Airplane News: Piedmont Pilots Get Raise, Double Decker Airline Seats, Sentry Plus, Mystery Plane

This week in airplane news: Regional Carrier Piedmont pilots get a big raise, double-decker airline seats still in development, Foreflight sentry plus, and a mystery aircraft that violated 7 airspaces in Europe

Piedmont Airlines has reached a deal to give pilots raises.

A one-year First Officer will have a base salary of $60 an hour with a total bonus rate of $90/hour

A four-year captain will go from $157 an hour to $161 an hour

Piedmont hopes to retain pilots with this massive raise plan.

“With the supportability premium, our pilot wages will be 50-70% higher (57% on average) than the next highest-paid regional carrier, Endeavor,” a joint letter from the company and ALPA to the 700 pilots said. “Including all bonuses, a new hire pilot should expect to make 31% more than pilots at Endeavor and 10% more than pilots at leading ultra-low-cost carriers (ULCCs) over the first five years.”

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/piedmont-pilots-get-hefty-raise

A design we talked about last year is making a comeback - the double-decker airline seats

This design removes overhead bins and staggers passengers to fit more inside of the airplane

The creator, Alejandro Núñez Vicente, has put his degree on hold while he pursues the creation of the seats.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/here-s-what-it-might-be-like-to-travel-on-a-double-decker-airplane-seat-1.5945854

Foreflight has released the Sentry Plus, an ADS-B IN receiver

This is a flight data recorder with a g-load, automatic power settings, an 18 hour battery life, carbon monoxide detector, and FLARM (European ADSB)

The Sentry will retail for $799 and was developed in collaboration with uAvionix.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2022-06-13/foreflight-releases-sentry-plus-ads-b-receiver

A mystery aircraft flew over several European countries.

Taking off from Lithuania, The Piper PA-23-250 Aztec flew south, through Poland, Slovakia, and into Hungary where the plane landed for fuel

After landing without permission, people in the airplane got into an argument with airport workers, who called the police

When police were seen approaching, the people got back into the airplane and took off, resulting in the scrambling of two SAAB Gripen fighter jets

The pair of Gripen then intercepted the Piper, but the piper kept going, ignoring the fighters

The aircraft continued south, into Romanian Airspace. Due to defense treaties, the Hungarian Gripen were allowed to continue following the rogue piper

Eventually, two US F-16s took over monitoring the aircraft until it crossed into Serbia.

Overflight of Serbia lasted only a few minutes and the aircraft crossed back into Romania, before entering Bulgaria.

The mystery aircraft landed in Bulgaria, covered the airplane, and left it. Bulgarian Authorities found the aircraft while the engines were still warm.

https://mentourpilot.com/mystery-aircraft-flies-illegally-over-seven-countries/