Originally Posted by
Farmerengineer
I bid a line 95% of the time. And have had 2 PB days in my career.
So I’m just curious about this.
In your case, if they paid rsv gs same as line holder, wouldn’t you credit 130-140 instead of 110-120? And just not have any PB days?
Depending on intl vs domestic use of PB days. They can be quite valuable as well. I understand that.
That is only if you’re looking for max earnings.
RES PB days are one of the few ways to claw back some QOL, particularly in when they are running us “a little hot.” This is why most guys that have figured this part out are so adamant about not giving it up.
Consider that a REG pilot is going to fly more or less 15 days a month before any premium. Call that 80 hours. Now say a RES pilot is getting an 80 hour guarantee but hasn’t yet turned a wheel.
Say the reserve pilot flies one 4 day GS over X days. He now is over 100 hours and has only flown 4 days. When you factor in strategic bidding, required 30 hour breaks, etc it’s unlikely this guy is going to fly more than 15 days, or certainly the 17-19 (GS v WS) that the REG pilot would need to do to reach 100 hours. My experience over the past rolling 12 months is about 7-8 days of flying (I just don’t get to pick exactly when/where I go). One more GS maybe near the end of the month and now with 4-5 PB days in the bank the next RES month is even more tolerable because you can selectively blow up reserve stretches, or pre-charge a likely rolling thunder month.
It’s more about QOL v money. Some version of smarter not harder. The lines on the calculation eventually cross and the REG greenslipper will eventually win if the goal is max earnings, but I’d wager that’s not why the great majority of pilots are voluntarily playing the RES/PB game.