The Tactical Ramblings of a Pilot

New Year, New President, No more job.

2009-01-20T20:54:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year.

New President - finally we can rid ourselves of the clown that is George W. Bush.

And well. . .yeah, it's been a pretty quiet front here over at ASA. History has been made, and I'm part of it.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines has determined that they do not need the services of the 80 most junior pilots on the seniority list. In an effort to stream line costs and reduce overhead the company is furloughing those 80 pilots. From the top, I'm 41 spots down.

I have very little faith that any good will come from this within the next year and potentially two or three years.

Now is an opportunity for me to seek out other aviation ventures, raise a son, grow a family, and complete my undergraduate degree in Political Science which will hopefully set me up for law school at some point in my adult life.

The tough pill to swallow is now the realization that when a recall comes, at least if it is a year to three years down the road returning right back to short call reserve and the prospect of sitting reserve for another two years due to the lack of any sufficient movement and being at the back side of a hiring wave that will eventually leave me high and dry before I'm 30 years old. I have some very strict goals that must be met for me to be 100% professionally satisfied with my aviation career. In this time of disappointment, those strict goals are slowly eroding and any optimistic view of my future is quickly evaporating.

Cheers to all the other unemployed professional pilots out there right now. All I really wanted for 2009 was only one W2 form for my 2009 Taxes. Guess that's out. I expect to have three, if not four. 1 from ASA, 1 from Unemployment Insurance, 1 from Job A, and 1 from Job B.

Thanksgiving adventure to Lawton, Okla.

2008-12-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

I spent a majority of Thanksgiving in Lawton Oklahoma. And boy lemme tell you how much fun I had!

Not.

I do have to say though that I must commend the station staff for putting up with me, my captain, and the two mechanics we brought in to fix a busted plane. They were patient, and were great team players - staying much later than they would have regularly, 3 hours past "getting off time."

Nevertheless, the plane that was broken in Lawton had a bleed air duct system issue, which is essentially a no-go item as it significantly limits our aircraft's capability to fly in icing conditions. Icing is bad. And it's very bad when your anti-ice systems are not able to work. Otherwise, when operational, it is, for the most part a non-event so long as the accumulation is not to such an extent that limits our anti-icing systems to remove the ice.

So, with the bleed air issue, we also had a deferred APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) - which usually isn't an issue if the station has ground power and air. You see, we use the APU to provide electrical power to the airplane so that we don't run out the battery and we also use it to provide air flow to the engines so we can start them.

But, the station's ground power unit (GPU) was inop, and they made an attempt to start the plane off of the battery with a bottle of air that ended up not working. Now that the bottle was empty and they had no other source of air (remember the APU was dead), the plane is essentially stuck there.

Now that you have the back story. . .

We get into Lawton late in the morning. Took an empty plane out there so that the crew that had brought the busted plane in could take the passengers from Lawton to Atlanta on Thanksgiving. As soon as we get there the mechanics hop out and get to work. Unfortunately everything they tried didn't work. No way they were going to be able to get the APU to work, even after another plane came in and they made a quick exchange of parts from the known operational plane to our known broken plane. Nothing.

When push came to shove, about 5 hours had passed. Finally we came to the conclusion that if they wanted the plane to fly back to Atlanta today (Thanksgiving) that we would need perform what we call a "jump-start" of the busted plane's engines.

We have a procedure that allows us to start the airplane off of external air and the airplanes battery. The tricky part is that we are only limited to being on battery power for 5 minutes.

Anyway - we get a hose and hooked it up to the other plane, and hook it up to our plane. One of the mechanics starts the other plane up and generates some air flow. This air flow then moves through the hose, into our plane. This air flow then allows us to inject fuel into our engines to get them started. And - surprisingly, it worked. ;)

Here's a photo of our umbilical cord to the other plane. The busted plane is the one on the right.

Anyway - we get the plane started and finally get out of town.

I must say that he absolute worst part of this job is having to do these maintenance flights. I mean, I don't really mind doing them. But it's a laughing matter how the company makes an effort to schedule the plane that is busted for a revenue flight without it even being fixed. Just funny.

The Amazing Life of Pilots Part 1

2008-11-30T06:56:00.000-08:00

I'm not so sure if I really understand some of the things we - as pilots - do to ourselves.

A majority of the disdain that pilots, and specifically Airline pilots have is with their leaders and management figures. This disdain can carry over into a pilot's union leaders as well. This disdain can also carry over into other pilots at the same company that a pilot works at. This disdain also transfers over to pilots at other companies. But it's a different type of disdain and anger.

The golden rule does not exist in the professional pilot community. Now, clearly there are exceptions. When like minded pilots gather or work together then clearly they will treat each other in an equitable manner. Also, for the most part, when two pilots who tend to hate each other outside of the cockpit are working together behind that closed cockpit door - standardization and professionalism is the scene. They act and work in harmonious rhythm, protecting each other from violation and ultimately providing a safe avenue for transportation.

There are different levels of hatred and anger as well. I haven't yet perfected a system for recognizing and organizing these levels - but perhaps over my approaching 16 hour overnight in Killeen Texas I can develop one.

Anyway - continuing. . .

Pilot's are a very possessive breed. We are possessive of our women, all of them. Possessive of our meals and drinks, all of them. Possessive of our careers, and possessive of the flying our company is doing.

In the regional industry it is a regular occurrence for Regional A to lose flying to Regional B. Losing probably isn't the right term, but it's the best term that explains the situation. These two companies both provide lift for another company - Mainline A. Mainline A is tired of paying a certain price for Regional A's services, and send out an request for proposal - an RFP. This RFP essentially is the start of a bidding war. Companies that want to provide lift for Mainline A will bid for the flying that is within the RFP.

Now, some companies have certain standards that they like to meet. Such as, never bidding on flying that will not make money. Other companies simply strive for market share, no matter what the cost, and ultimately no matter what that means for the future if they bid low, win the contract, and operate the contract only to find out that they can't do it at the price they bid. Well, now they're stuck and ultimately in poor financial shape.

So how does this all tie into pilots? Pilots at Regional A, who were flying the rights for Mainline A are not being put into a competitive position with the pilots of Regional B who are bidding for the flying that Regional A's pilots are currently flying.

This tension builds until ultimately the contract is awarded. Clearly if the contract is awarded to company A, the tensions will subside. If the contract is awarded to Company B, the tensions build. . .and they build fast.

Take this situation, add in about 4 Mainline companies, and about 20-25 regionals. The situation is compounded on an almost dream like scale. The competition is ready to gnaw off the legs of those who are currently doing flying for the Mainline partner who requested new bids. While the current contract holder is making ways to bid on the new contract, while reducing their internal costs so that they can provide a competitive bid so that they can hopefully secure their future with the mainline partner in question.

Now you through pilots into the mix. Like I said, we're a very possessive bunch. We protect our wives like it's no body's business. We make sure the girls in the back are taken care of and now drunk passenger is causing any problems. We make sure our coffees are hot, or we send them back. We make sure the plane is ready for service, or we don't go. We live a standardized life, and grow accustom to certain things - such as our professional growth and career stability.

The first sign of career instability or anything that would negatively impact one's professional growth the whole show starts to slow down. We get angry, tensions build, we want answers, we begin to doubt our management teams, we begin to doubt our union leaders, and we ultimately begin to doubt our futures.

Throw in multiple pilot groups, and we begin to doubt each other. We begin to accuse each other for problems that none of us control or even contribute to.

This type of behavior further erodes any attempts and any successful attempts of the past to unify the profession under the same guidelines or goals. It's a ridiculous and vicious cycle that not many people are able to get over and beyond.

This pretty much concludes Part 1 of the Amazing Life of Pilots. Part 2 will focus on some other silly topic that makes us look like little children. Stay tune!

For the love of the game.

2008-11-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

Why else would I wake up at 4:15? Come on, really? Complaining is far too easy.

Can't miss an opportunity to catch one's reflection in an inanimate object.

Obviously I awoke at 4:15am to go to work. Nothing more, nothing less. Not to fly around in the sky for the love of the game. Nope, just to get a pay check to provide for my family like any other working-class citizen.

Nothing special to see here. Move on. . .

Change

2008-11-12T17:26:00.000-08:00

First I apologize for not providing an update in a while. I haven't really been all that busy, except for getting a little behind in my studies this term due to a jury duty assignment last week.

Jury duty took three days out of my week, caused me to reschedule a training event, and pretty much putting we well behind the eight ball in regards to school.

Now I'm trying to catch up, have a lot of reading to do, and it just does not seem as if I have enough time.

I'll get through it though. I always tend to find a way to catch up, get things done, and complete the mission.

In other news. . .

This country has made history by electing the first African-American President. I'm not a huge supporter of hyphenated American's, but this is something that this country clearly needed to get over and put behind us.

We need to come together and embrace the challenges that lay ahead. As an aviation professional who has been extremely disappointed with how the last eight years have gone I'm excited to see what the future holds. More importantly I'm excited to see how a pro-labor executive, along with a Democratic controlled Congress can bring to evening the playing field that exists between Management and Labor.

Here is to our future as aviation professionals. Now let's get to work. . .

John Prater - President, Airline Pilot's Association

2008-10-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

So it's raining outside

2008-10-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

Well, as anyone close to me knows - I haven't been doing much flying this month. Not that I haven't been available, just that my employer hasn't called me much to work.

Getting paid either way, so - so be it. Been called four times. First to come and sit ready reserve at the airport for eight hours, no flying though. Second call was to notify me of a day line earlier this week, flew 4hrs and 45 minutes, paid for 4hrs and 48 minutes. Third call yesterday evening to notify me of a two-trip that starts on Saturday at 9am, with an overnight in New Jersey. Fourth call was this afternoon to be notified that the previous mentioned two-day trip has been reassigned.

So, that's it. What's really funny is that I actually had a message from the FO taking the two-day trip on Facebook telling me that I should be getting a call shortly. Small world I tell you. The trip was reassigned for training.

All of the pilots who were on the ATR-72 are currently in training for the CRJ-200, some of them must be nearing the end of their training and as such are they are getting sent out for OE (Operational Experience).

But hey - another weekend at home (or so it looks like) to watch College football, and study for an upcoming LOFT (Line Oriented Flight Training) event in November.

When you see an Airline Pilot. . .

2008-10-12T21:11:00.001-07:00

-When you see a pilot going through the same security you go through, he's not being paid.

-When you see a pilot walking in the terminal, he's not being paid.

-When you see a pilot at the gate pulling up paper work, planning the flight, and conferring with the agent, he's not being paid.

-When you see a pilot walking around the aircraft doing a preflight inspection, he's not being paid.

-When you board the aircraft and look in the cockpit and see the pilots setting up the aircraft, they're not getting paid.

-When you land safely at your destination and walk off the aircraft and see the pilots shutting down the aircraft, they're not being paid.

-When you see a pilot waiting for a ride to a hotel for the night, he's not being paid.

-The only time the pilot of your aircraft is getting paid is when you DON"T see him... when he's locked behind the cockpit door as you push back from the gate. Every thing else he does until this point is for free. For no wages. Nothing!

-The average airline pilot is at work for 12- 14 hours per day, yet gets paid for less than 6 - 7 hours.

-The average airline pilot is away from home, at work, for 70+ hours a week, yet gets paid for only 15 to 18 hours per weeks work.

A few bits of John McCain information.

2008-10-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

JOHN McCAIN THREATENS OUR JOBS, RIGHTS AND SAFETY

Wants to Privatize Essential Aviation Safety Jobs. McCain voted to privatize the air traffic control system and to allow the government to transfer these functions to private companies, putting jobs and safety at risk. (H.R. 2115, Vote 453, 11/17/03; S. 824, Vote 222, 6/12/03)

Mistakenly Believes That Contract Towers Are as Safe as FAA Towers. McCain has said that “contract towers are just as safe—or in some cases safer—as FAA staffed towers.” He supports privatizing air traffic control jobs and says they aren’t “inherently government workers.” (Aviation Week, 9/8/03, 12/15/03)

Opposes Collective Bargaining Rights for Aviation Workers. McCain repeatedly has tried to undermine aviation workers’ collective bargaining rights by supporting unfair baseball-style arbitration that takes away our right to strike and vote on a final contract. (S. 1327, 8/2/01)

Will Turn Over Our Jobs to Foreign Airlines. McCain pushed to allow foreign control of U.S. airlines and to allow foreign airlines to operate on American air routes, threatening aviation jobs. This would create a race to the bottom for wages, resulting in the outsourcing of flight attendant jobs to the lowest foreign bidder. (S.Amdt. 3619 to H.R. 4939, 4/26/06; ALPA Presidential Survey, Air Line Pilot, 2/00)

Helped Outsource Aviation Manufacturing Jobs. McCain voted to send defense technology and aviation manufacturing jobs to Japan, without guaranteeing that American companies would share in the work. (S.Amdt. 101 to S.J.Res. 113, Vote 67, 5/16/89; S.Amdt. 102, Vote 66, 5/16/89; S.J.Res. 113, Vote 175, 9/14/89)

Supports Permanently Replacing Striking Workers. McCain voted twice for a bill that allows companies to fire or replace lawfully striking workers. (ALPA Presidential Survey, Air Line Pilot, 2/00; S. 55, Vote 121, 6/16/92; S. 55, Vote 189, 7/13/94)

Voted Against Rehiring Air Traffic Control Strikers. McCain voted in 1986 against rehiring 1,000 PATCO workers who were fired after going on strike in 1981. The measure was intended to stem the air traffic controller deficit and enhance air travel safety. (H.R. 5205, Vote 267, 7/30/86)

Blocked FedEx Workers from Forming a Union. McCain voted to block FedEx workers from forming a union so that they could bargain for better wages, health care and a voice on the job. (H.R. 3539, Vote 304, 10/3/96)

Opposes Protections for Overseas Flight Crews. McCain said he opposes labor protections for airline flight crews working overseas. (ALPA Presidential Survey, Air Line Pilot, 2/00)

Opposed Union Rights for Airport Screeners. McCain supported Bush’s declaration that union rights for airport screeners are a terrorism risk and voted against giving them collective bargaining rights. (S.Amdt. to S. 4, Vote 64, 3/7/07; American Prospect, “Screening on the Cheap,” 3/1/03)

Put Our Lives at Risk While Flying. McCain opposed meaningful aviation security measures. He voted to gut flight attendant anti-terrorism training requirements; fought funding for air marshals, TSA security and explosion-detection systems; and supported $725 million in cuts to aviation security programs. (H.R. 2115, Vote 453, 11/17/03; McCain press release on S. 2537, 9/15/04; S.Con.Res. 83, Vote 59, 3/16/06)

Helped Send Union Aviation Manufacturing Jobs to France. McCain strongly influenced the U.S. Air Force to award Airbus, rather than Boeing, a $35 billion contract to build Air Force refueling tankers. This deal would destroy 44,000 union jobs. (Lobbyist Disclosure Database, accessed 3/11/08; Associated Press, 3/11/08; Time.com, 3/11/08; Mobile Register, 1/16/07; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3/7/08; Washington Post, 6/20/08; GAO press release, 6/18/08)

Called Efforts to Address Flight Attendant Fatigue ‘Ridiculous.’ McCain called research studying the effects of flight attendant fatigue “ridiculous” and listed it with research on blackbirds and blueberries as government waste. As rest periods are reduced, chronic fatigue is a growing problem, jeopardizing our ability to perform safety duties. (McCain Statement on Lobbying and Ethics Reform Bill, 1/4/07)

Opposed Strict Oversight of Foreign Repair Stations. McCain opposed routine FAA safety inspections of foreign repair stations that perform maintenance on American commercial aircraft. These safeguards would ensure aircraft safety, improve aviation security and protect American jobs. (S.Amdt. 914 to S. 824, Vote 224, 6/12/03)

Left Aviation Workers Behind After 9/11. McCain voted against unemployment, job-training and health benefits for thousands of laid-off aviation workers after Sept. 11, 2001. (S.Amt. 1855 to S. 1447, Vote 293, 10/11/01)

Destroys Collective Bargaining Through Bankruptcy. McCain backed Eastern Airlines’ bankruptcy plan, which destroyed 43,000 jobs. He supported letting airlines use bankruptcy to destroy collective bargaining agreements and refused to support corporate bankruptcy law reform to better protect our contracts and right to strike. (H.R. 1231, Vote 276, 10/26/89; H.R. 1231, Vote 273, 10/26/89; H.R. 1231, Vote 222, 10/3/89; S. 2092, 2007)

Opposes Buy American Provisions That Protect Our Jobs. McCain voted to waive Buy American laws for defense systems and to exempt six European countries from Buy American requirements, placing our jobs in jeopardy. He has said he “firmly objects” to these job-protecting provisions and has even called them “ludicrous.” (S. 2400, Vote 135, 6/22/04; S. 1050, Vote 191, 5/21/03; Congressional Record, 7/14/05, 10/7/05)

Says Pilots Are Greedy. McCain spoke out against pilots, claiming that the reason they go on strike is to “satisfy their personal greed.” (Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Hearing on Air Traffic Control, 9/14/00)

Believes Pilots Are Careless. McCain accused airline pilots striking for better wages and benefits of being thoughtless. McCain said, “A large number of these pilots are former military men and women whose code is supposed to be duty, honor and country. Now they take actions without a thought for the Americans that rely upon them.” (Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Hearing on Air Traffic Control, 9/14/00)

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/mccain_aviation.cfm

A tick tacking . . .

2008-10-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

Really nothing to speak of to be honest. My experiment with scheduling appears to be nearing a close.

Over the past few months I've been making an attempt to place myself in a position that would yield more than the average flying for a reserve pilot. That means, bidding on the early morning reserve periods, and selecting yourself as Call Me First. July, and August were good months, August being the best month thus far.

Knowing that the summer schedule would be leaving, and the Fall transition schedule would be coming into place I wanted to see how much of a difference it would mean as far as me actually going to work on my days that I'm available.

Well, I have enough data to conclusively say that my performance in July and August are directly related to the summer schedule, when the average line value was in the mid-80's (Block hours). Our current schedule's average line value is actually less than our minimum monthly guarantee, somewhere around the 74 hour mark. Which, to be honest, is great. I would much rather have a company that has more lines available to be bid on by regular pilots, with the average line value closer to our minimum monthly guarantee as that indicates to me that they are making an effort to utilize the man power available in a better fashion. Trouble is, that as a very junior reserve pilot - that means less opportunities for me to work.

Which, overall - I'm fine with. On one hand, it affords me enough time to focus on some school work; even if I don't want to. On the other the instability of the industry still poses a serious risk to my ability to provide for my family.

This game is one that I would like to be able to trust and rely on, but unfortunately one in my position really can not do such a thing. The moment you trust your management team to guide your through tough times they'll chew you up, spit you out, and send you to the street. Moments after they told you it would all be well.

The aviation industry is ripe with historical references to poor managers, who tell their employees one thing and moments later (days, weeks, months, and years) after the the fact they end up doing something 180 degrees from what they stated. This type of behavior is what breads the animosity between work groups and management.

I would like to be proved wrong, and would love to see that my suspicions about my management team and my own assumptions about my career are incorrect. Only time will tell, but really - most of us don't have time. We grew up with the understanding that one day you'll enter the job force. You can expect to spend your adult life with the same company. At the end, you'll have a pension and can retire and enjoy the rest of your life free from the stresses of full time employment, enjoying the finer things such as your family or perhaps global travel.

Oh how things have changed. The American aviation industry has blown up, with competitors racing each other to the bottom of the fare market, seeking the lowest class of passenger possible. . .while passing on the increasing costs to their employee groups rather than to the consumer like every other industry. What does that leave?

It leaves disgruntled work groups who are tired of seeing their company continue to fail, even after giving concessionary agreements to reduce pay while their company restructures itself for "success." It means watching the customers that we all work very hard for, continue to show us little respect for achieving the mission. It means, watching out management team continue to pass the increasing cost of operating the company not onto the consumer who purchases the goods, but onto the backs of labor who will - in an effort to maintain their jobs - accept any work conditions that still provide a paycheck on the 15th and last day of the month.

A shame really, and absolute shame.

More importantly - the cycle of young, naive individuals who want to fly for a living fail to realize, or even grasp the growing instability. They don't care. They just want to fly, and wear a spiffy little uniform. Whatever illusions of a career they have in their mind doesn't matter. They don't respect the hard work put forth by those who came before them, and they certainly are not taking an active role in realizing what must be done to protect the profession from themselves.

We as pilots tend to be our worst enemy. We want to move on, we want to fly larger equipment, for more pay, and enjoy the benefits. We, most of us at least, grew up in this industry. Seeing the great lifestyles of those who we grew up around. We want a piece of that pie as well, but unfortunately we have seen a growing outsourcing of quality jobs to sub-contract, small-lift providing companies who pay their pilots 80% of what their mainline pilot groups were making for flying the same routes 10-15 years ago - before the boom in Regional Jet traffic.

So what are we - as professionals - to do? Suffer? Leave? Make an effort to improve?

Tough choices are ahead, but more importantly we must educate EVERYONE who is contemplating joining the profession. We must make sure they understand the ramifications of them joining a profession where respect from your company and management is zero, and where you're going to be treated like shit until you retire.

A sad day

2008-09-19T12:41:00.001-07:00

Another segment of the professional pilot industry is the Part 135 segment.

Part 135 is the governing section of the Federal Aviation Regulations that govern Commuter (non-Commercial Airline companies) and other On-Demand services.

A large majority of Part 135 operators specialize in provide on-demand air services
for small freight items, the leading package being canceled and cashed checks that need to move between the Federal Reserve system.

Now that that little refresher is out of the way.

One of the most established, and most sought after Part 135 companies - Airnet - has just recently decided to send 50-55 pilots packing. Which is quite the shock to most of us, considering that they are one of the few companies who have been doing well, with a great product and service, and one hell of a great work group of pilots who are nothing but happy to come to work every day.

It seems their new CEO came from not one, not two, but three failing companies. This reaffirms my opinion that these management types are nothing but players in a larger than life Magic the Gathering game. They hop around from failing company to alive company, and then drive that company into the ground, only to jump around to another alive company to drive to death.

It's just a shame, and absolutely saddening to be honest. I hope those 50-55 guys and gals who are put out of to the street are able to find employment quickly, and I hope they never forget who sent them there in the first place. Their new CEO, the tool who has brought down three airlines. I hope he doesn't bring Airnet down too, but if he does, I'm sure it will not be his last.

Good Luck.

----------------
Now playing: Rush - Tom Sawyer
via FoxyTunes

So. . .how's it going?

2008-09-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

How's everyone doing?

I'm doing pretty good. Life is going just swell, working a good bit, and continuing school.

Sorry no pictures or anything this time, but I'm going to try to take the camera this weekend and snap a few. I'm really enjoying the job a lot and hope it continues in a positive way. Seems our management team is working on some great initiatives to position us in a spot that our mainline partner can decide to provide us more routes, block hours, and perhaps new airframes at some point.

Only time will tell.

I want to take a second and post a video from a youtube member who, while I don't know him personally, is know for his great video editing skills and just so happens to work at the same company I'm flying for. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. He has some more available as well on youtube, I'll post those later.

I didn't mess up

2008-08-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

This time. I have some pictures that I thought I'd share with everyone.

Nose up - Nose Down. I could easily make this into a rap song.

The CRJ

Might be tough to see thanks to the absolute blurriness, but KFDW in the upper left side of the map display was were I earned my private pilot certificate.

21st Century - Regional Pilot Crew Meal. Better than nothing, and I prefer the red box. Salami, Peppercorn Cheese spread, Crackers, Kettle Cooked Potato Chips with an apple sauce cup and some Milano cookies. But of course - no pictures of those because well, I ate them already.

Flying through the various layers of Tropical Storm Fay

The rear-end of an E-170.

Good timing, but the blurriness sucks.

One day perhaps?

On our way to Ft. Smith Arkansas, coming up on the Mississippi River and the Memphis TN area.

The Mighty Mississippi

Building storm - frontside

Building Storm - backside

Coming out of Ft. Smith in the morning. The colors were absolutely amazing. Notice the orange-red between the bright orange/yellow and the dark blue/black of the early morning sky.

No more orange-red, but the beauty continues.

My favorite of the morning shots. The contrast is just amazing.

Popping out of the bottom of the clouds on our way into Roanoke, VA.

Looking over to the right. Looks like the hillsides in Hawaii perhaps?

And the last one - managed to see Senator Obama's plane in Moline, IL. We were stuck there due to the horrible weather in Atlanta. But at least seeing him and his plane made up for it just a little bit.

Hope you enjoyed.

More than Minimum Monthly Guarantee

2008-08-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

August has been a pretty good month. Our collective bargaining agreement provides reserve and regular pilots with a minimum 75 hours of pay, even if we are only scheduled to fly say 30 or 40 hours of block flying a month. Throw in the odd deadhead, minimum daily credit, trip and duty rigs, block or better, and even those 30-40 hour block trips can yield a pilot with more than 75 hours of credit towards pay.

This month happens to be one of those months with me. Except that right now if I only flew the rest of my scheduled assignments, I would have 76 hours of block with 83 hours of pay credit (for deadheads, block or better). Now considering I'm a reserve pilot we have a nice stipulation in our countract that benefits us reserve pilots greatly.

In the event that a reserve pilots flies more than 75 hours of block they are then entitled to the minimum daily guarantee for any reserve days that the reserve pilot did not have an assignment. In essence, it's a plus for the reserve pilot as they've been working their ass off and the company failed to build a line to provide to a regular pilot considering that the reserve pilot has essentially flown a line the whole month without really being rewarded one.

In the event my company does not provide me any further flying beyond what is scheduled for the rest of the month that leaves me with 7 days of reserve availability that I did not fly. That is 7 days of 3.75 hours of pay for being available for an assignment. That is then 26.25 hours of additional pay that I'll receive for this month. Add that 26.25 hours of additional pay to my credit for the month of flying and that takes me to close to 112 hours of pay for this month.

Impressive - and I'll gladly take it.

Well that sucks

2008-08-07T11:05:00.001-07:00

Just finished up a three day trip where we went from one extreme of the country to another. First day was a round trip up to Appleton, WI, back through Atlanta, then down to Tallahassee, FL, then further south down to Miami, FL to spend the evening.

On day two we flew up from Miami to Tallahassee, then deadheaded out of there to Atlanta to get our plane to fly to Norfolk, VA - 25 minute turn later - we're on our way back to Atlanta. Get into Atlanta, and have a nice 2 hour experience flying west towards Texas for Killeen, Ft. Hood TX.

We had expected a little bit of a challenge due to Tropical Storm Edcurdo, but it really wasn't much of anything. Was a bit disappointed to be honest. The meteorologist in me was expecting to see a lot of cool stuff.

Day three was pretty simple, come back through Atlanta from Ft. Hood, then jump up to Charleston, WV and back - and call it a day.

So you're probably wondering - well - what sucks about all of that?

Not much really, except for the fact that I managed to take about 50 pictures or so during the three days. Somehow I managed to delete the images while I was freeing up space on the camera's memory stick.

So - with that said - no pictures.

Have a four day coming up, with an opportunity to run into some old friends / colleagues. Just have to notify them, if I feel like it. . .some of them I do, one in particular I really don't know about.

Here's to August

2008-08-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

Started the new month at work today.

Was notified yesterday of an assignment for today - Ready Reserve.

Made it into the lounge this morning at 9:30, checked-in and noticed they didn't have anything for me. Fine by me. I opened up the laptop and surfed the web for a little while. Eventually turned the machine off and started to take a little nap at about 10:15. Set the alarm for 10:45 so that if they did call me and I just so happened to fall asleep - well at lest I'd wake up hopefully within our contractually obligated time and not get written up for such a ridiculous thing.

Just as I'm dosing off the phone rings the distinctive Crew Scheduling ringer. The time as 10:30. They had an assignment - a trip up to KPIA (Peoria, IL), that leaves at 10:43am. Spectacular - 13 minutes to get to the plan, set my self up, do any necessary paperwork, and shut the door. Surprisingly we managed to close the door only 1 minute behind schedule, and would have had it shut if ti wasn't for a maintenance mechanic who decided to give us a little visit with 1 minute to door close and who also decided to linger for a few moments; hence our inability to get out on time.

Flew up to Peoria, did a 25 minute turn, and am now back in Atlanta. Once we got back in I called Crew Scheduling back, I still had 2 and a half hours of my initial ready reserve period to go so I knew they weren't going to send me home but I had to notify them that I was back in the airport.

Anyway - I'm on my way to grab some lunch, not even 10 minutes after talking to a scheduler - and they call me. Ends up they have me going to KXNA (Northwest Arkansas Regional) but not until 6:45pm. Spectacular . . .

So here I am, enjoying another 2 hours and some change before I'm out of here and on my way to XNA. Have a 10 hour overnight there, and then back in again in the morning. Get to call them in the morning and hopefully they'll either have something for me right then - or they'll send me home for the day, only to still have to babysit the phone until my reserve period tomorrow ends.

They can keep me for another hour tomorrow once I make it in though if they don't necessarily have something for me by the time I get back into Atlanta. Only time will tell - and I wouldn't necessarily be too disappointed.

Industry Research - Executive Pay vs. Pilot Pay

2008-07-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

Before I give you the numbers I need to explain how I calculated them.

Thanks to AirlinePilotCentral.com's pay scale tables I found the average pay scale for First Officers, and Captains of each of the companies that I discussed earlier this week. After that, I simply did some simple division to find out how many times these front line employee's salaries would need to be multiplied to get remotely close to the pay of the top executives that are, more or less, driving many of these companies downward.

Skywest - CEO's Total Compensation is 52x that of an average First Officer's annual compensation and 23X that of an average Captain's annual compensation.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines - COO's Total Compensation is 16x that of an average First Officer's annual compensation and 7X that of an average Captain's annual compensation.

Republic Airways Holding - CEO's Total Compensation is 67X that of an average First Officer's annual compensation and 29X that of an average Captain's annual compensation

ExpressJet Holding - CEO'S Total Compensation is 29X that of an average First Officer's annual compensation and 13X that of an average Captain's annual compensation

Pinnacle Airlines Corp - CEO's Total Compensation is 44X that of an average First Officer's annual compensation and 15X that of an average Captain's annual compensation

Delta Airlines - CEO's Total Compensation is 47X that of an average First Officer's annual compensation and 26X that of an average Captain's annual compensation

United Airlines - CEO's Total Compensation is 164X that of an average First Officer's annual compensation and 84X that of an average Captain's annual compensation

American Airlines - CEO's Total Compensation is 68X that of an average First Officer's annual compensation and 49X that of an average Captain's annual compensation

Continental Airlines - CEO's Total Compensation is 103X that of an average First Officer's annual compensation and 75X that of an average Captain's annual compensation.

It's amazing to see that Atlantic Southeast Airlines - one of the few right now who are competing somewhat well in this industry, meeting performance goals to include, but not limited to On-Time performance and Completion factor - that the head of the company is only making 7x what the average line Captain is making. When compared with other companies whose performance is laughable at best is just shocking that we have allowed these corporate failures to continue down their path of self-righteousness and failure with such funds available to them.

One look at United's Glenn Tilton should really start to send alarm bells ringing. Considering we are all fighting to make "Industry Standard" wages with our collective bargaining agreements, and then to see that fat cat rolling around in the cash is simply hilarious.

Industry Research - Executive Pay

2008-07-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

Skywest Inc. - Jerry Atkin, CEO and President: $1,568,287

Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Subsidiary of Skywest Inc. - Bradford Holt, President and COO: $502,806

Republic Airways Holdings Inc. - Bryan BedFord, CEO and President: $2,025,314

ExpressJet Holdings Inc. - James Ream, CEO and President: $894,461

Pinnacle Airlines Corp - Philip Trenary, CEO and President: $1,209,156

Delta Airlines Inc - Richard Anderson, CEO and Director: $3,329,488

UAL Corporation (United Airlines) - Glenn Tilton, CEO and President: $10,314,769

AMR Corporation (American Airlines) - Gerard Asprey, CEO and President: $4,601,165

Continental Airlines, Inc - Larry Kellner, CEO: $7,308,334

Just let those figures soak on your brain for a few moments. I think most of us in the aviation industry can agree that our executives should be compensated well, especially if the individual company is successful. Unfortunately for many of us, our companies are not successful - yet our executives continue to take quarterly and annual bonuses to pad their compensation packages. All the while, they're sending people out to the street because they must "re-align costs," or "cut costs." Whichever you choose.

The next industry research post will highlight the average salaries and compensation packages for the front-line employees of these companies.

Compensation figures are based off of data from BusinessWeek. Figures are total compensation, annual, short, and long term compensations.

Life on reserve

2008-07-24T07:58:00.001-07:00

Is fine.

I get to sit at home an enjoy my new toy.

What a transformation the office has taken. Got rid of the old 17inch CRT monitor that took up about half of the desk space. Now this thing is mounted to the wall, and a load of free space is available on the desk for various stuff - like school, or work.

It's great.

Also, picked up a new hard drive - 320gigs worth to store music, videos, movies, and pictures. This computers been in the need for a slight upgrade for a while.

Both of these two things were birthday presents that I ended up picking up from the various cash and check gifts I've received.

But anyway - Reserve. . .

Went on call yesterday, and no phone call whatsoever (yet). I stay on call through Sunday. I'm hoping they call, because honestly I need to fly and build some more time just in case my company joins the "Furlough" club. Only time will tell.

Nothing special to report

2008-07-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well - nothing special to report means - nothing special to report.

On a three day trip across the southeast, with a visit to Cleveland and St. Louis. Spending two lovely nights in too smaller towns in Georgia; spectacular.

Anyway - I'm really not the type to carry around a camera in the cockpit, but I have managed to snag a couple photos, two today, and one from a few weeks ago.

The 100th CRJ-200, flew this one on one of my IOE trips - I think.

The lower Appalachians as we made our way up to Cleveland. Love how the stratus outlines the hills.

The ass end of a 757.

I can tie Shoe-Laces in the sky

2008-07-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

Yup, I sure can.

It was a beautiful morning coming in from Dothan. As we set up on the arrival we were vectored for the north approach on runway 26R. On the downwind leg (parallel to the runway but going the opposite direction of landing traffic) the approach end looked great, runway visual ranges were greater than what we needed for the approach so it looked like all was going to end well and we would make it into the gate on time.

Finally on the last portion of the approach (final approach), we switched over to tower and they told us the bad news. The runway visual range for the touchdown zone had decreased below what was required for us to legally shoot the approach.

A missed approach, turn to the northwest, and reconfiguring for the approach to the southern most runway finally yielded us the result we needed.

Was a beautiful morning to be out though. Got off just moments after sunrise.

Last night's approach into Dothan was enjoyable as well. I'm finally starting to feel a good sense of enjoyment out of the work - it's just unfortunate that it may not last for a while considering the sad state of the industry. So be it.

The sunset is approaching

2008-07-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

AirTran - 180
Comair - 300
ExpressJet - 400
Colgan - 60
PSA - 27
United - 950

And that's just the short list of companies who are going to be placing pilots out of work in the fall. This industry is in for some serious changes.

Just a shame, an absolute shame. This current down turn will make 9/11 look like a one day event in regards to the way this industry changes.

For over a few decades we really had had far too much capacity out there for the consumer. Capacity must be reduced if any of the remaining companies are able to become stable and stay in business.

I'm sure those numbers above won't be the last. Many more will follow, it's only a matter of time.

Weather Forecasting

2008-07-01T08:13:00.001-07:00

I really can't explain it, but recently I have had an increasing urge to get back into the meteorology game. Perhaps it is because of the economic condition of the country and how that all will roll down hill and smack me right on the forehead - along with putting a couple hundred, if not thousands of pilots out of work.

Recently I had an offer from an old co-worker who runs an Air National Guard weather shop in Florida to come down and work for him, only catch is that I'd have to enlist in the Florida ANG for a 6 year period. 15,000 sign on bonus, and flexibility to work around my real world schedule, and if needed a full time position (if I am placed out of work for any period of time).

It is extremely tempting, extremely.

I enjoyed the work, was great at it (2006 ACC Weather Airmen of the Year), and absolutely enjoyed the challenge of developing a sound forecast for troops in combat and fighter crews in the CENTAF/CENTCOM AOR.

My time as a forecaster were great, but more than anything I enjoyed the ability of supervising a team of forecasters. Having the talent and determination to make sure we all put out a quality forecast product meant a lot to me considering who we worked for. Troops in combat depended on a timely forecast of thunderstorms, high winds, and visibility limiting events (dust storms). Fighter crews relied on the very same items for departing onto missions - and ultimately - their safe return back to home base, along with whatever specialized forecast product that was developed for their mission enroute.

Forecasting for the desert is more complex than what people think. Hot, dusty, and hot really do not satisfy the full range of weather scenarios. Yes, it does rain, yes it does snow. The region is the size of two United States, with mountains, water sources, and an extremely tropical climate. They get weather that isn't hot and windy, and dusty.

Nevertheless, this blog entry comes from another 2 hours and 40 minutes of remaining ready reserve. Part of me wishes they will call me to go fly a trip someplace, and start eating into my 4 days of availability.

Anyway - til next time.

Do Work

2008-06-23T05:22:00.000-07:00

The time has come to do work. The four and five day long vacations that are frequent and enjoyable during training are pretty much done as far as I use to know them. The new four and five day vacations will be while I sit and baby sit my phone during my on call period for reserve.

Some how I was lucky enough to get called yesterday evening, before my on call period (of which I of course did not answer), and alerted via voicemail to check eTrip and to acknowledge at some point that I had been assigned a ready reserve period for tomorrow.

So here I am - enjoying *sarcasm* sitting at the airport. Fortunately, they actually have something for me. Appears to be a round trip from Atlanta to Lexington and back. It'll be interesting to see what happens after I get back in from Lexington - be it they release me, or have me finish sitting out my ready reserve period, or even have me continue to sit for an additional 2 hours after my ready reserve period ends so that I can fly another trip that is within that 2 hour window.

Who knows. . .time will tell. . .

Oh - yeah. . .I'm done alright.

2008-06-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Yeah, IOE finally did start, and IOE is finished. Has been for some time now.

Sorry for no update otherwise.

Enjoying it so far, and looking forward to what the next few months and year bring to the industry.