cargopilot

Thats the truth!

hockey1082

I'm not sure what Ryemex is talking about. I've never know anyone to purposely break a FAR. We are always compliant with the rest rules. Yeah, sure, some days are much harder than others. This job, in general, is much more challenging than others. But the feeling of accomplishment at the end of a long trip is the reward. We work hard here. And I am proud of that. You won't last long here if you expect some sort of playboy lifestyle.

727C47

Toward the end of 1996, guys and gals were all headed to north of 1000 hours per year in all fleets, little incidents started to occur, wingtips dinged while parking, et al, etc., the word went out , if you needed 20 hours off, take it, they knew we were tired, and it was starting to show.

RyeMex

I was on the part 135 side of the house. I don't know how it plays out for the 121 supplemental, but as per an FAA LOI (letter of interpretation) to a Mr. Hernan E. Orellana (and also in a few other LOIs that were distributed throughout the past decade) dated October 6th, 2015: the "rolling rest" policy that IFL (and every other part 135 carrier in that industry) uses is completely, and indisputably, NOT allowed under the requirements of 14 CFR 135.267.

Approximately two days after this LOI was released, I emailed it to the chief pilot on the 135 side, and CCed it to the Director of Operations for IFL. The response I got back from the CP was, "Interesting." That's it. I followed up when I made it back to PTK and walked a print out of the letter into the CPs office. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah, but if we follow that then we can't stay in business. You can talk to the DO if you want." So, I walked across the hall to the DOs office and laid the letter on his desk and asked, "How does IFL plan to adjust their operations in order to conform to this Letter of Interpretation?" Without looking at the letter, he stared me straight in the eye and said, "We aren't doing anything wrong." Rather than allowing him to try to pressure me into dropping the subject, I played the staring game that MC (the director of operations) is so good at. After we stared at each other for over a minute, he tried to threaten me by saying, "Well, if you need to know exactly when your duty day is maybe we need to start having you show up to the office for 14 hours a day to sweep floors." I responded, "How you implement the LOI is up to you, but it's implications are clear." He stared at me some more and finally said, "I actually haven't read the letter yet." So, I said, "Mr. C***, how can you presume to tell me that we aren't doing anything wrong if you haven't even analyzed a new LOI that the FAA has just released?" He told me that he would read the letter and get back to me. A few days later, I got an email from him that said, "We're not doing anything wrong. Talk to our lawyer."
So, I then emailed the company's chief counsel. The reply that I got was that IFL "Completely agrees" with the contents of the LOI and that "that is why IFL does not at any point require any of it's pilots to answer the phone if they don't want to, and no pilot has ever been reprimanded for not answering a call."
I replied to the Chief Counsel that I appreciated his response and asked him how he explained the fact that, literally within the past two weeks, IFL had just fired an FO on the Falcon because he hadn't answered his phone when he was called for a trip.
I never received any reply.

After raising this issue with the Chief Pilot, Director of Operations, and Chief Counsel, I was subsequently assigned to be based at an out-station (TVF) for 4-5 months, with no option to say "no", so that I would stop "causing trouble" in PTK.

RyeMex

There was also an FO (also on the part 135 side) that was a roommate of mine one time who, when they called in to tell Dispatch that they were sick, got a phone call from the CP (using his cell phone, you know, no recorded lines) saying that they had a trip in an hour and that my roommate had to accept it.

RyeMex

I once showed up to a ramp that had more pallets waiting for us than I had been told to expect. Typical occurance, sure, but this time we were already planned to be filled to the brim. I called up dispatch to inform them that we would have to leave some freight behind. The answer I got was, "No. You need to make it happen."

So, I emailed a copy of the company's own sheet that they send customers to show them the dimensions of the cargo area and said, "I usually find a way, but I can't beat physics on this one."

RyeMex

I also once had a mechanic call me on my cell phone and verbally assault me. The reason? I wrote up something in the aircraft logbook when I wasn't on the ground in PTK (or LRD) where they had maintenance. He was pretty ticked that I had grounded the airplane because I decided against "finding out" about the issue after the trip was completed and the airplane was back home.

He ended the call with, "How long have you f@#*ing worked here, anyways? Because you're not going to last very long if you keep pulling s@#$ like this!"

727C47

Wow.....with the Dougs we were blowing engines, and cylinders , usually out of town, my last DC3 inflight shutdown, about a month before we ceased 3 ops was over Long Island about 15 miles from JFK, but right next to Islip where we fluttered down. The next day a Convair580 dropped off a fresh engine and mechanics, a day and a 1/2 after that ,post test flight ,we were winging back to home plate , it was a well oiled machine, and we realized things broke...

adler

[Dude], I'm sorry to hear you didn't like IFL, but to be fair this thread is mostly about the 121 side of the house. The Falcon...well that's a little airplane; the standards are lower than on the Boeing. Luckily, Atlas' hiring standards have gone down to "pulse" and you made it out, though only to the 76; 16% less pay and no bunks.

IFL was a great place. If you were a good person they were amazing to you. I once had Sandy ready write and drop off a rent check to my landlord when I was stuck out of town. However, if you go around trying to make trouble at every opportunity you can, well most companies don't tolerate that.

You're probably still honeymooning, what 3 months off IOE now? Give it some time, you'll realize like most of us, that IFL was the best job you ever had.

RyeMex

Adler, I don't know who you are. However, unlike the above post, you'll find that my remarks about IFL have been factual and free of defamation or libel. It seems noteworthy that the veracity of my remarks are not being called into question.

Honestly, I don't harbor any ill will towards IFL. As I stated in a former post, I enjoyed my time there and, overall, had a positive experience. As far as I know, I left on good terms with the CP, DO, and others in the office. I fulfilled the terms of my two weeks notice, and on my last day I walked all company property back to the office, unlike the manner in which some former employees left.

However, that does not negate the fact that, as I said, at least on the 135 side, the flights are being operated contrary to the requirements of the FARs and action has been taken against employees who attempted to operate in such a manner.