Washington Post Crash Pad Article
- Thread starter v1valarob
- Start date
Firebird2XC
Well-Known Member
Right now, Congress cares, and that's enough.
Maximilian_Jenius
Super User
E Dawg said:
...you too Ed?
Glad it's just not me...it said that Amber posted in this thread, but it won't let me scroll down to see her post.
Paging Doug to tech support, Doug to tech support!!!
ASpilot2be
Qbicle seat warmer
I think your computer hates you....you too Ed?
Glad it's just not me...it said that Amber posted in this thread, but it won't let me scroll down to see her post.
Paging Doug to tech support, Doug to tech support!!!
FlyChicaga
Vintage Restoration
Honestly, crashpads have been around for YEARS. The problem is not the crashpads... It's that we're being worked harder, for longer, with less rest, for less money.
Cruise
Well-Known Member
In a nutshell......yep, that's it!
Trip7
Well-Known Member
Every company needs to have duty rigs to make the schedules more efficient. These airport appreciation breaks that I hear are common at other regionals must be brutal.
surreal1221
Well-Known Member
They're not just at other regionals.
Being back on reserve, getting the crap 3 day and 4 day trips, you'll encounter a couple of these appreciation sits. Even with our duty rigs. 3 to 3.5 hour sits were not uncommon last summer, fall, and winter.
TVB
Well-Known Member
I think they all tie in together. I know in my situation a crashpad is the only thing I can afford. If you can afford to get a better place to live but choose a crashpad for financial reasons then that's your decision. However, for most of us a crashpad is the only option. I'm a captain at a regional with a wife and three kids and I know I'm not going to get quality rest while staying there. I have no options though because my company doesn't pay me enough to live anywhere else. That's a problem.
Firebird2XC
Well-Known Member
Living like a passing vagrant is part of the problem. Crash pads are not the problem, they're the evidence therein. It's the proof that the end result for a crewmember is not a glamorous one. It's a daily reality of life in an airline today, and showing that to the public will only bolster our cause.
One day, on a 1900D flying out of Islip, Long Island, a passenger made a passing quip about how I "was already paid way too much money anyways."
The reality is that my $20,000 annual pay expectation didn't quit fit that statement.
I *lived* full time in that Albany crash pad. Why? Without a bunch of roommates and a a lease somewhere, I couldn't afford to live in the places Colgan expected me to be. Excessive commuting to support a lifestyle is a bit silly, in my mind. In fact, if I had my say, I'd not commute at all. But Colgan expected me to do things a certain way, so I made it work with what they gave me to accomplish the mission.
Living in a dirty crash pad was the net result. The kick in the teeth is in what would have come next. I'd have been shifted to a different airframe or base, involuntarily, without warning, and without compensation for uprooting my life. There's zero stability in the life of a Colgan Air crewmember, and nowhere near enough pay to compensate for the changes they expect pilots to make.
That's the real point of the crash pad article. Pilots enter into the profession willing to accept great sacrifice in order to progress to the top tier where life is liveable, and pay is acceptable. Since the industry stopped moving, now we're all stuck where we are. How long will you find your situation tolerable? Where's the collective breaking point?
Now, we'll see people burn out and quit, assuming they don't burn in and die instead. A great deal of the experienced aviators expected to replace the retirees at the top tier will burn out before they make it that far.
The article demonstrates that the industry is burning the pilot candle at both ends in a variety of ways, and it will be nothing but detrimental for the U.S. air transportation system.
Trip7
Well-Known Member
I've encountered plenty of 2 hr sits, but 3-3.5 is pretty rare, at least on the 700. But even still, at least we're getting paid for those sits when our duty rig kicks in.
On that thought ASA peeps make sure you check your pay audits because apparently the software they use doesn't automatically kick the duty rig in when your scheduled block credit runs higher than your scheduled duty in and your duty day actually ended up running so long that duty rig kicked in.
Firebird2XC
Well-Known Member
Yeeeeah. They do that as a friendly reminder to check your pay credits. :insane:
I do not miss those.
We'd sit around SLC for 3:50 hours:minutes where at 4:00 we'd get a hotel room. Back in the old days, we'd run the MD-90 up to Billings and back (usually full), but some rocket scientist thought it'd be grand to outsource that flight.
Productivity sits are even worse when you sit around for four hours, then you fly a leg to LAX and have a 9:30 layover.
surreal1221
Well-Known Member
Been an issue since the new contract. But if you're just now returning to reserve and you're now starting to pay more attention to your pay I can see where people wouldn't have cared when they were crediting 85+ hour credit holding a line.
Don't expect a fix anytime soon. Our union is too busy trying to screw some more pilots out of a job with the arrival of PBS.
Which, even then, I'm sure they won't fix this.
Had to contact payroll six times during my year with ASA for these exact situations. Even on reserve. If you're not paying attention, they'll cheat you out of some money. Developed my own spreadsheet to make sure I was getting properly paid, and if there was any discrepancy (in credit or per diem) I made sure I bugged the hell out of someone. In every instance, we were able to sit down and hash out the differences in amounts and come to the proper conclusion. Sometimes my fault, but four times it was the company's issue.
BobDDuck
Island Bus Driver
Hah... Ours are longer than yours (10 hours). AND unpaid.
Bwahahah... We win!
Actually, we lose. Nevermind.
FlyChicaga
Vintage Restoration
Seriously???
We have 5 hour airport standby. Paid for four hours. The union tried to get it changed to 4/4, but the company said no.