I know less than nothing about the airline industry. I have, however, lived long enough to know that a strict laissez-faire approach does not work in critical areas of our economy, like the airline industry. I have also lived long enough to see the damage that over regulation and agenda pushing can do. Finding the right balance is often the difficult part.
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Obama Wants to Cut the FFDO Program
- Thread starter Ralgha
- Start date
ScottRiqui
New member
I have, however, lived long enough to know that a strict laissez-faire approach does not work in critical areas of our economy, like the airline industry.
I don't really know that strict "hands off" policy would be the best choice in *any* industry. We already know what happens in America when there's no external regulation at all, because it wasn't that long ago that our industries didn't have those regulations.
Without regulation, we had seven year-old children losing fingers in textile mills, we had widespread open-pit mining with arsenic and other deadly chemicals used as leaching agents, and we had actual fires on the surface of the Cuyahoga river from the sheer amount of industrial waste that had been dumped into it. We had tapeworms sold as diet aids, and patent medicines that contained high levels of alcohol, mercury, or worse.
For good or for ill, any private company is motivated at least in part by profit, so it's naive to think that if the well-being of their customers or the general public were to come into conflict with the company's profitability, that the company would willingly sacrifice profits.
The FFDO program is generally popular with the public and with Congress.
By threatening to need to cut it due to (ridiculously minimal) funding, he pulls another pre-sequestration stunt to try to force a tax hike by threatening a program people, and particularly his political opponents, want to keep.
Standard, cynical Chicago racket ploy.
By threatening to need to cut it due to (ridiculously minimal) funding, he pulls another pre-sequestration stunt to try to force a tax hike by threatening a program people, and particularly his political opponents, want to keep.
Standard, cynical Chicago racket ploy.
I can think of such things as children's lemonade stands being shut down because of unnecessary and/or overzealous enforcement of regulations. These are not "critical areas of our economy," which is the phrase I used. I don't think we are in basic disagreement.I don't really know that strict "hands off" policy would be the best choice in *any* industry.
Just so people know about the FFDO program - every pilot who does it volunteers for it, goes through a thorough screening process, and then goes through initial and recurrent training on their own time.
Meaning they take what time they have off from their job, and go through this training on their own time, not getting paid by their airline or the government. The initial training involves travel away from home, and then shooting for currency every 6 months (again on their own time).
This is by far the most cost-effective anti-hijacking program we have seen since the old Mail Gun days. That fact that Obama wants to cancel a cost-effective, actual deterrent means that he hates guns more than he cares about airline safety.
Meaning they take what time they have off from their job, and go through this training on their own time, not getting paid by their airline or the government. The initial training involves travel away from home, and then shooting for currency every 6 months (again on their own time).
This is by far the most cost-effective anti-hijacking program we have seen since the old Mail Gun days. That fact that Obama wants to cancel a cost-effective, actual deterrent means that he hates guns more than he cares about airline safety.
I am all for qualified carriers on planes, or anywhere else for that matter. Heck, I am for any qualified Permit Holder carrying on the plane or anywhere else. The best deterrent for crime, and the best way to stop "gun violence" is for the perpetrators of said violence to be so scared out of their minds by the fact that anyone or everyone around them may be or better yet probably is carrying a firearm, and will use it to stop them at the first flicker of malicious intent, that they decide it's better not to commit the crime they were thinking of in the first place.
Willie Sutton
Moderator
"When you fly on a regional airline, there's a high likelihood that the pilot sitting in the right seat qualifies for food stamps. The companies get away with this because they have a stack of resumes a foot tall on their HR desk of people literally begging to let them fly their airplanes."
Had to chime in, since I had that job once: $11K a year, 21 days of flying a month, standup overnights (meaning that you had less than 8 hours of rest at your "night" stop, but that they gave you 8 hours between 7:00AM and 3:00 PM to "rest" and gave you a boiled egg and a pack of cookies for your "crew meal" since there was never a break to eat. Ten legs a day, and pilots on food stamps. Nothing like working for an aspiration, rather than a paycheck. Quit, burned my ALPA card, went corporate, and never looked back. The OP of the post I quote above knows exactly what he is talking about.
The TSA required lock thru case and trigger guard in an interesting twist. In FAR Part 91/135 ops I just carry a Glock (.45 ACP) with a loaded mag and the chamber empty in my flight bag. This is NOT a FFDO writing. I'd be interested in knowing more about their protocols, but I am equally sure it would need to be told over a beer, not here where all can read it.
Willie
.
Had to chime in, since I had that job once: $11K a year, 21 days of flying a month, standup overnights (meaning that you had less than 8 hours of rest at your "night" stop, but that they gave you 8 hours between 7:00AM and 3:00 PM to "rest" and gave you a boiled egg and a pack of cookies for your "crew meal" since there was never a break to eat. Ten legs a day, and pilots on food stamps. Nothing like working for an aspiration, rather than a paycheck. Quit, burned my ALPA card, went corporate, and never looked back. The OP of the post I quote above knows exactly what he is talking about.
The TSA required lock thru case and trigger guard in an interesting twist. In FAR Part 91/135 ops I just carry a Glock (.45 ACP) with a loaded mag and the chamber empty in my flight bag. This is NOT a FFDO writing. I'd be interested in knowing more about their protocols, but I am equally sure it would need to be told over a beer, not here where all can read it.
Willie
.