I was watching a 10 min. 20 sec. "teaser" of an upcoming episode of the PBS series FRONTLINE about how screwed up the airline industry is.

It soon occured to me that the airline industry and the railroad industry both suffer from the same disease --- subcontracting.

Here's the link to the video:

[www.pbs.org]

At 7 min. 34 sec. into the video, they start talking about how Continental Airlines put pressure on its sub-contractor, Colgan Air, to get planes in the air and fly them on time, pretty much ignoring any concerns for safety. It's all about making the incentive money and not being wacked with a fine for poor performance. And the way they do that is by keeping the planes in the air regardless of whether they're airworthy or if the crews have had enough rest.

Gee, that sounds amazingly similar to the set-up that SCRRA and Connex have! Or NCTD and Herzog. Or the JPB and Amtrak. Or the Sounder and BNSF. Or MBTA and MBCR. The list goes on and on.

At 9 min. 10 sec. into the video, they talk about a supervisor who wanted a pilot to falsify his hours-of-service records.

Gee, that sounds amazingly similar to being pressured to tie-up at 11 hours and 59 mins., instead of the full 12 hours, so they can get the railroad employee back to work in 8 hours rather than 10.

Maybe I should look into being a commuter airline pilot. The working conditions sound almost identical to being a commuter train engineer or conductor, and I wouldn't have to memorize all those &%$# signal aspects! And, we've all heard stories about how those flight attendants get so lonely on their layovers!