@Ryanair – Michael OLeary – Dear Mr. O&acirc;??Leary,<br><br>First of all, let me express my admiration for your down

Kenneth Noé sent a message to Michael OLeary that said:

Dear Mr. O’Leary,

First of all, let me express my admiration for your down to earth vision of aviation which has revolutionized the industry in Europe (apart from France for the time being apparently).
As a passionate professional Pilot eager (and I must say, a bit restless waiting for….) a lucky break to get a right seat in a plane, I’m also a defender of a safe and therefor healthy working environment for pilots.
A lot of my fellow pilots that have been so lucky to get their spot in the sun raise their eyebrows when I tell them I’ve sent my application to Ryanair and are even more bewildered when I explain them I would actually be happy flying for you.
So this is what I tell them (And what I sincerely believe); first of all, I’m 44 years young, hence I need to fly quickly and a lot for a dynamic company that will give me a lot of experience quickly without having to wait for 22 years before getting into the left seat.
Second, being less assisted and more involved in flight preparation and being held entirely responsible for one’s proficiencies, and life hygiene (manage one’s fatigue) demands a certain ongoing motivation and interest for the job, which I can assure you is not necessarily the case in any airline culture as we can see in recent events (again) in France.
Third, flying from smaller airports is often more challenging and satisfying from a pilot’s perspective which keeps you sharper and more proficient. Same thing goes for the number of flight hours per month, every pilot knows that the less you fly, the more vulnerable you become technically.
Third, the idea of roaming mobility from different bases in different countries is nowadays (the era of absolute mobility) a source of discovering new lifestyles and horizons and I find it inspiring for my children.
And then there’s the “you shouldn’t be paying for your own training” argument…. Well, at least it shows motivation and sacrifice (gage of safety ?) and moreover, if I have to send my son to university for four years, all costs included, not sure it’ll be less expensive and he will probably not end up with the same salary a pilot does at the end of his career, where ever he started.
There’s a big airline in France which “selects” its pilots through a once state owned school (apparently Union owned nowadays) and through a cadet program, where the pilots were trained from zero to hero in 2 years all paid for and even with a little bit of extra pocket money for the road. I think I might have seen them protesting in September last year on the Champs Elysees, had something to do with unfair competition from low cost carriers. (by the way, nice way of using the “low cost” term from a marketing perspective, we both know that there’s nothing “low cost” about getting a B737 in the air, even if we wanted to!).
I discussed this with some pilot friends recently and argued that it’s a bit pathetic fighting against an “upcoming” competition which is already carrying 8 million passengers a month only in Europe whereas they are only carrying 5 to 6 million worldwide! An economic reality has already caught up a long time ago. The “low cost airline industry” represents 46% of the short and medium haul market.
So yes, I will be flying, for a lower salary and in way less luxurious conditions then my fellow pilots and I’m fine with that, I even believe it’s better for the industry and yes, as always, we can and should aim to improve continuously the working environment because change is the only fixed value.
It’s been a pleasure sharing my views with you and I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading this.
And, oh yes, obviously I’m in the race with CTC to get an interview but had no answer so far and I’m confident I can prove that hiring an experienced low time pilot with an atypical profile as myself has a lot of advantages that the freshly out of school not yet possess, wouldn’t it be great if I joined your staff and added some actions to my words from which we could all benefit?
Yours sincerely and many happy landings,

Kenneth Noé