Why Does American Airlines Paint its Tails Gray?

The question
A friend and fellow aviation geek recently asked me why American Airlines paints the tails of its aircraft gray.  "I understand why panels constructed of composite materials would need to be painted, but I can't imagine that's why, for example, the MD80 tails are painted gray.  So the question is...why does AA paint its tails gray?  Thanks."

The answer:
The history on this is a bit foggy, but here's the best I can piece together in a short time.  The tails of all jets at American Airlines were, once upon a time, polished.  As the most common member of the American Airlines fleet, you have most likely seen the polished skin of an MD80 as it taxied or flew by.  You probably had your hands over your ears at the time as the MD80 isn't exactly the quietest member of the AA fleet.  Maybe you noticed, maybe you didn't, but the tail section and certain other parts of American's jets are currently painted gray.  There was a time, however, that even the tail sections of American's jets were a combination of paint and polish.  Access panels, trim tabs and fairings were painted gray and other sections of the tail were polished in the same manner as the fuselage.

American Airlines Airbus A300 in the New Mexico desert

Some fleet types at American have large composite sections that require painting.  For instance, the nose section of American's now retired Airbus A300 fleet was composite and required a layer of paint.  I'm not referring to the nose cone which is always painted, but the section over the cockpit windows.

In the end, the decision to paint the metal on the tail was designed to protect the surfaces, to provide a fleet-wide common livery and to reduce the cluttered look that resulted from painting some, but not all of the tail.

Here's an example of the change.  The picture below shows ship 223 (N223AA) in 1989 with a polished tail.

The picture below shows the same aircraft with a painted tail in August of 2009, after I delivered it to its final resting place in the desert outside Roswell, New Mexico.

I've shared the link before, but in case you haven't seen it, here is a video I made after the last flight of N223AA.

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An Insider’s View of the AMR Bankruptcy

Working for a bankrupt airline is not where I thought I would be 12 years ago when I took this job.  I came to a crossroad in 1999, standing in my living room staring at an answering machine with two blinking messages.  One from American Airlines and the other from cross town rival Southwest.  These were my top two choices.  Dream jobs.  Winning the lottery wouldn’t have seemed any more of a distant possibility.  I was honestly amazed and bewildered by the decision I was about to make.

In the end I took the job at American with high hopes of a quick upgrade to Captain and dreams of retiring as a senior B777 Captain.  At the time I was hired, my retirement seniority number was projected to be a two digit number, pretty amazing stuff at a major airline with over 10,000 pilots.

Twelve years later things haven’t worked out exactly as planned.  Various circumstances with which I will not expand upon have resulted in one basic truth.  12 years ago I was a junior First Officer on the MD80 and today I find myself in the exact same position.  12 years ago I was all full of hope, excited about the future, proud to wear the uniform.  Today I wonder if I will have a job next month.  I wonder if I will have to sell my house.  I’m thankful that I don’t have a car payment and I’m thankful that I have money in savings, although not enough, for my daughter’s college education.  The future is anything but secure.

Let’s take just a moment to recognize the elephant in the room.  New reports abound with stories blaming the employees of American Airlines for the demise of a once great airline.  Specifically to blame are the pilots.  After all, they are the highest paid labor group on the property.  No doubt you have read about the pilots refusing to accept a contract offer from management that would have guaranteed pay raises and promised growth and prosperity for the airline.  The airline said it, so it must be true.  Hogwash.

Has everyone forgotten 2003?  Ok, ok, unless you worked for the airline or were directly impacted you probably didn’t pay much attention then much less remember the details now.  In 2003 the employees of American Airlines came to the company’s rescue and voluntarily accepted huge pay cuts and reductions in benefits.  The often quoted mantra from company back then was “Pull together, win together.” 

All told, the labor concessions at American Airlines totaled over $1.8 billion.  The pilots alone agreed to cuts that, in management’s estimate, equaled roughly $660 million in annual savings for the company.  Did you catch the word “annual” in that sentence?  The pilot’s union claimed a much larger number and the truth most likely lies somewhere in between.  Pull together, win together?  These savings were in jeopardy of falling apart after retention bonuses and pension protection for executives were revealed on the last day most employees were voting on the cuts, but the labor force at American took the high road and saved the company from bankruptcy. 

The improvements gained by American Airlines in 2003 gave the company an enormous cost advantage over its rivals.  But instead of using this new found leverage to compete soundly with its competitors, American Airlines shrunk.  In 2003 when the new contracts were inked, American Airlines employed over 13,500 pilots.  Today they employ fewer than 8,000.  They sold airplanes, cut routes and unveiled a corporate pay and bonus structure that rewarded top executives with multi-million dollar enhancements based on stock price as compared with its rivals.  Of course, you would think as poorly as the airline has performed, that bonuses would not be paid…but you would be wrong.  Last year, American ranked last when compared with its competitors, but the bonuses still flowed by the millions.

Back to the contract “turned down” by the pilots last month.  First, the by-laws at the Allied Pilots Association require any Tentative Agreement (T/A) to be in contractual language before it can be voted upon.  Management knows this and the agreement tendered by American was basically a bullet point summary.  Second, any agreement deemed acceptable by the APA negotiating committee must be studied for seven days before the agreement can be offered to the pilot group to be voted upon.  Third, and quite telling, is the fact that management inserted hot button items into the agreement that they knew full well would result in it being voted down.

Specifically, I’m referring to domestic code-share.  American Airlines has an agreement with its pilots that reads as follows: 

“All flying performed by the Company, a subsidiary, or affiliate directly or indirectly controlled by the Company, or successor in interest, or flying performed on behalf of the Company as a result of any agreement to which the Company is a party or becomes a party, shall be performed by pilots named on the active American Airlines Pilots Seniority List.”

This agreement, commonly referred to as a scope clause, prohibits the airline’s use of pilots from another carrier.  It’s all about job protection.

Over the past 25 years, the pilots of American Airlines have allowed exceptions to this agreement to allow feed operations in domestic markets by its regional partners (mainly American Eagle) and with its international partner airlines (there are many) in overseas markets not served by American Airlines.

However, over the last 10 years alone, American Airlines has shrunk by almost 30% while its domestic code-share partner American Eagle has grown by the same amount.  American Airlines now wants its pilots to allow the airline to sell tickets out of New York, Boston and Washington DC on other airlines, reducing or eliminating the need for American Airlines pilots in these markets.  All markets served by American Airlines.  All markets where the airline operates crew bases and its pilots and flight attendants call home. 

American Airlines never expected their offer to the pilots to be accepted.  It was part of a plan that was set in motion long before the company filed for bankruptcy on November 29^th.  Look at what happened on day one of the AMR bankruptcy.  President and CEO Gerard Arpey announced his new job at the helm of investment firm Emerald Creek Group, founded by former Continental CEO Larry Kellner.  Several new websites were launched.  Hundreds of pages of documents were filed.  So on and so forth.  A plan was made public that had been set in motion months before.  The agreement pushed across the table to the pilots was all part of that plan.

It’s all water under the bridge at this point.  The truth is that the employees at American Airlines are under fire. They are outnumbered and low on ammunition with no backup in sight.  Need someone to blame?  Point your finger somewhere else.

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