"calling in sick" with Part 121

middies10

middies10

Well-Known Member
So I have come down with a cold over the past couple days and it got me thinking. I thought to myself that I am definitely not in a position to operate an aircraft. I am not yet in a position at a part 121 operator, but was curious to hear from those in that position about what happens when you come down with a common cold.

I would say I have be "out of action" for 3 days now. How do the airlines handle theses situations?

Thanks
 
middies10 said:
So I have come down with a cold over the past couple days and it got me thinking. I thought to myself that I am definitely not in a position to operate an aircraft. I am not yet in a position at a part 121 operator, but was curious to hear from those in that position about what happens when you come down with a common cold.

I would say I have be "out of action" for 3 days now. How do the airlines handle theses situations?

Thanks
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At my airline, I call in sick. When I'm no longer sick, I call in well.
 
If you are too sick to safely operate an aircraft (safe for your own physical well-being, safe for the operation of the a/c) then call in sick. Of particular importance with a cold is the sinus/ear blockage. Ruptured eardrums will have you out of service a lot longer than 1 sick call to get over the worst of the cold.

Not to mention would YOU want to share a cockpit with someone sneezing/coughing all over everything, exposing everyone else who has to fly that plane to their germs?
 
89-LX said:
Are you reserve or a line holder?
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I am personally neither, but the question is general.

Most of these answers are what I expected, but can you face any repercussions from your employers if you get sick multiple times in a year.
 
middies10 said:
I am personally neither, but the question is general.

Most of these answers are what I expected, but can you face any repercussions from your employers if you get sick multiple times in a year.
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I dunno about multiple times in a year, but I am a 1st yr FO and I've only made 1 sick call for 2 days on reserve. They were calling me at 6 am as I was calling them, so they "notified" me about the trip first and I got in trouble.
 
Call in sick with no question asked. We have sick time so it gets deducted form our sick bank which we accrue sick time the longer we work there. If you go to a doctor and have a note they excuse your sickness with out any repercussions or deduction of sick time.
 
Most, if not all 121 carriers have a system allowing to cover for 'sick' crew members, hence those who sit on reserve.
Again, most if not all 121 will not have retribution for those who call in sick. Each negotiated contract will have language dealing with that.

If you are on reserve, scheduling is your best friend.
If you hold a line, scheduling is your worst nightmare...
 
Where I work if you call in sick and bring in a doctors note, it's an excused sick call and does not count towards discipline. If you don't bring in a doctors note, and have more than 5 calls in a rolling year, you'll be written up.
 
middies10 said:
Most of these answers are what I expected, but can you face any repercussions from your employers if you get sick multiple times in a year.
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Most airlines do have some sort of punitive sick policy, unfortunately. The good news is that it takes a lot for most of them to kick in. For example, 6 sick calls in a year for a warning, 7 for a written warning, 8 for a suspension, etc. Some are more draconian, but those are few and far between. In general, if you call in sick when you're actually sick, then you'll be fine. If you call in sick constantly just because you don't want to show up for work, then you'll probably find yourself in trouble.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
If you call in sick constantly just because you don't want to show up for work, then you'll probably find yourself in trouble.
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I know people like that. They don't like that they have minimum time between a couple of 3-day trips, so they sick-out the second one. Guess they haven't been caught yet though. But I do wonder if someone would notice.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Most airlines do have some sort of punitive sick policy, unfortunately. The good news is that it takes a lot for most of them to kick in. For example, 6 sick calls in a year for a warning, 7 for a written warning, 8 for a suspension, etc. Some are more draconian, but those are few and far between. In general, if you call in sick when you're actually sick, then you'll be fine. If you call in sick constantly just because you don't want to show up for work, then you'll probably find yourself in trouble.
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Basically the same at my airline but subtract one for every occurrence.

That being said, of you are sick, you are sick. It's not worth the risk. I've tried to walk it off and go flying with a head cold. Not only was it the most uncomfortable I've ever been in my life. But from top of descent until 10,000ft (when the CRJs cabin equals landing elevation) I was 100% uselesss.
 
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MikeD said:
I know people like that. They don't like that they have minimum time between a couple of 3-day trips, so they sick-out the second one. Guess they haven't been caught yet though. But I do wonder if someone would notice.
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That stuff just pisses me off. All somebody does by doing that is screwing over his buddy who's on reserve and going to get called out for it, and he probably has even fewer days off since he's a reserve pilot. If you can't handle flying your schedule, then you'd best leave aviation. Don't screw everyone else over by calling in sick when you aren't.

Sorry for the rant, just a pet peeve of mine.
 
No occurrences or anything like that here. If you're sick, you're sick. XJT had the occurrence thing until the end of my time there, but finally saw the light and swapped to a non-punitive policy.
 
My airline promotes calling in fatigue also with no retaliation. I have yet to call in sick or fatigue yet so I don't know how it works. I take lots of vitamin C, get at least 8 hours sleep and I "try" to eat healthy.
 
I had a jerk call in for the first round trip of a four day trip because he didn't want to wake up. Then he took the trip back after I got back to FAT which took me out of contention for flying a four day trip on reserve, and I ended up with ready reserve for that day, plus a bunch of single leg trips that week causing me to get a hotel. I found out it was a guy in my upgrade class and told him what happened and he said, "seniority rules" There's a special place in Hell for these types off idiots.
 
At my work, while you can call in what usually happens is people come to work looking awful. The charge nurse then says you can't work and you get taken in a wheelchair to the emergency room. Actually last time it happen, one of the surgeons stopped the girl on the way, pushed on her stomach called the ED for the tests he wanted and booked her OR time that afternoon. Working in the hospital has its perks.
 
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