Interview Answers

Adam, I've got some answers for you.  I hope this fulfills your need.  

Rick Mladic

1. What kind of effects have you noticed that stress has on you and you're crew-mates' ability to perform their job and has it been a detriment to your health? 

During the course of my career, I personally encountered periods of high stress associated with job conditions, but they never created a lasting problem for me because I was always well trained to cope with the situations in which I found myself.  I learned to rely on my training and knowledge and was always able to manage the situations.  I have encountered pilots who had a harder time handling stressful situations.  In one particularly emergency situation, one of the pilots on the flight became so traumatized, that he was unable to relax in the cockpit after the event and had to retire from flying altogether.  On the same emergency flight, we had several flight attendants who quit flying after developing a fear of flying following the flight. 

Stress from off-the-job conditions can also affect crewmember performance on the job.  I knew a pilot who was going through a nasty divorce and he had a hard time concentrating on his job because he was so pre-occupied with the divorce proceedings.

2. Have you experienced fierce competition applying for jobs or trying to increase in rank in your company? Do you know if the amount of competition has stayed the same or changed since leaving your field?

At the time I was applying for my job at the airlines, there were many furloughed pilots available and looking for employment.  Competition was fierce, and I did whatever I could to stand out from the crowd.  I had a minor advantage in that I was actively flying a four engine jet transport aircraft in the Air National Guard at the time, so I had exactly the kind of experience for which the airlines were looking. 

As for increasing in rank or advancement of position, most major airlines today are unionized, and as such, advancement is regulated by the terms of a labor contract and seniority within the company.  When your seniority justifies an advancement to a higher position, you simply submit a “bid” for that position, and are awarded it.  There are no “merit promotions” for union pilots. 

On the other hand, there have been times in the past when the airlines hired pilots with little or no experience due to rapid growth and a reduction in the number of qualified pilots unemployed at the time.  It’s a very cyclical industry.  We may very well be approaching a time when there will be a shortage of pilots. 

3. Have you ever found that your workplace's demands encroached too much upon your home-life?
Being a commercial pilot puts a lot of stress on a marriage and your home life.  On average, over the course of my career in both the military and at the airlines, I was gone half of every month.  That meant my wife was a single parent for a good part of our married life.  Fortunately, my wife is a very competent manager of time and our home.  I have, however, known many pilots whose marriages have failed.  It is very important to go into this career with your eyes wide open and to be prepared for the hardships this career brings. 

The flip side, of course, is that during the other half of those many months, I was home, with no duties from my work.  No paperwork to bring home, no computer work to accomplish when I wasn’t in the cockpit.

4. Have you gained a new outlook on life because of your job?
I definitely have benefited from my travels around the world.  I grew up in the inner city in Chicago, and if I had stayed in Chicago in a job without travel, I would not have experienced the many cultures I did with my chosen career.  And I was able to instill in my children a love of travel and diverse cultures that endures to this day.

5. With much more automation being incorporated into aviation, do you feel that the new generation of pilot's may be replaced by computers in the next several decades?
To answer this question, I have to ask, “Would you fly on an airplane without a pilot?”  I don’t know anybody who has not experienced a computer bug, a crash, or a virus.  I don’t think the flying public would accept an airplane without a pilot.  I know I wouldn’t.  It may happen someday, but I don’t think it’ll happen anytime soon. 

6. What was your overall experience working as an airline pilot? Do you look back on it as time well spent? Do you wish some aspects of your job could have been improved upon or done differently?
I loved my career as a pilot.  Are there things I would have changed about it?  Sure, but I think that would be the case in almost any career.  I provided many thousands of people with safe, efficient transportation over great distances for many years.  I always strove to perform to the best of my abilities, to provide the best service possible to my passengers and to my company, and I believe I succeeded more times than not.