Flight Benefits?

[Prino]

Some of you may fall victim to having preconceived notions that pilots of "xxx" airline are always rude, or whatever other conflict may exist. Having family that works for a legacy carrier I fly as much as 5x a year and in 24 years have only flown another airline once. Could that be a conflict of interest? Sure....I think the whole conflict of interest thing could be argued from both sides, free or not. The FAM trips were designed for controllers to get an idea of what goes on in the cockpit, not necessarily as a benefit of free flight, though most controllers I talked to just happened to schedule fam trips to nice places

 

[Fox Xray]

The Familiarization (FAM) program was something that the FAA was trying to kill for years, 9/11 finally gave them an excuse.

How the program worked was you would have to fill out a FAM request form, you then were given say 3 days comp time to travel on your FAM trip. There was an office that coordinated reserving you the jumpseat for your FAM. Upon completion of the FAM you would have to write a report to hand in to your supervisor. That was the proper and intended way to use the program. We were all issued a cockpit access card (some of the pilots on here might remember them) that we carried as part of the ID process.

Many controllers (myself included) would also "flash and dash" ... meaning we would just show up, Gov't ID and access card in hand, and jumpseat to go somewhere. That was always dicey... the key was talking to the Captain, most gate agents just labeled you as "FAA" and many pilots were iffy about having FAA in the cockpit. Once they knew you were a controller everything was cool.

I thought it was a really good program... I learned a lot from it. I flew back from LAX one night in a AAL DC10, the Capt and FE were real old timers, they had a junior FO and me. School was open ... the captain explained every single thing from the walk around to pulling into the gate in JFK. Those are learning experiences that you can only gain in that situation.

There is always talk about us getting the program back... we will NEVER get it back in the capacity that we had it, that simply won't happen. We might see something where you're released from operational duties for a day to "training" where you do a back and forth FAM trip to observe a flight crew. As for the "flash and dash" I'm doubtful...

 

[Philip]

I've never understood the reasoning for dropping the jumpseat priv's but no one asked me.

back in the day it was considered a privilege to have an ATCer in the cockpit to foster mutual understanding.

 

[mugenfan_98]

Seriously?! I don't understand how flight benefits are a conflict of interest...if we control the planes shouldn't we be able to ride on them too?

Ok that just cracked me up.

 

[Fox Xray]

Seriously?! I don't understand how flight benefits are a conflict of interest...if we control the planes shouldn't we be able to ride on them too?

ATC's can't own stock in airlines, we can't accept buddy passes from employees, etc. It's covered under our "rules of conduct"

 

[Acey97]

hopefully the FAM trips will be coming back in the next round of "contract negotiations"

FAM rides get old though if they are required every year. I'd rather just sit and observe a simulator training exercise than fly from ATL to ICT. That's nothing but a 2 hour nap for me.

 

[Acey97]

What if one is already on the plane, for travel purposes? Is it then under the pilot's discretion, whether to allow you into the cockpit/jump seat, or is it more or less a crapshoot altogether? I've always been hesitant to ask.

I think most major airlines will allow FAA employees access to the cockpit only for official business not to travel for pleasure, but I may be wrong.

 

[RetiredATLATC]

FAM rides get old though if they are required every year. I'd rather just sit and observe a simulator training exercise than fly from ATL to ICT. That's nothing but a 2 hour nap for me.

Sure was nice when you could tie it into the beginning and end of your vacation though.

 

[bloomer]

ATC's can't own stock in airlines, we can't accept buddy passes from employees, etc. It's covered under our "rules of conduct"

What about a accepting a buddy pass from a sibling that is a pilot for a major airline?

 

[RetiredATLATC]

What about a accepting a buddy pass from a sibling that is a pilot for a major airline?

Nope, don't believe so. Hell, my wife can't even own stock in the airlines or any company that has an aviation interest, IE GE, Pratt and Whitney, etc

 

[nathanw]

What about mutual funds that have stock in aviation interests?

 

[Stinger]

Nope, don't believe so. Hell, my wife can't even own stock in the airlines or any company that has an aviation interest, IE GE, Pratt and Whitney, etc

Well, maybe the FAA is just looking out for you on this one....why would anyone want to own stock in the airlines with the way that stuff moves up and down....

Protection my friend...haha

 

[Philip]

Nope, don't believe so. Hell, my wife can't even own stock in the airlines or any company that has an aviation interest, IE GE, Pratt and Whitney, etc

oh that blows. I have a 401k that's heavily vested in boeing stock and it's made me quite a nice return not I have to rebalance

 

[pm577]

I got a 401k and other investments too. I keep track of the overall returns, but I could hardly care what they invest in... a little bit of S&P500, and some growth funds... I couldn't imagine rules would prevent these types of investment.

 

[GnW]

I got a 401k and other investments too. I keep track of the overall returns, but I could hardly care what they invest in... a little bit of S&P500, and some growth funds... I couldn't imagine rules would prevent these types of investment.

this is entirely conjecture, but my guess is that if youre not managing the funds yourself, you're probably in the clear.

 

[LinzoATC]

Ok that just cracked me up.

Glad to give you a good laugh. I guess I should have put one of these behind it.

 

[Philip]

this is entirely conjecture, but my guess is that if youre not managing the funds yourself, you're probably in the clear.

I'm sure boeing stock will skyrocket because boeing types get preferential handling in my sector

 

[hudson26]

Only one group of FAA employees are permitted on the flight deck and their credentials specifically say they are allowed free and uninterrupted access to the cockpit... (they are ASI's)

 

[Prino]

FAM rides get old though if they are required every year. I'd rather just sit and observe a simulator training exercise than fly from ATL to ICT. That's nothing but a 2 hour nap for me.

i still think it would be fun

 

[Joe28]

no buddy passes? well that blows... my old man works for UAL and i use his passes 5 or 6 times per year