You summarized it well. I don’t hide the fact and I don’t give a damn what union airline pilots think about me. I flew Part 121 for the next 10 years after EAL without any issues. Plenty of non-union places to work. I didn’t have a 4 year degree, which was required at the time to get hired by a legacy carrier. I wasn’t getting on with a major carrier regardless of Eastern strike or not. I was 23 and had nothing to lose and everything to gain at that point. As it turned out, I was much happier in smaller flight ops flying large jets. My next job after Eastern was a small DC9 charter company that flew sports teams and casino junkets. They made me a DC9 captain at 25. It was an incredibly fun place to work. From there it just got better and better and I eventually created my own business…what transformed into Nomadic. Life is great, I’ve got no regrets. My life has turned out to be way more satisfying than just having an airline career. I have hired over 500 pilots over the years, many who turned 60 and were tossed out of the airlines before the age limit changed. At 60 you still need to make a living and most want to keep flying. In the 80’s and 90’s pilot wages were low and many pilots lost any retirement they had due to the airline’s mismanagement of those funds. I get a lot of satisfaction from the fact that I was able to put so many of those guys to work over the years along with out of work pilots who needed to make some money while between jobs. So, say what you want, I’m okay with myself. For all of you critics out there, look in the mirror and ask yourself what you have done for the industry or other pilots. How deep have you reached into your pockets to make sure an out of work pilot can make his mortgage, pay his health insurance, make a car payment, buy a ticket and hotel for an interview. Why isn’t there a fund to help Spirit pilots at least pay for health insurance? What did all those union dues get the Spirit guys at this point? How many fellow union pilots would kick in 1000 a month into a fund? Why doesn’t the union start that fund. Why isn’t one already in place for these situations? Take a look in the mirror and go make changes that support your fellow pilots instead of making yourself feel good because you volunteer on some stupid committee and say the same old union rhetoric that is literally 100 years old. The airlines will see massive change in the next 30 years, and it will create much upheaval and loss of the classic pilot job. You better prepare now and start figuring out how to take care of out of work pilots or accept and adapt to what’s coming. A 100 year old union mentality will take you all off the cliff. If you’re going to survive, you better get some new thinking in your union.