It's actually a safety issue. A joint study between the FAA and NTSB recently found that the average regional pilot only carries enough "company material" for 2 hours worth of flying. Therefore, they deemed it necessary to mandate that all flights with a scheduled block time of more than 2.5 hrs be adequately staffed with a certified relief pilot. Section 105 of the contract explains all of this, including the required compensation of 25% pay and two bags of peanuts.

I, for one, am in favor of this change, as it should help to keep the number of pilots on furlough to a minimum.

On a seperate topic, anyone else ready to be spoon-fed more B.S. tomorrow during the "net conference"? Maybe this one will be cancelled too!