The Sky.........

There is an old English fairy tale, Chicken Little, the premise of which is a hen (Chicken Little) eating in the barnyard when an acorn falls from a tree and strikes her on the head, Chicken Little immediately decides the sky is falling. The story continues that Chicken Little sets out to go tell the King and along way she meets all sorts of characters who decide to accompany her. In most versions, the last such character is a sly old fox who leads the animals into his cave and devours them. The morals to this story are: Not to jump to conclusions and Don't be swept into the hysteria without questioning the origin.

For the last couple of years, whenever I hear or see something revolving around the airline industry, I try to ask myself if the sky is falling? Recently, a group of retired NWA pilots requested that the NWA/DAL merger not be approved out of fear that DAL might somehow terminate the NWA pilot pension. I read the letter , I thought about what  I know and I decided the sky is NOT falling. I can't help but wonder how many people reading that letter look up to see if the sky is falling. The more I pondered, the more I worried that if their wish were to come true, if Congressman Oberstar and the DOJ were to block the merger then and only then might the sky start to fall.

For the last 48 hours the email currents have been filled with fodder from various elements of APAAD and the SPC. I have been outside several times and contrary to what you might be reading I do not think the sky is falling. It has become so easy for us to accept what we read as fact. There have been so many cracks in the sky it seems reasonable to accept that it is finally falling....don't. Get off your.........chair, go outside and look up, read what is truly being said, consider the past and the present. Is it possible that the SPC will, in it's quest to end discrimination and bring FAIR treatment to pilots,  return the nation's standard to 60? Yes, I believe it maybe, I believe that it is also highly improbable.

Would you stand for this giant step backward? Could the law return to age 60 simply because it is easier? Not very likely. Paul Emens and APAAD fought hard to get the new law, they were thrilled with the jobs that were saved, Lew Tetlow is still fighting, Lew and the SPC felt the law did not do enough, too many pilots were left out.

The SPC should have their day in court, if the sky falls it is likely to only fall in Herndon. How much longer should they be able to throw acorns at aging pilots? Wasn't it enough not to represent them through out bankruptcy? Do they need to take more than their pensions? Don't be misled, don't fall into the hysteria trap and don't throw acorns. The sky is not falling. editor@bigjetcity.com