F-18 Crash Near Mt. Rainier

[derg]

Man, I haven't afforded a good 'clean day off' for a while. I don't actually work that much but when my schedule is 'green' I get bombarded with everything from Flight Standards stuff to the other project I'm working on to "Oh hey, I got a buddy looking for something, I hope you didn't mind that I BROADCAST YOUR NUMBER ON THEIR COMPANIES FACEBOOK GROUP"

Yes, I'm getting a burner phone.

 

[JordanD]

I appreciate that life at your airline/seat/seniority is a different ballgame, but when it comes to showing up to work and doing the job, I’ve gotta disagree with you a little here. I’m sure part of it is because it’s built on the foundation of 25ish years of experience, but where I sit 121 is stupid easy compared to any other flying job I’ve done. I’m not, at all, any kind of super pilot, and I didn’t fly stealth fighters, but I show up every leg taking the job seriously, trying to go above the minimum, and do my best, and that’s enough to get comments like “thanks for making it easy for me today” “thanks for not being a •up” “finally an FO who knows how to fly” etc.

Outside of the cockpit, with commuting, trying to stay rested and fit on the road, filling time on layovers with something more productive than doomscrolling, bidding, training events that are actually just checking events, etc… no doubt the hardest. 100% with you there. Like not even close. Well, maybe being a 135 director of maintenance was close in that I was never truly off the clock.

I get what both of you are saying but having worked at her shop and several others it can be almost night and day. It’s funny because I almost expect a “fight” or having to justify myself for every little thing because that was everyday at the regionals. You’re so much more “on your own” with almost every aspect of the job. It’s weird when you point out something isn’t going to work at other places and they go “oh yeah you’re totally right, we’re gonna recrew it.”

 

[Roger Roger]

I get what both of you are saying but having worked at her shop and several others it can be almost night and day. It’s funny because I almost expect a “fight” or having to justify myself for every little thing because that was everyday at the regionals. You’re so much more “on your own” with almost every aspect of the job. It’s weird when you point out something isn’t going to work at other places and they go “oh yeah you’re totally right, we’re gonna recrew it.”

Totally fair. Thats why I led with that.

 

[///AMG]

I get what both of you are saying but having worked at her shop and several others it can be almost night and day. It’s funny because I almost expect a “fight” or having to justify myself for every little thing because that was everyday at the regionals. You’re so much more “on your own” with almost every aspect of the job. It’s weird when you point out something isn’t going to work at other places and they go “oh yeah you’re totally right, we’re gonna recrew it.”

Yeah this is a great point. I haven't lived that experience, but I have heard so many stories relating to that type of company mentality at people's previous regional or wherever else. So I completely have sympathy for fox (and all of you who did), doing months (years now, again?) of endless reserve in that environment. I've found our back office folks to be pretty friendly and helpful when their help is needed, or something of theirs needs to be fixed, at least if you don't come at them like nobody would want to be come at.

 

[Inverted25]

So I've been working 18+/month on RE1, and it's been horrible. I posted some of my schedules here and people were like "Oh that doesn't look so bad, like a legacy narrowbody schedule." Some people posted their schedules and, while they didn't look as bad, they definitely weren't 10-12 on. When I asked about whether they had control of their schedule, most people said "no."

So I guess my question is: which is it? Are people working horrible schedules by choice for more $$$, or are we painting a false narrative with 10-12 days on per month? People talking about how great their QOL was is what convinced me to come to the airlines in the first place, so I'm trying to figure out if we truly live in different worlds, or if we need to paint a less-rosy picture for people.

This is unrelated to the main thread, but since the subject came up, I thought it'd be worth asking that question.

My cousin flies for Southwest and his schedule is generally 13-14 days a month. Their pay system is different than other airlines I know but they can make bank at 13-14 days a month.