Interesting Coverage Attempt - Cancellations?
03-17-2021, 09:50 AM
#1
Gets Weekends Off
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Joined APC: Jun 2015
Position: 320/A
Posts: 875
Interesting Coverage Attempt - Cancellations?
Yesterday I was on my last reserve LC prior to Golden Days, at home out of base. Which on my fleet (350) means good for nothing. There is one scheduled trip each night (plus a day turn on Sat.): LAX-SYD, mostly 5 day pairings. Very unpopular due to police state incarceration upon arrival. Some days it's a 4 day rotation. The layover is sort of tolerable for 24 hrs., but 48 hrs. lacks the required padded walls and strait jacket! There's a ton of SYD in open time, and the operation has been running on GS for some time now. Anyhow, in my mind I'm "home free" from any work assignment at about 6 hour prior to inviolate days off.
About 16:00, my cell rings with a caller ID suggestive of a call from base ops. A potential incident occurred on my last flight, so I decided to answer in order to put out the fire before it spread. The captain was retiring, so it would evolve into my SIC responsibility, I assumed. To my relief/surprise, it was a chief seeking me to fly the SYD departure in about 6 hours. I don't recall his exact phraseology, but I'm sure it was carefully crafted. It was a request, and did not seem to be suggestive of an IA. He did say SYD was probably going to cancel if they couldn't find a FO.
I jumped to the immediate conclusion the rotation would come to me as a GS if I agreed to go. Maybe I'm wrong, but bad on me for not asking, which I didn't do because I was building up the case for not going case in my head and I didn't want it to sound like my decision hinged on a financial consideration. As an occasional reserve guy, I don't play the GS game; my mental cash register went into hyperdrive to calculate the benefits, based on a GS assumption. My thought was single pay for one leg (maybe), plus a couple of PB days, since the trip would have covered 1.5 hours of a reserve day on the front end of a 14 hour flight, two Golden Days while on layover, and two reserve days on the flight back. I could have made it if I scrambled.
The mental math was moot, as I was in the midst of a real-deal situation. My day had begun at 0400 with a veterinary emergency. At the time of the phone call, I was getting a post-op briefing and picking up my daughter's pup. Not only was it my role to calm family emotions (it was a good outcome with a scare factor), but I was exhausted. I needed to make up zero B.S. in order to decline the offer from the CP.
SYD did indeed cancel. They awarded an out of base GS to a very junior FO but never filled the second B position. I didn't look at how the A's were covered, but based on recent history, GS of some type is likely.
Once, during an epic weather event, the ATL CPO was handing out flight assignments/reroutes to those proactive enough to walk into the office.This was pre-iCrew Mobile and the VRU/CS were overwhelmed. But I have never been hunted down by flight operations to staff a flight. Quite a way to run an airline!
Any idea what level of cancelation we are at due to crew unavailability? The 350 is tough, due to FRMS rest requirements and limited trip mix, plus a number of pilot is NQAT status due to training lag. Just wondering if we are an outlier?
About 16:00, my cell rings with a caller ID suggestive of a call from base ops. A potential incident occurred on my last flight, so I decided to answer in order to put out the fire before it spread. The captain was retiring, so it would evolve into my SIC responsibility, I assumed. To my relief/surprise, it was a chief seeking me to fly the SYD departure in about 6 hours. I don't recall his exact phraseology, but I'm sure it was carefully crafted. It was a request, and did not seem to be suggestive of an IA. He did say SYD was probably going to cancel if they couldn't find a FO.
I jumped to the immediate conclusion the rotation would come to me as a GS if I agreed to go. Maybe I'm wrong, but bad on me for not asking, which I didn't do because I was building up the case for not going case in my head and I didn't want it to sound like my decision hinged on a financial consideration. As an occasional reserve guy, I don't play the GS game; my mental cash register went into hyperdrive to calculate the benefits, based on a GS assumption. My thought was single pay for one leg (maybe), plus a couple of PB days, since the trip would have covered 1.5 hours of a reserve day on the front end of a 14 hour flight, two Golden Days while on layover, and two reserve days on the flight back. I could have made it if I scrambled.
The mental math was moot, as I was in the midst of a real-deal situation. My day had begun at 0400 with a veterinary emergency. At the time of the phone call, I was getting a post-op briefing and picking up my daughter's pup. Not only was it my role to calm family emotions (it was a good outcome with a scare factor), but I was exhausted. I needed to make up zero B.S. in order to decline the offer from the CP.
SYD did indeed cancel. They awarded an out of base GS to a very junior FO but never filled the second B position. I didn't look at how the A's were covered, but based on recent history, GS of some type is likely.
Once, during an epic weather event, the ATL CPO was handing out flight assignments/reroutes to those proactive enough to walk into the office.This was pre-iCrew Mobile and the VRU/CS were overwhelmed. But I have never been hunted down by flight operations to staff a flight. Quite a way to run an airline!
Any idea what level of cancelation we are at due to crew unavailability? The 350 is tough, due to FRMS rest requirements and limited trip mix, plus a number of pilot is NQAT status due to training lag. Just wondering if we are an outlier?
03-17-2021, 10:10 AM
#2
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Joined APC: Sep 2014
Posts: 4,909
Originally Posted by zippinbye
The 350 is tough, due to FRMS rest requirements and limited trip mix, plus a number of pilot is NQAT status due to training lag.
03-17-2021, 11:14 AM
#3
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Joined APC: Jun 2015
Position: 320/A
Posts: 875
Originally Posted by TED74
Are those really the root causes? Seems like a nonsensical MOAD/VEOP sequence and 350-330-350 full IQ cycles with pilots spending 6 weeks on their “temporary” airplane assignment might figure in. Management gets what they paid for, unfortunately.
03-17-2021, 03:25 PM
#4
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2009
Position: Fetal
Posts: 1,148
Originally Posted by TED74
Are those really the root causes? Seems like a nonsensical MOAD/VEOP sequence and 350-330-350 full IQ cycles with pilots spending 6 weeks on their “temporary” airplane assignment might figure in. Management gets what they paid for, unfortunately.
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