Originally Posted by
Herkflyr
The bank is modestly useful (I've been minus in the bank for 15 years!) but it really stems from the pre-PBS days of line of time bidding. Back then we had a "cap" vs the ALV, and you were NOT paid for any time over the cap. So if the cap were 75 hours, and you flew 78, you were only paid 75 and that extra three hours was carried forward to the next month as "bow wave." There were lots of iterations and tricks you could do with the bow wave, and I won't go there as that was 15 years ago. However, pilots always had the option of depositing the bow wave into the bank, vs letting it carry to the next month.
So...cap usually lower than today's ALVs, and anything over the cap was bow wave/bank deposit, and it was a much more frequently used tool.
Okay Doris.....now tell us about "Spill back" in 15 seconds or less before you move on to your next topic. 🤣 (Her Indoc brief was 50 minutes of the proverbial "throwing cooked spaghetti at the wall hoping something sticks." Lots of 30 foot stares in a 20ft room after that experience).