Originally Posted by
Abouttime2fish
And so from a safety perspective you should be vocally in favor of PSC.
The problem of going after PSC from this perspective is getting forced into the rules like you mention above. I’m a wuss, I don’t do red eyes, complain with even a single time zone change, and commute in the afternoon prior to 95% of my trips. But that’s my choice. I don’t want the FAA or D telling me how or when to commute.
Here is the difference in my case. Currently drive 3 hours to airport, to be there 1 hour before departure, for a 1.5 hour commuter flight. 5.5 hours home to ATL with no backup. With PSC and no backup required, starting a trip with one domestic leg on first day would be ok. Add in backup… most of the flights are less than 2 hours apart, so if we play 2 hour rule as well it adds another 4.5 hours ish. Now I’m 10+ into my day at sign in. And where the wuss factor plays in for me personally.
Take it one more step, PSC and no backup, well there is a small airport with RJ service only an hour away. But not frequent enough to generally have a backup that saves any commute time under current rules. But we get PSC and no backup, now I’m 3.5 hour commute. Compared to 10, that’s huge. And probably 24 days per year I’m home and not commuting.
I know I’m not changing minds. I also know I’m not moving, and without PSC my vote is no.
Oof, that sounds rough. I generally try to stay out of this conversation because I don't think PSC has legs, but you have just painted a picture of a person who needs to live closer to their job. I left a job at another legacy operator where I was very happy to come here because it meant I could drive to work (albeit from 150 miles away). I certainly didn't hold a gun to the heads of other pilots because I had a tricky commute. I took some control/ownership and changed my situation.
A much more reasonable ask for someone in your position is a better commuter policy, which is something that we can all probably get behind and will have very little given away in return. I sympathize with you, but by the information you've given us here, yours is most definitely a choice.