Regional Trash Thanksgiving Jumpseat

Derg said:
I think it's a solid choice.

Remember, there are lots of people that will be sleeping in the airport over the holidays that are on purchased tickets as well.

I'm not trying to wreck your holiday, but I really don't want you to be another "Dear Dough" email where bad stuff happened and now you're missing your training. If you're just looking at staying at the regionals, you have a lot more leeway, but if you're looking to move up the foodchain, if shizzle went real bad that week, you bet you're going to be grilled on that because (a) it provides an opportunity to see how you react under pressure and (b) a good opportunity to evaluate you for your decision making. If I were a recruiter, I would be all over that if things didn't work out and you had a discontinuance or delay in training which many major airline applications ask about.

Here's a personal example. I get done the morning of Thanksgiving. I'll probably fly home, spend the night, and then commute EARLY back to DTW the next day to start another trip the day after. But one hiccup in the weather or things look a little 'sketch' and you bet your ass I'm staying in DTW in between trips. My wife might get a little wonky about it, at worst, but at the end of the day, she knows I gotta "Protect Essential", just like in the 727 flight engineer days. I've pretty much got 18 years of unscathed work history with my carrier and I intend on maintaining that.
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Great point. That's some 'splanin I don't want to do!
poser765 said:
You are making a really good call. It sucks now, I know, but you really do get used to it in this line of work. Admittedly, I've not been doing this for very long but I've already lost count of the holiday/family get togethers I've missed.

Stay in town, study, Go over to Pan Am and work on flows and procedures. Our training program is not the easiest curriculum to get through and every little bit helps. Hell, I already had close to 2000 hours in the airplane when I started here and I didn't even go home during initial.

Edited for "Jesus Christ, sometimes I wonder if I am even literate."
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I love me some PanAm IPT, and I bet they'll finally be wide open. :biggrin: I know no one from my class is staying though. I'll just play both sides of the field, so to speak.

Beep said:
Since you've decided to stay in town maybe you should take the day off and have some fun.
One idea would be to rent a turkey costume and chase people around yelling " gobble, gobble ".
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Turkey season closed 10/30 but I'd still get shot.
 
Derg said:
My wife might get a little wonky about it, at worst, but at the end of the day, she knows I gotta "Protect Essential", just like in the 727 flight engineer days.
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But a good flight engineer can always figure out a way to make it work and press on anyways.

A check airman jumpseater let me know the APU EGT was redlining. "I know it's hot in here, but you might want to turn off the pack.
Hmmm, "I'll turn ON the other pack"
"But the EGT is redlining"
"Turning on the other pack will get the pack multiplier working, reduce workload on the packs, and I'll also turn off both B-pumps...yup there we go, it's going down"
"It's still close to red"

At this point my captain jumps in, "Isaac, is it yellow or red?"
"Yellow"
"Then don't pay attention to him - he was never an engineer".
 
Sheesh. The responses here, you would think many of you don't commute same-day but we know we all do. It's a calculated risk. What company fires someone right off the bat for missing one commute in training? Probably not a place one should want to work at then. I never missed anything in training when I commuted home and back, but I know one guy did and fessed up and promised to make up for it in any way he could. Had a good attitude and I know he's here. I don't even think he had a big carpet deal about it, he went through the training coordinator and arranged to make things right.

To the OP, go home and take Fedex back. Just take a look at weather and keep an eye for storms, blizzards, which are about the two big things that may shut down Fedex. Keep on eye on CHA versus MEM and be ready to drive one way to MEM if you have to. And again, keep an eye on the weather between MEM and MSP too. Otherwise, go home and enjoy the holidays. I don't know where you work, but at most places, the instructors are home for the holidays too. Staying behind when everyone else has gone home?
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Sheesh. The responses here, you would think many of you don't commute same-day but we know we all do. It's a calculated risk. What company fires someone right off the bat for missing one commute in training? Probably not a place one should want to work at then. I never missed anything in training when I commuted home and back, but I know one guy did and fessed up and promised to make up for it in any way he could. Had a good attitude and I know he's here. I don't even think he had a big carpet deal about it, he went through the training coordinator and arranged to make things right.

To the OP, go home and take Fedex back. Just take a look at weather and keep an eye for storms, blizzards, which are about the two big things that may shut down Fedex. Keep on eye on CHA versus MEM and be ready to drive one way to MEM if you have to. And again, keep an eye on the weather between MEM and MSP too. Otherwise, go home and enjoy the holidays. I don't know where you work, but at most places, the instructors are home for the holidays too. Staying behind when everyone else has gone home?
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Missing a commute online: Meh, that's what reserves are for
Missing a commute in training: Not so much. Plus, if my own training schedule got messed up because my sim partner was a jackass and didn't make it back in time, I'd be pretty pissed. One day of messed up sim schedules can potentially push a checkride back multiple days.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
Putting yourself into a problem with the Company for something as stupid as not being in the right place at the right time is a bad idea. And it's just a double-dumb-ass way to get into trouble, and a very boring or vanilla way to get into said trouble too. (At least make it interesting!)

There's a short list of things, including showing up on time, and appearing professional, (etc.) that I consider "low-hanging fruit" and incumbent upon us as professional aviators. The worst part about being in training, to me, is that they "own" you (subject to certain limitations, but nevertheless, you're theirs) until you are finished; conduct yourself accordingly.
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Am I missing the picture is? Isn't the chance of not being in the right place at the right time called commuting woes? Commuting sometimes goes hairy no matter how well you plan.

Ask me about the time I was on a Delta 737NG DTW-SFO over lake Michigan the engines go to idle, the plane makes a 180, and we do an emergency landing at GRR. Sometimes crap happens. In that case on that day, I was able to get to my working flight in SFO just 30 minutes from scheduled departure and we left on time. But it's reasons like this we have commute policies that won't result in firing-type discipline for the pilot. Just don't use it too often, but come on. You guys really mean to tell me you never once missed a check in window while commuting due to external uncontrollable factors you tried to account for but it happened anyway?
 
JordanD said:
Missing a commute online: Meh, that's what reserves are for
Missing a commute in training: Not so much. Plus, if my own training schedule got messed up because my sim partner was a jackass and didn't make it back in time, I'd be pretty pissed. One day of messed up sim schedules can potentially push a checkride back multiple days.
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Hmm, I guess.

I will say on reserve as FO I was called to sit seat support in our sim because the FO didn't show and they needed a body in the sim right seat for the guy in the CA seat to continue.

But you have a good point, it depends when in training we're talking about. If it's a sim event, that can be harder to recover from. As opposed to a ground school day which usually can be made up.
 
Also absolute worse case, CHA to MSP is 1000 miles 15.5 hr drive. I did an out/back from western PA to MEM for my regional which was ~770 miles one way. If push comes to shove, just do a one-way car rental.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Am I missing the picture is? Isn't the chance of not being in the right place at the right time called commuting woes? Commuting sometimes goes hairy no matter how well you plan.

Ask me about the time I was on a Delta 737NG DTW-SFO over lake Michigan the engines go to idle, the plane makes a 180, and we do an emergency landing at GRR. Sometimes crap happens. In that case on that day, I was able to get to my working flight in SFO just 30 minutes from scheduled departure and we left on time. But it's reasons like this we have commute policies that won't result in firing-type discipline for the pilot. Just don't use it too often, but come on. You guys really mean to tell me you never once missed a check in window while commuting due to external uncontrollable factors you tried to account for but it happened anyway?
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Not yet.

I take pains to minimize said risk, though.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Am I missing the picture is? Isn't the chance of not being in the right place at the right time called commuting woes? Commuting sometimes goes hairy no matter how well you plan.

Ask me about the time I was on a Delta 737NG DTW-SFO over lake Michigan the engines go to idle, the plane makes a 180, and we do an emergency landing at GRR. Sometimes crap happens. In that case on that day, I was able to get to my working flight in SFO just 30 minutes from scheduled departure and we left on time. But it's reasons like this we have commute policies that won't result in firing-type discipline for the pilot. Just don't use it too often, but come on. You guys really mean to tell me you never once missed a check in window while commuting due to external uncontrollable factors you tried to account for but it happened anyway?
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Risk : Reward

I'm an employee with 18 years of solid work history and have only been late once. If I miss a sign-in, I have a commuter policy that's going to help keep the operation going and the company knows that through my work history, if I have an obligation to be somewhere, I have reliably shown on time, with regularity. So if I make the call to crew scheduling, they can reliably say that I have exhausted all resources in reference to my historical data.

As a new hire pilot in training, if things go cattywumpus, I'm delaying class, simulator training and probably wrecking my training partners schedule as well.

There is a world of difference between having to invoke the "commuter policy" with crew scheduling and potentially missing training events.

Honestly, from the peanut gallery, the original poster really didn't want to go which is why he was questioning the dynamics involved with the trip in the first place.

People are always free to do whatever they want to do while bearing all risk.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
That's pretty impressive if in 18 yrs you only missed sign-in once. And that's commuting from PHX to some pretty far places!
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Work ethic! :) (and admittedly, heavy commute paranoia mixed with good fortune (luck) )

I've only lived "in base" for a year when I was MCO 73S

But:
MCO-ATL (727C)
PHX-DFW (MD88B)
PHX-ATL (MD88B)
PHX-SLC (MD88B)
PHX-JFK (7ERB)
PHX-DTW(330B)
PHX-NYC(320A)
PHX-DTW(320A)

If you've gotta leave a day early, you gotta leave a day early. If you can't reliably make it back to work in between trips, that's what Marriott Rewards points are for. I figure for those people that want to fly jets and sleep in their own bed with regularity, there's Microsoft Flight Simulator.
 
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Adler said:
But a good flight engineer can always figure out a way to make it work and press on anyways.

A check airman jumpseater let me know the APU EGT was redlining. "I know it's hot in here, but you might want to turn off the pack.
Hmmm, "I'll turn ON the other pack"
"But the EGT is redlining"
"Turning on the other pack will get the pack multiplier working, reduce workload on the packs, and I'll also turn off both B-pumps...yup there we go, it's going down"
"It's still close to red"

At this point my captain jumps in, "Isaac, is it yellow or red?"
"Yellow"
"Then don't pay attention to him - he was never an engineer".
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That sounds like my kind of work TBH.
 
Derg said:
Work ethic! :) (and admittedly, heavy commute paranoia mixed with good fortune (luck) )

I've only lived "in base" for a year when I was MCO 73S

But:
MCO-ATL (727C)
PHX-DFW (MD88B)
PHX-ATL (MD88B)
PHX-SLC (MD88B)
PHX-JFK (7ERB)
PHX-DTW(330B)
PHX-NYC(320A)
PHX-DTW(320A)

If you've gotta leave a day early, you gotta leave a day early. If you can't reliably make it back to work in between trips, that's what Marriott Rewards points are for. I figure for those people that want to fly jets and sleep in their own bed with regularity, there's Microsoft Flight Simulator.
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Still, you never once stranded even say on the commute flight that had to divert to Timbaktu, Kansas on your way to NYC? Can you share the 1-time bust on the commute? And how about NYC itself? Pop up thunderstorms that were unforecast and all sorts of crap like that can turn this place upside down for commuting in/out. Or the major blizzards. The airports are basically done for sometimes up to 2 days. How do you still get to work in a case like this?
 
I agree with CC. I say you commute home. Yes the flights may be full. But that isnt the seat you will be fighting for. It will be the jumpseat. And I cant imagine there are alot of CHA-MSP commuting pilots. I would imagine a DL pilot living in CHA, probably is based out of ATL. You are going to miss a lot of holidays in your career. Take advantage of the Thanksgiving you have off.
 
Maybe. Maybe not. But besides DL and SY...9E,CP and OO all have pilot bases in MSP. So while it's not likely a high demand commuter route,the chance is still there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
MikeD said:
Did they call you guys FEs, or did they call you SOs?
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I don't even remember! Ha! Just "engineer" was the unofficial vernacular, "second officers" on official company documents I think. I was just on the 727, but @WMostellar plumbed on the L1011 so maybe it was a different tribe there.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Still, you never once stranded even say on the commute flight that had to divert to Timbaktu, Kansas on your way to NYC? Can you share the 1-time bust on the commute? And how about NYC itself? Pop up thunderstorms that were unforecast and all sorts of crap like that can turn this place upside down for commuting in/out. Or the major blizzards. The airports are basically done for sometimes up to 2 days. How do you still get to work in a case like this?
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Man you ask a lot of questions! :)

Nope, never (knock on wood) ended up on a divert to/from work except when I ended up in LAS when PHX shut down and the crew timed out, but that's just 'up the street' and I got an inexpensive hotel and whooped it up until I jumpseated home, same crew, same flight number, but the next morning. Why dispatchers use TUS as an alternate when the WX in PHX is bad is hilarious. America West would pretty much send 50% of their fleet there and gas gets skoshe real fast.

On the missed commute, my Delta flight cancelled, I went over to USAirways which would get me to NYC about an hour before my show time, that flight had significant delays, I told scheduling that I'd be landing in the USAirways terminal at my check-in time and I'd call them when I landed. I called my captain and told him the situation and the inbound flight number. NO problem. Get to JFK, jetway breaks, another 45 minutes on the jet and I'm in the back of the aircraft and terminals away. On landing, I told CS what the situation was, I called the captain and he said just to show up whenever I could, he'd take care of the rest of it and we launched. Only pushed back about 3 minutes late I think.

Never heard a peep about it because again, if you're going to commute, you're going to have to put your big boy pants on and make sacrifices because the world doesn't revolve around your need to live in one place, but work out of another.

I just blocked trips together and planned in advance. I only commuted PHX to JFK once a month, maybe twice, tops and pre-117 I'd just go two back-to-back six day Europe trips, stay in NYC in between trips and fly home when it was over. Easiest commute, internationally, ever.

Domestic NYC? Forget it. and I was 60% in the category with a solid line. NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE.

If it were pure JFK, no problem, but LGA and EWR? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… I'd rather walk 50 miles through knee-deep fresh diarrhea with bare feet then watch cable news blasted at 90db than to ever do that again. I lasted a month and I said "fuggebowdit".
 
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