Originally Posted by
BoilerUP
I know that.
But I'd submit that very few people on APC have ever seen genuine "poverty", and REAL poverty should not be confused with regional pilots crying "broke" (again, I was one). I doubt any probationary regional airline pilots (short of maybe Lakes pilots) are worrying about where their next meal is going to come from.
Fatigue happens, but jumpseating overnight into the start of a trip is a decision. And as I've demonstrated, such a decision is optional - there are alternatives for somebody who can't afford a $75 hotel room 4+ times a month.
My issue is people who seem to intimate higher compensation = safer pilots. That is simply not true, even if you replace "safer" with "more rested". Higher compensation would certainly make it easier for people, but its no easy silver bullet.
This is truth. Even highly compensated captains do commutes that are beyond absurd(like commuting in the J/S all night from hawaii to start a trip at 7am in SFO/LAX). There are some that even commute from Australia/Asia/Europe. The Feds can use FAR 117 as political theatre all they want but the fact that they use split duty(CDOs) is proof that they really don't care. You can still do 4 am shows EST when you are on western time.
They can make all the regulations they want but at the end of the day it is truly up to the pilot himself to make the call if he is fit for duty or not. Some pilots may be able to sleep just fine while commuting on a redeye and be fully rested. Some pilots may get to the outstation at noon and choose to stay up until midnight with a 5 am show and be dead tired. Some pilots may have a 9 am show in domicle but live 4 hours away in some small town with no airline service so they have to wake up at 4 am to get ready after going to bed at midnight.
You can not regulate all the possibilities and to be honest the old system was better IMO. Leave it to the individual to determine his fitness for duty. With these new rules you work more for less pay per day. If you limit reduced rest to once per trip and maybe account for hotel drive times it is a much better way to do things than this abortion of a law. You can't even pick up an extra out and back at the end of your trip now unless you have 10 hrs between them.