Originally Posted by
LeineLodge
I agree. So far the little bit I've been able to scan through looks quite a bit like our PWA flight/duty limits.
This WILL have an effect on the regionals. The table limiting duty day based on start time and # of legs will challenge their schedulers/planners a bit. I would routinely have 6 leg/~8 hour/15:30 duty days. Of course that's usually achievable by having a 3-ish hour sit somewhere in the day too. This will be a dramatic QOL improvement for regional pilots that don't have the contractual protections of our PWA.
I haven't seen anything in the new rules that will prevent Delta from giving us 3 hour sits though. Our duty days are already capped at or near the new limits, so they will still probably be able to have us do productivity sits. All the more reason we need to improve our duty rigs in the next contract.
The new rules will undoubtedly reduce fatigue for regional pilots, but I doubt there will be a positive impact to their QOL.
Most regional pilots credit upwards of 80-90 hrs. It's the extra hours of credit that help the lower hourly rate create a livable paycheck.
With the new work rules the regional guys will take a cut in pay or a cut in QOL because they end up giving up days off to regain their "old-rules" take-home pay.
Many regional pilots view the new rules as the FAA coming and messing with their pay...
Cheers
George