bohicagain

I fly a bunch with the same 2-3 guys in DTW and they play the drop entire schedule GS and white slip and end up with 170 hours at a min every month x $165 an hour + PS. Theses FO's clear 400K with DC excess cash.

They are working the schedule hard. Minimal LCA trips. Always working.

Lone Palm

YMMV but I’d venture to guess the 717 in MSP will see 3-5 leg days consisting of IND, GRR, FAR, OMA types of cities with the occasional JFK turn thrown in. I wouldn’t expect any warm weather destinations for the most part unless you cycle through ATL. The good news is, no WATRS airspace and closing down shop at night will be quicker with less people onboard!

Bandit702

Never got a "Rolling Thunder" going (that would've been nice), but its not hard to avg a 3-day GS a month with 30% seniority. Add in an LCA 3-4 day trip buy every other month + a couple easy 1-2 day WSs and you are there. It is easy to 'throttle' the 717 when senior. Want to chillax this month? No problem drop everything and WS the easy ones. Want to max effort? No problem, bid off for wkds/holidays, blanket GS, watch the WX channel and wait. btw, I'm married with 2 kids under 10 and we took 6 vacations last year of 3-7 days each so you don't have to be a QOL hating unic to make that happen. It has its cons like every other category, but I meet a lot of guys who assume it would be a pay cut which isn't necessarily true.

Han Solo

Very interesting. I started to do the math to show how it couldn't be done but the math says its very doable.

If they fly to pickup limit every month it will average out to 90 hours/month which means they need roughly 8 days worth of GS every single month to get to 172 hours. That's $336k + $16k excess DC. Now if you add in another 15% PS then they're right at $400k (assuming they made the same $336k last year, probably a little generous since manning was better).

So to get to PU limit they're working 17 days, obviously a few of these will be 2-day 2-leg easy trips so not the end of the world. Add in the 8 days of GS and they're working 25 days a month, that's quite a bit of work, it can be done but most guys aren't going to want to work that much. I did RT in the spring/summer of '16 and averaged 180 hours (at $99/hour!) working about 20 days each month for 6 months so I know it's doable when manning is really bad. These days I come home from a 3 day trip and I'm usually exhausted, I don't think I could sustain 25 days a month for an entire year -- maybe if those 17 days of getting to the PU limit are entirely high credit 2 and 3 day trips with 2-3 total legs but only low single digit seniority % in category will be able to swing that. If they get rerouted enough then they might be able to shave a day or two off each month on average and still hit $400k.

Bandit702

Getting to $400k to me is a Moonshot. Maybe I'd try it just to push myself once but unlikely. No judgement on guys who do though, but it would be too painful for me personally to do max PU + GS every month. Getting to +$300 however, IMHO is not that difficult for someone at 20% seniority on the 717.


85 hr line + 18hr GS = 121 hrs x (155-165 rate) x 1.305 (DC + 2018 PS) x 12 months = $293k - $313k split the diff and call it $303k (plus another $10k domestic per-diem) = $313k


18 hr GS usually = 3 days of work. 85 hrs on the line is abt 16 days (minus any LCA buy off so probably avg 14.5 - 15) in total I avg 17-20 days per month with some of those being easy 1-2 day trips where no one even knows you were gone. It can/has been done.

Han Solo

For me it's a moonshot for a middle aged astronomer -- no can do. As another junior 717a I pretty much get RES guarantee plus whatever green I can mop up at the end of the month. Currently the greens are where even junior captains can get in on some of the action, but I take what I can get which usually means 1-3 days/month. Add that on top of guarantee and the best I can do is a 90 hour per month average. Certainly not complaining, as I have to work considerably fewer total days and I'm certainly not unhappy about my compensation. As an FO my seniority would put me around 10-15% so I could play the game but not quite as well. I find the left seat more rewarding than the right, my wife just prefers a fat bank account so there is that .

Sputnik

Han, how much are you actually being used on res in a given month?

Han Solo

Almost every available day since the summer. I get creative in conflicting my schedule, CS has far more tools to be far more creative to give me a trip. Nothing like a 2 day trip with 3 DH so I can operate 1 friggin' leg from another base's trip.

GliderCFI

I feel likey first year as 717A I was able to drop days and avoid work pretty easily when I needed to. Flew 300 hours my first year on it. But that only works if you're the only one doing it. This last summer I think we all got so abused that I remember September onward everyone was dropping anything on a blue day to have a chance at getting a break. Result was I never see a 4 day trip get assigned anymore. They break everything up and we work anyway, just like you said. Deadheads for days.

Pogey Bait

You must be in ATL....when I was there, same thing, DH to another base and fly.