Oma4545

As a captain trying to leave my regional, please, never agree to field standby. It is awful. Last month I sat at the airport for eight hours a day for 12 days. Only to be used one time.

full of luv

That is how commuters deal with short call often now that our short call commitment is only for 9 hours. Our category often has short call from 1400-2300 so you can commute in and let scheduling know you'll be unavailable by phone till 1600 (at airport) then hit the gym at the airport, eat some dinner in the pilot lounge, watch just a bit of tv and then call skeds at 2100 to be released, commute home and be home by 2300. So for a short call day I'm often gone from my house from 1400-2300 only.

full of luv

That and skeds treats it as basically 2hrs callout by allowing you two hours to commute in to the airport and also often releasing you with two hours on your callout avail. This leads to the perception by pilots that 2 hrs is the callout limit.

Oma4545

I guess if you commute that’s great, but constant ready reserve defeats the purpose of living in base.

full of luv

I'm not arguing for any changes, just saying that the present "short call" system closely resembles a 2hr "ready reserve" system already....

contrails

No, it does not, at all.

It only resembles that because you have to take an airplane to work and your example is of a PM shift best case scenario.

Airport reserve requires everyone to be IN the airport available within xx minutes. At one regional, it was 15 minutes. If they really wanted to make a big deal out of it being truly 15 minutes, then good luck with your airport gym workout unless you want to show up to your 5 hour deadhead like a sweaty pig.

Really though -- even commuters who sit short call lounging around the crashpad would notice a significant difference in SC vs. airport standby. On a 6AM shortcall, does anyone choose to wake up, take a shower, get dressed up in their uniform and go sit in the pilot lounge? Of course not. They are sleeping in their crashpad with their phone on.

In base people and commuters would feel the effects of this hypothetical concession.

APCLurker

Absolutely Heck No to airport reserve.


It would never end up being voluntary and/or at adequate pay. And even if it did start as voluntary, it would end up changed in a future contract (or non memrat LOA) to non-voluntary when the company complains they can't get enough volunteers.


Absolutely No to airport reserve. Don't even let that nose into the tent.

APCLurker

No, it does not.

TED74

I'd beg to differ... particularly while wakeboarding on short call.

Herkflyr

Not by a galaxy cluster.