Hacker15e
Who am I? Where are my pants?
Does your company track how much each crew burned versus how much was planned?
In other words, when you save gas does anyone notice?
Techniques of the Professional Airline Pilot
- Thread starter FlyChicaga
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Does your company track how much each crew burned versus how much was planned?
In other words, when you save gas does anyone notice?
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
Yeah, I'm aware, but that doesn't seem to stop all of the RJ drivers from not following that rule.
If your fellow employees are overwhelmed, then it's most likely because management has understaffed their position. Tell your fellow employees to take their time and not to get worried about getting flights out on time. If management wants their flights to run smoothly, then they'll properly staff all positions so employees don't feel overwhelmed.
What do you think will happen if you throw out your back while tossing a few gate checked bags? Think the company will approve your OJI? Think again. They'll most likely tell you that you aren't eligible for OJI because you were taking part in activities that were outside of your job description. For all of your hard work, you'll get a big knife in the back. And what do you think will happen if you accidentally hurt a wheelchair passenger that you're pushing? You aren't trained to handle the wheelchair, and it's not in your job description, so get ready for a lawsuit. Do your own damn job and stop worrying about everything else. You're a Captain, so act like it. Pushing wheelchairs and throwing bags is not what an air line Captain should be doing. This is the kind of crap that has eroded our profession.
FlyChicaga
Vintage Restoration
Thanks for your insight. I'll continue doing things the way I've been doing them up to this point. So far, it has worked out quite well. You are right... I'm a Captain, and acting like it. There are many different leadership styles, ranging from laissez-faire to authoritarian. I choose the leadership style, "lead by example." I will not force my crew to do anything that I am not willing to do myself.
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
Bingo!!! FlyChicaga is part of the problem, not the solution.
Chris_Ford
Well-Known Member
Sad to say, but get used to it. The entitlement generation is also a generation of wusses. If you thought it was bad before, just wait
FlyChicaga
Vintage Restoration
We pay, on average, $2.15 a gallon for fuel. If every flight at our company was able to save 100 pounds of fuel, it would equate to 14.77 gallons. 14.77 gallons times $2.15 a gallon is $31.75 per flight. $31.75 per flight times 40,000 flights a month is $1,270,200.00. Multiply that by 12 months, and you have $15,242,640.00 a year. That is over $15 million dollars a year saved by not burning 100 pounds of fuel!
For those of us who have profit sharing programs, you can see why fuel savings is so important. Not to mention it makes your company more competitive, and saves a non-renewable resource that is in such high demand.
Maybe I should stop sharing all our secrets with the competition... I need to delete this thread!
FlyChicaga
Vintage Restoration
wheelsup
Well-Known Member
It depends on what you're doing to save that gas. My company is pretty anal about dual engine taxis because we have the lowest engine costs across the industry on our fleet type. We also burn our APU's until after t/o because having the bleeds on it reduces the wear and tear on the engines.
Going slower adds up in other ways, increased mx costs, increased labor costs, etc. etc. Think of all the fuel you would save if you flew at 250 IAS the entire flight.
I'm big into efficiency, but you can't just look at it in terms of saving fuel wherever you can. That might have unintended consequences. So much more fuel is burned by scheduling 200 airplanes an hour into an airport that can handle 70 an hour vs. saving a 100# here and there. It's almost negligible.
Going slower adds up in other ways, increased mx costs, increased labor costs, etc. etc. Think of all the fuel you would save if you flew at 250 IAS the entire flight.
I'm big into efficiency, but you can't just look at it in terms of saving fuel wherever you can. That might have unintended consequences. So much more fuel is burned by scheduling 200 airplanes an hour into an airport that can handle 70 an hour vs. saving a 100# here and there. It's almost negligible.
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
Sad to say, but get used to it. The entitlement generation is also a generation of wusses. If you thought it was bad before, just wait
Unfortunately, it's not just the entitlement generation. I fly with former military pilots in their 50s that have the same ridiculous attitude that they have to do whatever it takes to "complete the mission." They'll run all over the place like a chicken with his head cut off trying to do everyone else's job to get a frickin' flight out on time. Meanwhile, I'll be sitting there nice and calm, having a glass of water, letting everyone else handle their own responsibilities. It makes work so much less stressful when you just stop worrying about on-time performance and only worry about your own job. If management cares about on-time performance, then they'll do what it takes to staff the airline properly in the first place to make it happen. Sorry, but I'm not going to work myself to death to make up for their deficiencies.
Chris_Ford
Well-Known Member
I agree 100%. Don't get me started on the not getting paid until brake release thing
Especially when they cut your show down to 20 minutes before departure and expect you to hurry (unpaid).
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
That's when you should really take your time. After all, you can't really concentrate on your job when moronic gate agents and micromanaging Captains are breathing down your neck about getting the flight out on time. So, you're going to have to be even more methodical than usual. Take your time, do things right. The flight will go out whenever it goes out. If it's an hour late, then tough shizzle. Not your problem.
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
Check it out.
You and Chicaga are coming from two COMPLETELY different companies, and each of you are speaking from the perspective that you see/saw on a daily basis at the regionals.
You flew...I mean got abused, how many years at Pinnacle? 6-7? The only way to make your management see that there was a problem was to let the problem happen and not try to fix it. You got hosed on a daily basis, and I'd say it's helped to shape your opinion on how to treat the company. The company treated you horribly, and you'll do the same. The company disappears? Who cares! They were #######s anyway right?
Chicaga on the other hand works at a company that treats him pretty well for the most part. Further, he isn't doing his flying for Continental, Delta, Northwest or any other legacy. Chicaga (and Chris, for that matter) is flying for himself on the branded operation. We're paying for OUR OWN gas on that gig, unlike other carriers. We're already operating an airplane that isn't very efficient, so every extra ounce of gas that you can squeeze out of that aircraft the better.
And Chicaga isn't trying to go above and beyond for the company, he's doing it for me and everybody else on the bottom end of the list as far as I'm concerned, because if that branded operations completely tanks and we can't find a home for those aircraft then I'll be sent to the street. I've got 200 people below me system wide and if we furlough I'm in a world of crap.
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
Train, I haven't been at Pinnacle in almost a year. This isn't about how Pinnacle treated me or my feelings towards that company. AirTran treats me pretty danged good, and we run a great operation in my opinion, but I refuse to toss bags, push wheelchairs, clean up the cabin, etc... It's not my job, and it's demeaning to my profession.
I do everything I can to be efficient. Even at Pinnacle, where I absolutely despised my company, I still did everything I could to save fuel. Costing the company money in fuel is self-defeating. That's money that I could take from them in contract negotiations later. So I agree with Matt about the fuel saving techniques. In fact, I agreed with a lot of his techniques in his first post. My big disagreement with him is the "above and beyond" crap that isn't in his job description. Do your damned job and stop worrying about everyone else's. I don't care how much you love your company, air line pilots shouldn't be tossing bags or doing drink services.
I do everything I can to be efficient. Even at Pinnacle, where I absolutely despised my company, I still did everything I could to save fuel. Costing the company money in fuel is self-defeating. That's money that I could take from them in contract negotiations later. So I agree with Matt about the fuel saving techniques. In fact, I agreed with a lot of his techniques in his first post. My big disagreement with him is the "above and beyond" crap that isn't in his job description. Do your damned job and stop worrying about everyone else's. I don't care how much you love your company, air line pilots shouldn't be tossing bags or doing drink services.
Tell that to us corporate/charter/fractional pilots. We do that stuff all the time, and usually much, much more. Glad to know that we're demeaning the profession.
Chris_Ford
Well-Known Member
Except that tossing bags, etc is part of your job description. It is not in the job description of an airline pilot.
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
You're not a member of my profession. I'm an air line pilot. Completely different world from corporate/charter/fractional.
Velocipede
New Member
Right you are, PCL. I love it when non-airline pilots think their license gives them status to comment on airline issues.
Its like being qualified to comment on NASCAR racing because you just got a driver's license.
WalterSobchak
Well-Known Member
You aren't doing this 2400 times a day. You rarely go the wrong way used in the example. Especially the wrong way leveled off down low.You might go the wrong way up to an altitiude then as planned. In that case you put the coals to it and get up there faster thus you are getting on course faster. You aren't saving 876,000lbs a year on some thing that happens once in a blue moon.
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