Originally Posted by
mtbguy
Anyone flown with the new ACARS yet. I did yesterday on a roundtrip. Pay now is no longer linked to door closure or beacon on. Official out time is now tied to brake release, and on arrival, brakes being set. We doubled checked it and watched the ACARS send the "on" and "in" message as soon as the brakes were set. One engine was not even finished being shut down and door didn't open for another 4 minutes. The crew personally left the plane about 14-15 minutes later.
Pardon me if I am wrong, but aren't we still held responsible for aircraft until passengers are off, doors open and checklists complete? This is a sneaky way for management to get another .3- .5 hours of pay for free from each crew, each leg, system wide.
ALPA needs to not just "look into" this but actually do something about it.
That is the former north way of how the clock starts.... my regional was the same way.
The trick is to recycle the brake after the cabin door is closed... same with either keeping it released or recycle it right before the cabin door opens.
This way we can get paid and block out instead of flashing the beacon for 30 minutes waiting for pushback and not following thechecklist
We can finally use the beacon the way it's supposed to be used on this one and actually follow the checklist. One of the many things that make me twitch on our stuff that is being corrected finally.
This way we can get paid and block out instead of flashing the beacon for 30 minutes waiting for pushback and not following the checklist (thus not attracting the ire of roving ACP's looking for heads to roll). Mo money, mo on time. Good all around.