US Airways pilot knows uncertainty By Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY While US Airways teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, many of its employees=20 are learning to live with uncertainty. This week, US Airways' pilots and=20 flight attendants are voting on new contracts with wage and benefit=20 cutbacks that would save the airline billions of dollars over the next=20 seven years. More is riding on their decisions than paychecks. For people=20 like pilot Rich Pfenninger, a first officer who's 15th from the bottom of=20 the pilot seniority list, careers are on the line, too. US Airways'=20 downsizing plans mean some people will lose jobs no matter how the votes=20 go. Pfenninger is one of them. But if the proposed contracts are voted=20 down, even more people could lose their jobs. After the attacks of Sept.=20 11, US Airways laid off nearly a quarter of its 46,000 employees. The=20 airline has lost money for much of the past 10 years, but its problems are= =20 deepening. Management is trying to slash costs with the help of its unions= =20 and lenders and promises to reorganize in bankruptcy court if all parties=20 don't cooperate. "Up until Sept. 11, things couldn't have been more=20 perfect," Pfenninger says. "I've been with the company five years now, and= =20 I'm making pretty good money. I'm engaged. My fiancee wants to get married= =20 soon, and we want to have a baby, but that's all on hold." If Pfenninger sounds cautious, it's because he's been furloughed three=20 times in his career already, the latest more than a decade ago at US=20 Airways, and he's still junior enough to be considered vulnerable. US=20 Airways' pilots union estimates that at least 500 pilots could be=20 furloughed, which would ground pilots who have been flying for US Airways=20 as long as 13 years. Possibly twice as many pilots could be furloughed if=20 the airline reorganizes in bankruptcy court. "I haven't had one good=20 night's sleep," Pfenninger says. "I'm 42 years old. Every airline is=20 furloughing pilots. I don't have the time to go back to school and get=20 retrained. I want to get on with my life." If the concessions pacts are=20 approved, pilots would take a 26% annual pay cut. For Pfenninger =97 a= Boeing=20 737 first officer =97 his annual salary would go from about $129,000 to=20 $95,000 a year if he works full time. Pfenninger thought he had paid his=20 dues. He worked his way through flight school and flew for commuter=20 airlines =97 Wings Airways, a commuter near Philadelphia, and Suburban=20 Airlines, a US Airways commuter, and American Eagle, an American Airlines=20 commuter =97 before getting hired by US Airways at the onset of the Gulf War= =20 and recession in 1991. He lasted 10 months before receiving a pink slip. He= =20 worked odd jobs for nearly eight years =97 tending bar, driving big rigs,=20 selling insurance, landscaping =97 while waiting for the call to come back.= =20 While other pilots looked for jobs with cargo carriers or pursued new=20 careers, Pfenninger stayed uncommitted and continued to hope for a recall.= =20 Personal reasons had a lot to do with it. He got his first job as a ticket agent at US Airways and his father started= =20 flying 42 years ago for Allegheny Airlines, one of the predecessor airlines= =20 of today's US Airways. His father retired from US Airways in 1996.=20 Nationwide, there are now more pilots on furlough than there are available= =20 jobs =97 7,500 vs. 6,000 expected hires this year, says Kit Darby, whose= firm=20 Air Inc. helps pilots find work. "It's not as bad as some people think,"=20 says Darby, "but it's certainly nothing like before 9/11." US Airways is=20 trying to save some jobs, but even that effort is controversial. The=20 airline is forming a regional carrier =97 Pittsburgh-based MidAtlantic=20 Airways =97 to fly small jets the company wants to buy to replace= turbo-props=20 and help it compete. The pilot jobs are to go to US Airways' pilots on=20 furlough. But it's still months away from starting operations and pilots at= =20 some of US Airways' existing regional carriers resent the idea that=20 better-paid, furloughed pilots will be given jobs that they think are=20 rightfully theirs. "All we want to do is continue to do our jobs for US=20 Airways, which is building markets," says Richard O'Leary, spokesman for=20 the pilots union of a US Airways Express carrier. "We want US Airways to=20 recover as soon as possible." A group of US Airways Express pilots on=20 Tuesday picketed the Air Line Pilots Association's headquarters to protest= =20 what they view as unfair treatment by their union. They say they want ALPA= =20 to represent regional and big-jet pilots equally. Pfenninger says if he=20 needs to, he'll try to get a job at MidAtlantic or one of the regional US=20 Airways Express carriers. But getting in could take a long time depending=20 on many factors, such as how quickly US Airways can recover and how fast it= =20 can get small jets. "This company is a little bit more than an employer to= =20 me," he says. "It really provided my entire family with a great life. My=20 first choice is to stay with US Airways, but I don't think that's going to= =20 happen." 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