Mayday, Mayday, Mayday ...

I've never had a Manager admit that they read these boards? Have you?

I've had them say, "Somebody told me you posted xyz on APC ... "

Does Corporate Legal advise them to have nothing to do with these discussions? I don't know? It seems like some of our "beefs" a good Manager could fix for low or no cost at all? Instead they prefer to treat us like "dog-poop." They have to wipe off their shoes if they get near us and the "stink" rubs off!

In my military Safety School classes many years ago, a major philosophy in aviation safety was "Command Climate." Does Management accept and want to "get along" with the worker-bees? I'm surprised that we have no such attitude here!*?

How come we didn't have MAJOR Industry (FAA & NTSB approved) safety programs like ASAP and FOQA for many years, despite having one of the worst safety records in the industry???

As Spock would have signed off with ... LLAP

 

Maybe you're right, it's the logging onto PFC is what people are annoyed about. This seems like an issue that really gets some pilots angry. I personally don't delineate a difference between logging onto PFC and checking things early. That seems to me that it's all doing company work off the clock. When we study for a sim check, or prep for an international trip, we're doing company work off the clock. Perhaps someone could explain to me the significance of not logging onto PFC early.

And I don't give my FO's a hard time, or even mention it, nor is it a pet peeve. In fact, the vast majority of people are great, and show up ready to do the job. There are only a few people who stick out. I'm sure FO's are aggravated when they meet the captain during ground school day before the sim check, and realize they haven't studied the profile, or anything at all. Rare, but it happens.

 

It seems like some middle ground here is probably what’s really happening out on the line.

It would be great if every minute of time spent doing something related to flying aircraft for Fedex was officially compensated while also doing it to the absolute best of one’s ability. I think for many of our flights and circumstances, that’s realistic. Sometimes it’s not.

How about this scenario: You’ve been sitting reserve, getting an occasional domestic flight to stay current, last international flight was years ago and you get called for a two week around the world trip with ~24+ hours notice. Some of you guys are really going to do nothing until show time?

 

Uh, you are on Reserve - you're on company time already

There is a big difference between pre-flight prep and reading the FPR, checking WX, checking Notams, reading MEL's, highlighting the taxi chart, ironing your shirt and polishing your shoes!

 

Uh, I believe you would have a red "REL" line from the time you called until said trip. So, technically, you would be released and no longer on reserve.

Technicalities aside, I do agree with you that under most circumstance we should be able to show at show time and do our jobs well. If that's the first time someone sees the FPR/Wx/Notams, that okay. I wouldn't expect anyone to show up a minute sooner - but I do expect them to show up prepared. Whatever that means for that particular flight.

 

I disagree. What you've described here is developing and maintaining professional proficiency and expertise. Being professional means you maintain high standards at all times -- it's a continual process.

What it does NOT require is that your FO be prepared to brief you on the departure, enroute, and destination weather, taxiway closures, temporary cranes requiring amended decision altitudes, and MELs on the airplane and give you a recommendation on how much fuel to add -- AT SHOW TIME. Show time is the time we begin studying the PARTICULARS of our flight to include all of the above. I repeat -- it's the time we BEGIN ... not the "last minute" as you contend.


If a pilot cannot accomplish those tasks between show time and the scheduled push time, one of two things might be true. One, the time scheduled may be insufficient. If that's the case, more time should be scheduled, and more time should be paid. At one point, The Company realized that insufficient time was scheduled between show time and push time for a deadhead flight, so they increased the paid time by modifying show times.

The second possibility is the pilot is not sufficiently knowledgeable, competent, or skilled to accomplish the required tasks in the scheduled time. If that's the case, he can strive to become more knowledgeable, competent, and skilled, or he can always start early, and hope he never gets a reserve assignment with late call parking.

Or maybe it's some of both. I'll let you decide which applies to you.






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Just another note on those long international flights: If you are leaving MEM to start you should already know how to operate from there. If deadheading somewhere - there is plenty of time to look up your origin airport during the deadhead.

Now for the destination - seeing that personal electronic devices are now prohibited for use during aircraft operation - what else do you have to do but use your company issued iPad and EFB to do all the destination country/airport study?

 

I think we agree. There seems to be some confusion above surrounding what it means to be prepared. In the example you've posed, I believe it would mean that I show up prepared to fly A MD-11 around the world, and whatever that entails.

It doesn't mean I know all the details about flying THIS MD-11 from MEM-CDG on THIS day in THESE weather conditions and with THESE NOTAMS and THESE MELs, etc. Those are the details we begin evaluating at show time.






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Now you've done it ...

Management probably overlooked that, they'll fix it now ... Thanks

 

??? Airport study can be done on the jeppesen app on your iPad. Metar/TAFs and notams can be found from many sources. While the weather may not be FedEx sourced, it's still accurate enough (and maybe even more realistic!) for planning purposes. ATIS phone numbers can be found using Google or AOPA easily.