I'm an airline pilot flying domestically under the banner of a major airline. Most people are unaware of how much of their flying is done by a "regional" airline. Regional airlines today fly a huge percentage of the actual seat miles flown for their Major airline partner (Delta, United, US Air, etc.). However we are paid a fraction of what the major airline pilots are paid, and even these major airline pilots are paid significantly less than their counterparts several years ago.
我是某干线航空公司名下的一名飞国内航线的飞行员。很多乘客都没有意识到他们搭乘的航班中有几次是属于“地区性”航空公司的。事实上现在的地区性航空公司承担了干线航空*公司（如达美航空、美联航、全美航空等等）绝大多数的空运量（人/英里数），但是我们地区航空的飞行员收入却没那些干线航空雇员那么多，而就算是这些干线航空的飞行员收入也较他们几年前的同行少很多。
Many regional airline first officers make the same as your friendly pizza delivery driver. (It is typical for most of them to make no more than 16K/year the first year.) Here are a few things we won't tell you:
很多地区航空公司的副驾驶收入和那些和蔼的披萨外卖司机差不多（大多数副驾驶第一年的收入不超过16000美元/年，这并不稀奇）。
下面几条是我们行内人不会当面跟你讲的：
(1)Dont drink the coffee. The potable water the aircraft is serviced with is absolutely disgusting. Chemicals are inserted into the water tanks to prevent bad things from growing, but the bad taste of the coffee isn't the coffee--its the chemicals...
（1）别喝咖啡。飞机上提供的饮用水恶心死了。为了防止有害生物生长，飞机上的储水罐里被加进了一些化学物质，所以你喝到的咖啡里的怪味不是咖啡造成的——是那些化学物质……
(2)We don't know where we are most of the time... (kidding for the most part) In all actuality there are much more sophisticated avionics units on most small general aviation aircraft. Those units display many aspects of geographic awarenesswhere most of ours simply display the route that we programmed in the flight management computer before departure. We can tell you how far away we are from the next navigation facility and where we are in general terms, but aside from that and what we can see out the window, we typically only have a general idea of where we are when at cruise altitude. Of course we all carry maps, but not too many of us will open the map and follow our progress on a 3 hour flight. (That all changes as we begin descending toward the airport. Situational Awareness is extremely important then.)
（2）航行的大多数时候我们飞行员都不知道飞机飞到哪了……（开玩笑的）事实上在大多数小型飞机上都有许多航空电子设备。它们能显示许多地理信息，不过在我们飞机上的设备通常只显示我们启程前预先在飞行控制电脑中设计好的航线。我们可以告诉乘客我们离下一个航站的距离以及我们所处的大概位置，但是除了这些和我们在窗外看到的景象，通常我们只对巡航高度下的所处位置有一个大概印象。当然，我们都会带着地图，但只有一部分人会打开地图并在3小时的航途中查看航程进度。（当我们开始降落时就不会这样了——降落时保持警觉是至关重要的）
(3)We forget about the fasten seatbelt sign all the time. When you look up at the sign (and disregard it typically) and it has been illuminated for the last 45 minutes in smooth air, we simply forgot. Lots of guys will leave it on all the time. However, sometimes we do have reports of choppy air ahead and will leave it on until we either experience it or take a wild guess that the air ahead will be smooth.
（3）我们老是忘了关掉“系好安全带”信号灯。如果你抬头看着这个信号灯（且往往不会去在意它）而它就在风平浪静中亮了45分钟的话，你也会忘掉它的存在的。许多飞行员在全程都让它开着。但是，有时我们会接到前方异常气流的报告，那我们会在气流过去后关掉它；或者自己作死瞎猜一下，觉得风头过了就把它关掉。
Some of us carry guns. This is certainly public knowledge, but Federal Flight Deck Officers can carry a firearm in the cockpit. Lots of protocol exists to ensure that the training, concealment, and utilization is standardized.
我们当中有人会带枪上飞机；在“联邦航空客舱警官”项目（简称FFDO**）的实行下，飞行员能带枪进入驾驶室，这其实是个常识。这些枪支的使用训练、存放及适用情况都通过大量的协议来确保规范。
Those are just a few. Happy flying.
就这么多，祝您旅途愉快！
*major airline和regional airline是美国政府对航空公司划分归类，而不是指特定的航空公司。 一般业内将major airline翻译为“干线航空公司”，主要是指那些拥有大飞机、能执行洲际运输的航空公司，他们主要用波音和空客飞机。 regional airline是指直线或地方航空公司，主要用CRJ或ERJ等支线飞机执行运营的航空公司，这些公司一般年税收低于100millon。但是可以填补短距离运输的空白，市场份额也很大。
**自9.11事件后，美国政府相关部门推出了该项目，允许飞行员带枪上飞机自卫。(来源：译言网)
本文来源：网易教育频道综合
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