The coming storm?

A's father sent us an article out of the Wall Street Journal the other day. He sent it old school- cut it out of the paper and snail mailed it to us. It was about the looming pilot shortage that is forecasted due to massive retirements and increased training requirements ( like total time needed prior to applying. There was a quote from Kit Darby, a former United pilot turned industry hiring authority, saying "we are six months away from a problem and four years away from a solution" or something to that effect.

That sounds like good news for those "forever FO's ( like A) who are waiting to upgrade and get on with a legacy or a major and those that are starting training now to get in on the boom. But I don't know if I really believe the situation is as dire as they predict. Right now there are thousands of pilots at regionals just waiting to get to a bigger plane. Plus there are plenty of pilots on the streets who are looking for jobs and can go to a major (most recently all those Comair pilots and many more regionals are teetering). That's a lot of pilot back up to work through. Airlines are also consolidating routes but also possibly changing their scope and taking back some flying from the regionals. So the regionals stand to be hit hardest when it is taking new pilots longer to meet training requirements except that they also stand to lose flying and need less pilots so perhaps it will all balance out. A's company is offering month to month leaves of absence to mitigate less flying that they are doing. They may be looking at furloughs again down the road. A came home with a rumor that the major he contracts with wants 70 seat jets their own. I guess I am just so jaded at this point that I will believe it when I see it and not a day before.

The other tidbit in the article was how graduates of ERAU could enter the industry with less total time. How is that? Don't they go through the exact same training and check rides to get their certificates as any pilot from any other school? Yes they may get supplemental instruction in meteorology or homeland security or airline administration, but how does that translate into better flying skills or flight training? I know, I know, it's all about the lobbying group in the end. But it just irritates me to presume that one path is better than another.

I guess we will see how it all shakes out in six months. But for now I remain a sceptic.

It's just a day

Thanksgiving day has come and gone. Already. How did that happen so fast?

 A worked on Thanksgiving. He has never been home for the day. It's just become a standard for us and it's no big deal. We live across the continent from our families, so it's always just me and the boys for the day.  This year we went to the zoo and had a surprise when A arrived home at 5pm instead of the 11pm we had anticipated. We had a normal chicken dinner and then had "fancy dinner" on Friday when A was home to enjoy it. Working in a hospital that operates 24/7 and also having friends on facebook who have to deal with mandatory coverage there was no shortage this year of people whining about missing Thanksgiving or not being able to spend it with their family. As if you can't have a nice dinner with your family on any other day of the year. As if turkey can only be cooked on Thanksgiving. As if presents can only be opened on December 25th. It boggles my mind that people don't seem to be able to make arrangements to get together on any other day of the week, month, year to accommodate their schedule. It's just a day, make it your own.

My favorite E Card of the season is this one :

One of those days

Today was one of those days. The days when I wish my husband worked normal hours, in this city. Or that I had some family nearby to step in and help out. Babyzilla has a bad cold with a fever. Thursday I called out sick and stayed home with him. We rested, napped, breastfed, and watched movies. Today we had a big conference at work with several people already out and our on call staff already tapped. I took Babyzilla to daycare with the hope that he could make it through the day and I could swing getting off two hours early. I didn't have a lot of faith in my plan, but I was hopeful. And barely an hour after I arrived, I got the call from daycare that he had a higher fever and I needed to come get him.

Let me interject with a bit about my job. Hospital discharges wait for no one. They aren't the kind of thing that can be put off for a few days and gotten back to when you are feeling better. Beds are finite, if people don't get out, sicker people can't get in. And people can't discharge if their medical equipment, home care, housing, medications and whatever else are not lined up. We have staff in house 6 days a week and on call after hours and Sundays. If I'm not there- someone else has to be. If no on call staff is available, which is usually on a same day call out, then cases get rotated to other staff- each one getting 3-4 extra beds to cover. Calling out usually means more work for your co-workers. Frequent call outs mean less friendly co-workers.

So I was faced with the decision of leaving work and feeling guilty about dropping my caseload in their laps again or leaving, trying to dose Babyzilla up with Tylenol (after stopping at a store to purchase said Tylenol) and heading back to work for a few hours. It would have been nice to have a second parent or family to fall back on. But then again, we made the decision to leave here. (I wrestle with this all the time...). Our department secretary saved me from much guilt by shifting some on call staff around and finding coverage for my cases, although as the expense of a co-workers less demanding cases. I was ultimately able to take the day off, again, and be the parent I needed to be. I know A hates that it all falls on my shoulders when he is gone and that it tears him up to see me struggling on days like this. Especially this trip when he SHOULD have been home on Thursday. In the end, I'll suck it up and deal with it, because really, what other choice do I have? I know that A is just as torn between his job and family. Today it's just one minute at a time.

Riding it out

Wow, it's been just shy of two months since I posted? Boy am I lame! And busy.

A is trapped in New Jersey due to the storm. He's fine and in a hotel that has power (now); just stuck and waiting it out. He flew in on Sunday knowing the storm was coming but due to unanticipated time off in July, August AND September already and our new moneypit house we didn't want him to have MORE time off unpaid. So in he went. He flew two flights and then the company put him up in a hotel and canceled the rest of his 4 days of flights. He survived, the hotel lost power for about 24 hours and had some broken windows but he came through pretty much unscathed. He took the employee shuttle over to the airport and took advantage of their emergency power to charge his phone. He said the only active outlet he could find was in the ceiling above a ticket counter so he hopped up and hooked in. He was also able to scrounge some food from a catering truck since prepared food was non existent at both the hotel and airport. He reported that TSA had abandoned ship and anyone could walk right in the airport and into the sterile area. I had visions of some kind of 'Lord of the Flies' outbreak and him finally returning home missing a sleeve, a pant leg and a weeks worth of beard. But the hotel got their power back and now he's just waiting and waiting and waiting. He didn't have much time off between trips and the company wants to keep him there so they can use him when so many other inbound pilots are going to be stuck. I know he hates being away from the kids, especially on Halloween, but he'll get home eventually.  And now he has officially been through his first real hurricane.

Don't think I don't think about it

I resolve all the time to write more frequently. But now that I don't have a job where I am bored and in front of a computer every day, it's harder to find the time. August has been challenging for us and September will continue to be stressful.

At the beginning of the month A was disqualified from flying while we waited for the FAA to process his special exemption for his medical. He only has to go through this for 5 years after his return, so only once more and then he'll be back to normal procedures to maintain his medical to fly. He ended up being off for roughly half the month(...unpaid...), which was good because we also bought a house and he was available for the myriad of phone calls, paperwork and goings on that homebuying brings. The day before he was due to go back to work with his newly minted, special exemption medical, he came down with... pneumonia. Really. Because he's A. So he called in sick for that trip and spent time recovering at home and packing. He then made one trip with no problems. Earlier this week, he was attempting to jumpseat to work for his next regularly scheduled trip only to find out that his airline had not reactivated him in the system and he was unable to jumpseat to work. Several phone calls and days later, we find out his HR dept extended his medical leave until the recent day and wiped the trip he already flew off his schedule. So now he's stuck trying to get all that straight, get paid for the trip he missed due to their error, and still manage to move into a new house. September brings his annual recurrent training along with his need to have is ATP written exam done, neither of which he has begun to study for yet. Once we clear those hurdles, we should be in good shape to get on with some boring, routine life for a while. But really, with A, it's always something.

The new house is good. I love our neighborhood- there is a boy kidzilla's age down the street, there are nightly driveway cocktails in the cul-de-sac, and some anonymous neighbor mowed our lawn for us yesterday. We have a lot of elbow grease to put into the house, but it's ours. I worry though- did we do the right thing? As renters, if A got furloughed, we would be able to get out and downsize to a smaller, cheaper (,crappier) place no problem. This is a little more permanent. And every time I read any aviation news, I feel insecure in what our future holds. And I hate this insecure feeling- everything dependant on this contract and that aggreement. I know really there is no security in anything- we could lose our home or my job tomorrow just as easily, but I guess it just doesn't seem to be as much in my face as A's job is. Or his just feels less stable.

A and I just continue to take it day by day and trial by trial with the hope that bright things are just around the corner. And we remain thankful every day for all the things that we DO have right now.