This pilot I know is mad

v1valarob

Well-Known Member
This pilot I know had a 3 day trip. On day 1 he was supposed to deadhead to an outstation, and then fly a round trip. Well that all worked out as planned. The next night he was supposed to fly another round trip. Well due to the poor planning of a certain united hub, everything was delayed throughout the day due to the weather conditions.

This pilot was supposed to depart at about 1920 and be back at the outstation by 2330. The inbound flight didnt arrive until about an hour late, and a quick turn was done to get the first leg done as quickly as possible. After getting into the hub the pilot began to wonder how his rest for the evening would pan since the original schedule only had about 9hours and 45 minutes to begin with. In the morning his show time was 0935 for a 1005 deadhead home to finish his trip.

As the clock ticked away the pilot realized that it was going to be cutting it close to get 8 hours of rest. The plane touched the ground at 0055 and pulled in at 0100. The company's software showed a release time of 0115. Fantastic, the pilot now has 8hours and 20minutes of rest!

BUT WAIT!! The morning is calling for freezing rain. The airline in their infinite wisdom decides to cancel the early flight out. This doesnt mean much for the pilot, except that now the plane can no longer park at the gates, it must be parked at the very expensive FBO. The crew taxiis the plane to the very expensive FBO. Wait a minute, where are the marshallers? Its 0130 in the morning, why would anyone be working? Why would the airline notify the very expensive FBO that they need people there to park the plane?

The airport authority sends over a truck and they marshal the crew in. At 0145 the #2 engine is shut down. So the pilot calls scheduling to let them know that he will not be showing up at 0935 for the deadhead back as he does not have enough rest.

The hotel van is waiting out front of the terminal and takes the pilot and FA to the hotel. Upon entering the hotel the front desk asks the question "There are 2 of you?" The answer, yes. There are 2 of us standing here. "We only have 1 room under your airline, and we are sold out for tonight." Fantastic. Its now 0215. Calls are made and the pilot gives up the room to the FA and his airline finds him another hotel. Since the pilots pay is below the poverty line, he has no money to get a taxi to the other hotel. Thankfully the front desk clerk says he will give the pilot a ride to the hotel down the road.

The pilot gets to the hotel and checks in and goes to his room. He checks his schedule online. Hmmm, they are still showing me with a 0935 show for a 1005 deadhead. The pilot doesnt care, he is waking up when he wakes up and will figure it out in the morning.

Morning comes and its 0930. The next direct flight to the hub is at 1920. He looks up the earlier flight from the morning and notices that its delayed. Maybe he can make it to the airport and catch it! So he calls the shuttle and makes it to the airport by 1200. The flight is still delayed. The pilot calls up the captain on the delayed flight and finds out there is a maintenance issue, and due to the icing conditions, it cant go.

This pilot waits it out until 1400 when the departure time is now chnged to 2000. Thats 6 hours away!!! The pilot is angry. He is in one of the most expensive places the airline flies, he is past security where there is no food, the terminal is packed with passnegers. Scheduling says "deal with it." Luckily the pilot is able to call up the crew who is supposed to be flying the flight, and they are hanging out at the very expensive FBO. The pilot gets a ride over there, where he is sitting at this very time (I just spoke with him ;) )

The crew has been sitting around since 0900 and its currently 1905. Earlier in the day the captain called the chief pilot to complain about sitting around for 11 hours with no pay. The chief pilot says "well we were going to put out new policy regarding maintenance cancellations, but after it became apparent a union was going to be put in place, we didn't get approval on the new policy."
 
The crew has been sitting around since 0900 and its currently 1905. Earlier in the day the captain called the chief pilot to complain about sitting around for 11 hours with no pay. The chief pilot says "well we were going to put out new policy regarding maintenance cancellations, but after it became apparent a union was going to be put in place, we didn't get approval on the new policy."


To bad that WAS the policy, which was recinded during the union drive... busting much?

Walk out man.. walk out - Remember Sick pertains to emotional condition as well... remember that private pilot lesson about "I.M. S.A.F.E"

If you are so seriously upset that you can not perform your duties, then they must remove you from your duties... and 3.75 is more than 2.0
 
To bad that WAS the policy, which was recinded during the union drive... busting much?

Walk out man.. walk out - Remember Sick pertains to emotional condition as well... remember that private pilot lesson about "I.M. S.A.F.E"

If you are so seriously upset that you can not perform your duties, then they must remove you from your duties... and 3.75 is more than 2.0

I talked to the guy, he said while he is mad, he was sort of smiling inside knowing that this type of thing will eventually be a thing of the past.
 
Get this in your contract: if you're sitting around X hours, they HAVE to get you a hotel room. They'll try to pull the "Well, we need you at the plane" BS, but don't fall for it. For us, if we're gonna be around for 5 hours, I'm getting a hotel room. They can call me when the plane is fixed.
 
Get this in your contract: if you're sitting around X hours, they HAVE to get you a hotel room. They'll try to pull the "Well, we need you at the plane" BS, but don't fall for it. For us, if we're gonna be around for 5 hours, I'm getting a hotel room. They can call me when the plane is fixed.

Yea, I know AWAC has this in their contract.
 
Heck even we (mesa) have that in our contract.

By the way, if he was elite he would not have called crew scheduling about the deadhead. You don't need minimum rest to deadhead, but then when he got back he would be illegal for the rest of the day.
 
We also need a nice duty rig. I would fight hard for a 2:1 with a min pay of at least 4 hours a day. That would credit the slave driving ear rev lines at 90 hrs... And hopefully put an end to that crap. Six 12 he rev days in a row makes on bitter when it only credtis 12 hrs pay
 
That sucks.. It's always a bummer sitting around an airport all day... Legally, though, the pilot didn't need an 8 hour rest if all he was doing was deadheading home. Deadheads are duty, but not flying duty so the rest doesn't apply.
 
Yea, I know AWAC has this in their contract.

Pinnacle has it in our CURRENT contract, actually.

We also need a nice duty rig. I would fight hard for a 2:1 with a min pay of at least 4 hours a day. That would credit the slave driving ear rev lines at 90 hrs...

I'd kill for a duty rig somedays. Today, in fact. Nearly 12 hours of duty for a friggin LEX-DTW leg. And I had to brow beat the ground service guys into doing what I needed done. The plane had been stuck since Monday, and they never put the RON kits on. So.....ice was on the fan blades.

"Can't ya just spray de-ice fluid in der?"

Me: Facepalm
 
While we're suggesting contract sections, be sure to get full deadhead pay. :)That's one of my biggest complaints with our contract right now. (1/2 DH pay)

It didn't matter much as a lineholder as we didn't have very many DHs scheduled into the pairings (though I still didn't like it), but now that I've got a build-up schedule, they've been deadheading me all over the place... it adds up real quick!!!
 
On reserve, I feel like I spend more time in the back of an airplane than I do at home. I know I spent more time in the back today than I did in the front. DH from MEM-LEX. Fly to DTW. DH from DTW to MEM. Start a 3 day tomorrow.....with a DH to MSP.

I think we're shooting for 75% DH pay, but we're getting some other improvements in exchange for the other 25%.
 
And I had to brow beat the ground service guys into doing what I needed done. The plane had been stuck since Monday, and they never put the RON kits on. So.....ice was on the fan blades.

"Can't ya just spray de-ice fluid in der?"

Me: Facepalm

Same thing happened to the two crews stuck in XNA. Explanation given by Mesaba ground ops: "we aren't trained to use the RON kits". Got stuck there on Monday and didn't leave until yesterday late afternoon.

We had them take an air cart and pump heated air into the inlet. It was the biggest cluster I've ever seen. Ice on the airplane like you wouldn't believe. Ramp workers sitting and walking around not knowing what to do next even after the captains told them what needed to be done. Deicing (contacted through AE) started at 9 am and finished at around 4 pm. The truck had to refill three times.
 
I think we're shooting for 75% DH pay, but we're getting some other improvements in exchange for the other 25%.


I know we're all counting on you guys to get some nice improvements to your contract. Then, when we're ready to start our negotiations, we can say we'd like to start there....and add a little of our own improvements, as well.

Simply the Best! :whatever:
 
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