The Honolulu Star-Bulletin on the Web.
COURTESY OF PATRICK E. MCNAMEE
Patrick E. McNamee has been a professional pilot since 1976. He has flown for Continental Airlines since 1987.
I know of no other career that requires more training and testing than being an airline pilot. The required knowledge and skills have taken a new twist since Sept. 11 with the government's continued attempts to placate nervous Americans. The Pilot
"People used to look up to airline pilots; now they see us as just another delay in the screening process."
By Patrick E. McNamee
Continental Airlines pilot
As before the attacks, every six months, a captain must undergo a rigorous physical examination. If his blood pressure is higher than some federally mandated level, his career is over. Stress increases blood pressure. Since Sept. 11, every day I go to work, I confront a different set of security directives mandated by some new bureaucracy. I am required to make myself aware of all the new Transportation Security Administration regulations, the new Federal Aviation Administration regulations and the Homeland Security recommendations pertaining to airline security that are being implemented on a near-daily basis. I have hundreds of pages of documents to read that have nothing to do with piloting an airplane, which I will be tested on.
[ WE REMEMBER ]
Yes, I'm stressed out about it. I still haven't gotten over the embarrassment of regularly having to take off my shoes and belt, open my suitcase and have my personal items searched in full view of the flying public as I go through airport security. People used to look up to airline pilots; now they see us as just another delay in the screening process.
While some airlines already were having financial troubles before the attacks, my employer was not. But Sept. 11's far-reaching effects on the industry forced even the healthiest airlines to implement cost-saving measures. One of these was to reduce the number of pilot bases, those cities where pilots live and their flights originate. My base in Honolulu was closed; now I have to commute to Guam, an eight-hour airplane ride away. Like many pilots, I can't move every time a pilot base closes. They have children in school; their spouses have careers. My wife still works in Honolulu, and our home is here. And what if we sell our home of six years, pack up and move to a pilot base in another city, and the continuing recession forces that base to close next year?
But the stress of commuting is taking a toll on my marriage, and probably my health. And I'm not alone; all over the country, pilots, their spouses and their children are feeling the pressures of living far apart. Worse, if the flights are full, the standby passengers -- such as airline employees -- can't get home to their families.
The added costs of commuting -- for me, transportation, meals and lodging in Guam -- are the pilot's responsibility. More stress. But at least I still have a job. The fear of layoffs haunts many in the aviation industry.
The first thing I do each morning is check the aviation Web sites to see what new knee-jerk reaction the government has come up with to make my job more complex and less safe. Then I check my blood pressure. And if by some absurdity airline pilots are ever expected to handle firearms, you can bet that more than a few of us will be grounded for the resulting stress-related health problems.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Scissors, corkscrews, pocket knives, box cutters, tools and even a shovel are among items displayed April 30 that were confiscated at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Linthicum, Md., since imposition of new rules after Sept. 11.
