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December 7, 2016 – 7:00AM
Written by: David Koch
Impacts of Airline Deregulation
My first book, “False Security”, had been brewing in my mind since shortly after airline deregulation took effect. One of the results of “cheap, cheaper, cheapest” thinking was a constant fraying of the safety net that the industry had been developing over the prior eight decades. This was characterized by reduced training for pilots, increased workloads and “more-efficient” (read less-stringent) maintenance practices.
From the early 1980s on, vastly increased stress levels have been imposed on airline pilots by airline management through increased work schedules, progressively lower pay and an intense propaganda campaign to make airline pilots feel that they aren’t worth what they are being paid and they are in fact lucky to have a job. Add to that the personal and economic stresses created by the uncertain professional future now faced by U.S. airline pilots, and you have a potent brew that can have significant long-term negative effects on even the strongest-minded individuals. It is literally a scientific fact that increased stress levels cause people to make more mistakes, become careless, self-medicate with drugs and alcohol and even commit suicide. These are not things I want the pilots of my flight to be susceptible to.
By the time “False Security” was published in 2003, my commitment to avoid airline travel had become firm. In fact, I have not set foot on an airliner since I made that original pledge in 2000—over sixteen years ago and counting.
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