Airline flying!

[Qgar]

I still enjoy it!

:yeahthat: I'm glad to hear it! We DO have some awesome crews, don't we?

:rawk: :nana2: :bandit:

 

[Cruise]

:yeahthat: I'm glad to hear it! We DO have some awesome crews, don't we?

:rawk: :nana2: :bandit:

Soon to have one more at the helm!!! :hiya:

Time to start anic:anic:anic:anic:anic:anic:

 

[Qgar]

So, I guess that's your "official" announcement? I'm sooo happy you're coming over to the Q-side. :nana2:

I can't wait to add another favorite CA to my list!!!!

Thank God my list of favorite CA's is a helluva lot longer than the • list. :cwm27:


**EDIT: Guess I should have said "pilots" and not just CA's. Don't want my favorite FO's to be pissed at me! **

 

[Trip7]

I absolutely LOVE it! I worked 7 days last month. Like Joe, Im home about 90% of the time, and enjoy the heck out of my flight benefits. I've been to places I only dreamed of going as a kid. Don't have to worry about getting sick because now I have health benefits. Get to sit around at home in my PJs all day, and get to go hang out in an awesome city at night. And when I DO have to go to work, I get to go fly people around in a multimillion piece of equipment. Pay is low but only 4 more months!

Man life is tough! My "real world" friends are incredibly jealous:nana2:

 

[Alchemy]

Let's see, I enjoy the actual flying of the airplne. What I don't enjoy:

4 AM wakeup calls
Hotels with bloodstains and curly hairs all over the sheets
Staying at a hotel in B.F.E. for 48 hours with nowhere to go, no transportation, and nothing to do.
Going through the farce known as TSA airport security every morning
Getting bumped off flights when you try to commte to work because no one can make money without a 90%+ load factor.
Hearing how small the plane is every morning
2 hour+ groundstops
Dodging Thunderstorms along the gulf coast all day everyday
Being #30 in the lineup for de-icing
Passengers who decide they can just get up and go to the lav while we're taxiing
Dealing with co-workers full of piss and vinegar
Incompetent co-workers
Sitting around the hub airport for 5 hours a day making $1.70/hr
Getting bumped off flights when you try to commute home because no one can make money without a 90%+ load factor.
Constantly wondering if your company will be around in 10, 5, or 1 year.
The threat of paycuts.

Things I like:

Working with good, interesting people.
Operating those flights where everything goes right, you grease the landing and you can't seem to lose.
Grateful passengers
Interesting overnights with fun things to do
Flying out west and observing the geology of this country from 35,000 ft.
Flying over DC and Philly before you strafe manhattan on approach into EWR.
Camradarie between pilots.
Dealing with professional-acting rampers, gate agent, flight attendants, and FO's.
Successfully dealing with an emergency and recieving achknowledgement from the company that you did a nice job.
The pay (yes, before I get flamed, I have no idea how else I'd be making this much with an H.S. diploma and some college <--- working on it!).
The time off
The paid vacation
The insurance/medical benefits
Having a union
Having the option to travel cheaply on your time off.

 

[Carnival_Pilot]

Do Airline pilots enjoy their jobs????? This is something I just want to know.

WEll to be totally honest, the life style is not so bad, pay sucks for the first year, but i have recently been getting called alot on reserve and per diem make up for it. Now even though im on reserve i learned how to work the system real quick were im able to get almost ever Fri, Sat, Sun off:nana2: and then i use FedEx to commute from MEM to JFK, so i get back ever weekend just in time to hit all the parties,bbq's carnivals and family events. What i have learned is that starting day one of IOE when you get to that point, start talking to all the pilot about how to work the system for days off, more money, better trip etc. This tricks of the trade will make QOL much better where ever you are based:bandit:

 

[surreal1221]

Already?

Mike, I know you don't know me too well. . .but all of my jobs - while I have enjoyed their intent, and also enjoyed the various lines of work I've been in - all of them have been just jobs. There has never been anything "amazing" or "dreamy" from any of my previous employment ventures - and flying for a living is included.

Now, that doesn't mean I don't love or enjoy what I do. I would have hoped that was clear by this point.

He's on ready reserve (or will be soon). Makes one cranky.

Stop spying on me!!1

I think he works here just so he can be part of ALPA ;-)

That was a deciding factor. Along with the lack of an airborne commute. Or the other numerous reasons for seeking employment at our company.

 

[gtpilot]

Stop spying on me!!

What else am I supposed to do on a long overnight with a 2 hr flow delay to start my day?

 

[Cheechako]

Hello, my name is Chris [Hi Chris]
I've been an airline pilot for 9 years and still LOVE MY JOB!!

I've survived two years of first year pay,
lived in 7 different homes in 4 cities,
flown 3 types of transport aircraft (typed in 1, 2 if you count the SIC type),
flown 1-7 legs a day some as short as 13 minutes (DEN-COS, PSG-WRG), as long as 7:35 (SEA-LIH),
sat ready reserve only twice,
had up to 22 days off a month,
33 hour layovers in Hawaii in the winter, Juneau in the summer,
landed in airports in 45 of the 50 states, 1 foreign country (2 if you count Canada, lol),
my family have flown thousands of miles all over the country for free or next to free on six different airlines,
aside from studying for my yearly recurrent sim, I never bring work home,
I never have to stand in front of the closet wondering what I'm going to wear to work!

It's a great job and I'd rather do nothing else!

 

[surreal1221]

What else am I supposed to do on a long overnight with a 2 hr flow delay to start my day?

Must be nice. . .when'd you start your reserve period?

I'm slowly starting to get more and more skeptical about this bucket system - I think it's busted, especially when it's now going on the third time I'm number one to be called, and well. . .I either 1) don't get called, and someone well below me does or 2) I have the pleasure of having one day of ready reserve turned into a two day (with of course the possibility to be extended again in the morning) when someone else below me is awarded the nice (hah) 4 day trip that I would have gladly taken. I gotta build time sarcasm to 135 minimums somehow. . .:buck:

How dare we have transparency and such. . .

XNA tonight for me.

 

[Screaming_Emu]

That was a deciding factor. Along with the lack of an airborne commute. Or the other numerous reasons for seeking employment at our company.

No, I was joking that is the only reason you became a pilot

 

[Screaming_Emu]

Must be nice. . .when'd you start your reserve period?

I'm slowly starting to get more and more skeptical about this bucket system - I think it's busted, especially when it's now going on the third time I'm number one to be called, and well. . .I either 1) don't get called, and someone well below me does or 2) I have the pleasure of having one day of ready reserve turned into a two day (with of course the possibility to be extended again in the morning) when someone else below me is awarded the nice (hah) 4 day trip that I would have gladly taken. I gotta build time sarcasm to 135 minimums somehow. . .:buck:

How dare we have transparency and such. . .

XNA tonight for me.

If you dong mind me asking, how many hours are you flying a month on the short bus? I too am not entirely sure about the bucket system. Either I don't understand it, or there is absolutely no logic to who gets called when. Basically when I think I probably will get called I dont, and when I dont think they will....they do. Then there's call me first. With the exception of July, I have always flown more when I select "no preference" than CMF.

 

[surreal1221]

Well, last month was my first full month on it. . .and it was CMF.

I blocked around 58, and credited at 72 and some change. That was on C06.

This month, we'll see how things play out. I didn't realize that I was going to duty out tonight so long story short - I'm at home, with a three day scheduled to start tomorrow.

Fine by me, today and the three day are scheduled to give me 25.5 worth of credit.

But yeah - I'm pretty certain that the earlier the reserve period you have, the better and more likelyhood of you actually being utilized is. I'm honestly tempted to give the 0400 call period a shot again come September (was on the 0400 period the last two weeks of June). Just to see if it yields any different results.

Certainly though, the company has enough tools at their disposal to maximize staff utilization. In other words, flying as many people as little as possible.

 

[Screaming_Emu]

Well, last month was my first full month on it. . .and it was CMF.

I blocked around 58, and credited at 72 and some change. That was on C06.

This month, we'll see how things play out. I didn't realize that I was going to duty out tonight so long story short - I'm at home, with a three day scheduled to start tomorrow.

Fine by me, today and the three day are scheduled to give me 25.5 worth of credit.

But yeah - I'm pretty certain that the earlier the reserve period you have, the better and more likelyhood of you actually being utilized is. I'm honestly tempted to give the 0400 call period a shot again come September (was on the 0400 period the last two weeks of June). Just to see if it yields any different results.

Certainly though, the company has enough tools at their disposal to maximize staff utilization. In other words, flying as many people as little as possible.

I guess that makes sense as I'm usually a Noon-Midnight reserve. My phone doesn't always wake me up so I like to be at least semi-awake for the time that I'm on reserve, so that's why I don't like bidding the early morning stuff. Might have to give that a shot though and test that theory. Up until July I've been averaging 25 hours credit, but in July I was around 55.

 

[surreal1221]

Find an annoying ringer - one that you would hate to hear in the morning.

I'll turn my phone off when I goto bed, set my alarm for ten minutes before I am to go on call. When the alarm on the desk goes off, I turn my phone back on and check the ringer making sure it's on and the volume us up high.

Then, I lay my little ol head back down and fall asleep. If/when they call me, I wake up - and have two hours; usually more as of late [3.5 hour call out's are the average]

 

[kellwolf]

For me, the job falls into two parts: the flying and the admin stuff. The flying part, I love. From block out to block in, it's the best job in the world. What I don't like is having to deal with scheduling (reserve here is a life changing experience, lemme tell ya), dispatchers that either aren't paying attention or are overworked to exhaustion, TSA and overnights where I have to make a decision if I'm gonna get 6 hours of sleep or go for 4 hours and actually eat. Part of our problem here is we've got such a high turnover in several of the support depts (ramp, customer service, scheduling (you can feel the breeze from their revolving door on the ramp) and even dispatch (come to PCL, get some experience, then jet over to FedEx, thus leaving room for another FNG). I'm constantly having to re-educate schedulers on rest and duty requirements along with contract stuff, and 9/10 times they'll insist I'm wrong only to be told be a supervisor that I'm right 20 minutes and a struggle later. Dispatchers range from "I'd trust my life to this girl (yeah, there's only ONE dispatcher I'd say that about)" to "I'm checking everything on this release." Part of the issues we have with dispatch is that they're responsible for so many flights at once, they can't possibly cover everything. Odds are if a new TAF comes out that has you requiring an alternate when you didn't before, the dispatcher won't catch it since he/she is busy dispatching 10-20 other flights. Honestly, I don't see how the FAA lets that happen.

It's that admin stuff, the crap no one really likes to deal with, that is the reason, IMO, CAs get paid more than FOs. FOs have to deal with some of it (scheduling, etc), but the CAs get a LOT more of it when dispatch, mx, etc gets involved. I just didn't realize how much more until I got into the left seat.

Overall, I do enjoy the job itself. I enjoy the flying part more than the paperwork part (which reminds me that I have two reports to fill out on-line thanks to this last trip), but in the 121 world, you can't have one without the other.

 

[mastermags]

I enjoy it.... all the crap that goes with it too. Just a part of the whole life experience.

 

[Gonzo]

I found what makes the biggest difference on whether I will enjoy the trip or not is the crew. The trips that I've had the most fun on have been riddled with mx issues, crappy weather, delays, etc, but because I've been with good people I've enjoyed every minute of it. Fly with boring people and its still fun, but not nearly as much.

One more :yeahthat:

 

[gtpilot]

If you dong mind me asking, how many hours are you flying a month on the short bus? I too am not entirely sure about the bucket system. Either I don't understand it, or there is absolutely no logic to who gets called when. Basically when I think I probably will get called I dont, and when I dont think they will....they do. Then there's call me first. With the exception of July, I have always flown more when I select "no preference" than CMF.

The bucket is a bit whacked, but they actually do follow it for the most part. Open time is assigned 3 days out by days available - having 5-6 days available is about the most worthless list to be on. If you only have 3 or 4 days available for the period open time is assigned, you can pretty much tick down the list. If you don't get the open time, all bets are off, apparently. Had a long conversation with a scheduling supervisor last month about why I couldn't request a 2-day from when I was at the top of the list for the 5 day slot.

Him: 'You're not at the top of the list.'
Me:'I'm looking at the list, I'm at the top, with 5 days available!'
Him:'We can only assign a 2-day trip to someone with 2 days available.'
Me:'I have 5 days available, there's no such thing as a scheduled 5-day.'
HimRepeat above)

So I ended up with a day off and a four day trip.

I was in the nap reserve slot in May and had 6 extra days off with 45 credit. For June, I took the 9am slot and topped 90 credit. Same slot this month and 20 blk so far.

Now, back to my reduced rest before the 7.5 blk day tomorrow at the end of my four day!

 

[MusketeerMan]

For the most part, I thoroughly enjoy my job! I actually like flying peeps around and feel satisfied at the end of a flight. I got kind of lucky with my classdate, with the fact that I've had only 1 day of reserve in 5 months of flying and haven't flown less than 85 hours/month. So far, I've also missed the furlough boat (though that could obviously change tomorrow).

There are obviously bad days when I want to cuss out crew scheduling or dislike the crew I'm flying with, but that comes with the territory.

You asked a loaded question and you're going to get different answers from everyone.