The media has been attacking the low wages that the FO made in the Colgan crash. They also have been critical of the commuting lifestyle. If the airlines respond by forcing pilots to live at their base the results could be catastrophic for many.
It is hard enough to make it on airline pay. It would be near impossible to make it if you were forced to live in NYC or most other big cities far from home. I doubt that the airlines will react by raising wages.
Look out for big changes in company commuting policies.
I dont think they could be that strict on commuting pilots, you cant do that. They would lose a lot of pilots. example...70% of air tran pilots commute.
Would it be out of place to expect that the airlines would have a "sleep room" set aside - maybe a room off of the crew room where pilots could get a quality nap? I've seen this type of operation in the military before. When I was in Kuwait back in 2003 during the summer time - it was nearly impossible to get a good day's rest in the unairconditioned general purpose tents with temperatures reaching over 100 degrees. Eventually they set up an air conditioned crew rest tent.
I agree that flying fatigued is a safety hazard - but not every mishap can be pinned on fatigue either. I'm glad they (NTSB) are looking at it but from reading the transcript they seemed alert (meaning not sleepy) but they had a breakdown in basic airwork.
I feel that since the swine flu has lost is shock factor, the media needs to scare the public with something new. This will blow over when something new happens and nothing will change.
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I don't think that the airlines could ever do away with commuting. The above mention of AirTran is a great example. Enough pilots would walk away if this happened that it would create an immediate problem.
I don't see either scenario as likely, but I bet that before they do away with commuting, they build our commute into our duty. My old charter company did this, as does NetJets among others. I wouldn't even care if they paid me for it, as long as I was on duty.
How could you possibly force pilots to live in base????
Require a local address? OK, I have a crashpad, or I can use my buddy's address.
Require that we not leave domicile on our days off? Now that's a company obligation, ie duty.
I guess you would have to ban recreational travel by pilots...there's no difference between commuting and returning from vacation in europe.
What about the guy who lives in base, but stays out partying before a Sunday AM show? He might be legally sober, but he ain't rested....
Until they can build a breathalyzer which measures fatigue levels this is a silly concept.
I would quit, as would many others. And just for fun I would work up until the last day before the rule took effect, then walk off the job. I think you would see an instant 20%-30% reduction in domestic air travel due to lack of pilots.
Besides the issue here is not really commuting, it is stupidity. Ski all day, redeye across the country, then work all the next day? Most folks can't do that, and even those who have the stamina would then be degraded on the job.
Would it be out of place to expect that the airlines would have a "sleep room" set aside - maybe a room off of the crew room where pilots could get a quality nap?
Pinnacle sets up sleep room for our pilots. I am based in DTW and while ours is nasty, it is dark and quiet. I am sure that some other companies offer the same the same thing.
I'm pretty optimistic about most things in life but aviation is slowly loosing it's ability to be one of those things. Mainly because these days money is everything to everyone. Aviation is one pretty unique part of the economy in a sense that when a passenger buys a ticket, every single penny that they pay goes to someone different. In other words there are so many people, agencies, administrations, corporations, associations, boards, shareholders, and finally front line employees having to take a bite out of the cookie. Basically when we as the the flight crew members see it there are only crumbs of the crumbs left. All that and now the cookies being baked are getting smaller and smaller. So until people learn to part with their money and downsize their lifestyles AKA greed, we as the people that harness the brunt of the liability will be only scrutinized and made out to be the scape goats. Pilots are people and people make mistakes, and when the people that influence those people cut corners the mistakes become more abundant.
We are going to have to get used to the fact that a flight crew may have screwed up and we as pilots are all guilty by association in the eyes of the public. Unfortunately nothing will come of it and people will all forget about it just like 9/11. Money alone will not fix it, but rather a reduction in greed. That's going to be a tough one to overcome.
The commute that the Colgan FO did from SEA through MEM up to EWR with sleep spread out over two flights and the crew room would have actually probably left her
more rested
than a standup overnight or a 16 hour duty day followed by a reduced rest overnight into another 16 hour duty day, both of which are, of course, legal already and common practice at various airlines.
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