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The aviation industry is ripe with historical references to poor managers, who tell their employees one thing and moments later (days, weeks, months, and years) after the the fact they end up doing something 180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.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
A sad day
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
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
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
So. . .how's it going?
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'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.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
I didn't mess up
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
More than Minimum Monthly Guarantee
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.
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.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Well that sucks
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.
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.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Here's to August
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.
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.
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