I lifted this from an earlier thread titled "Fixes to Reserve" from December '15.
Fixes to reserve
I'm too lazy to revisit and amend it right now as I am on vacation. Please excuse my lethargy. I gave it a few nips and tucks. I figured at least that I could offer up a contribution, just to annoy a special few and (hopefully) and add some additional perspective.
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To reiterate for those new to this argument who may have not been here, these are a few of the wonderful changes that have slowly crept into what was a negotiated LC/SC system.
1. First In-First Out used to be published and easy to follow. It kept scheduling honest and gave a reserve guy an easy way to determine where he stood. Any out of FIFO assignments were instantly apparent and as a result seldom happened. Now, who knows?
2. There was a very limited amount of SC's published per day for a given BES. On the bus in DC, it was typically 2 or 3 per day. Now? I've seen 8-10. Yes, they pay an hour but only after you've given them the first two. There are plenty of guys who would rather be on LC than SC irrespective of the stipend.
Furthermore, all SC's were published at 0900 each day. By about 1100L, they had all been assigned. If you didn't get one, you were virtually guaranteed LC the next day. I was never assigned a SC late in the evening for the next day. Now its the norm. Two weeks ago they called me at 0100 for a SC the next day.
3. Rolling days off used to be a rarity. In some BES they still are. But ask the guys in the understaffed bases what the months of May through September are like. Good luck making plans.
4. FSB's used to pay 5 hours. Now, they're essentially freebies.
5. Under the old system, I was never called a few hours after beginning an SC and then told to head to the 'drome and perform a FSB (instead) during that same duty period. Now, its happened several times.
6. Likewise, I was never called just a few hours after beginning a SC assignment only to be told, "you're released from SC...but now you're on SC tomorrow at "X" o'clock. FIFO?? Nah. They keep you rolling in SC limbo.
7. There used to be a mythical "4 hour" show time. Well, was that 4 hours to ops or to the jet? Who knew? No one knew and it was great.
It was also seldom a problem. Now, its 2.5 hours to ops and its in black and white. That was a hell of a concession. Especially those few bases with multiple airports. IAD - JFK - LAX - etc. Major metropolitan areas with major traffic. Hell, its what, 60 miles IAD to BWI? That's over an hour in the middle of the night.
8. SC's were seldom handed out to a pilot on day one of a SILO, or on his last day. That was one of the main gets when we got the LC/SC system. That's HUGE. Thats GONE.
This is just a small sample. There are some excellent posts on the other forum that do a much better job of 'splaining to Lucy some of the more creative and egregious reserve shenanigans that are now routine.
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"Tawk amongst yourselves"