrive on. Good lesson on not to live in fear, but be prepared as possible in the event of such unknowns. Everything is not always cherry or will stay at the top of its game endlessly. Don’t cast away your Reserve component opportunities at a moments notice. (proved highly valuable after 9/11). Build yourself that seniority cushion first. Although grass is not always greener, this is just a cyclic event as history has proven. There is light at the end of this tunnel and as I mentioned before, I hope it gets brighter sooner than later.

Keep at it Sir Duck, it’s well worth a little or even quite a bit of pain. Immediate $ and benefits works wonders on any outside pressure cooker worries. Economy, virus, terrorizers(Bush), etc. Morale will improve and the beatings will discontinue.