20Fathoms

Usually yes, though from my experience it can be a little wonky. When I was on 4 man stuff Delta technically paired off 2 and 2 rather than a straight 4. This occasionally led to flights where I needed a landing bad but my captain did too so he took our leg’s landing. Meanwhile the other two guys didn’t need one at all so they just coin tossed who would take their landing. YMMV but it’s definitely a challenge to stay current on 4 man stuff especially if you bid reserve as I do.

crewdawg

This was pre-rona (330), so a bit dated as things may have changed. Almost every 4-pilot trip I did, the captain split it so everyone got an event. For example, the Captain I was paired with would takeoff, then I would land. On the flight back to the states, the other 2 did the same thing. Worked great if all you did was 4 pilot trips, which for the most part, was all these guys did. Otherwise, most of our flying in DTW was 3-pilot, so it just really threw off my numbers. Let's see, I need 1 takeoff and 2 landings lol.

When it came to senior vs junior, I never really saw that much. Normally the Captain just looked at the currencies and as long someone wasn't trying to go to bounces, he'd divvy everything out based on who needed them the most. I even had one captain that gave both legs to us FO's because he had just finished CQ and was good. Where it got tough was on the 6 days, when you floated between crews and was the odd man out. They had already made the plan and often you weren’t part of that plan. I regularly flew outside of work, so it didn't bother me much to go to bounces. The pilots who go to bounces are probably the most current pilots out there.

FL370esq

And....if you aren't ATL-based, you can get 10 hours of pay for those bounces. 😁

I think you will find there are lots more 4-pilot trips in the 350 bid package and most are 2-leg trips. To some extent, like the 777, there is/was an unwritten rule that one Captain flew out, one Captain flew back and the FOs got the extra pay for bounces. Not an absolute rule but certainly more common than not. Especially when the Captains are 64 3/4 years old. They don't want to give up their last landings and I can understand that...well, until Congress and ICAO raise the age to 67. Then they will owe the FOs retro landings. 😁🤣

sailingfun

It should not work that way. The two pilots least current should get the landings even if both are F0's.

crewdawg

Wasn't bad for us DTW based either...take the last flight down in the evening and usually be back home just after noon the next day. The instructor would usually figure out who is commuting and who is local. They'd have the commuters show up first to get on their way to thier commute flights and let the locals sleep in and show up for the second half of the sim period. Worked great....right up until they started sending us to MIA, yuck!

Buck Rogers

And that is the way it was on the 350 from what I did and saw. That answer is biased towards reasonablness though. If the least current pilot had 3 weeks until drop dead date, and this is his only flight....then no point wasting a landing on him.... move on to the next guy that a landing was of benefit

I had 2 Finnie flights/rotations (both unofficial/no hoopla) The first was scheduled, the second was an unscheduled GS. As senior captain, I didn't take any takeoff or landing out of the 4 events.(would be of no help to me, others needed it to stay current and wanted them)

For the most part the 350 didn't split TO and landing. 1st rule of aviation is always make your landings equal your takeoffs for a succesful career. The 330 might hvae more of a prevelance of guys trying to do the split(It was a NW thing) but wasn't logical for me so I never did it that way(nor did many 350 captains)

As mentioned, some guys want the "bounces recurrent" training and pay. Others wanted to avoid it. I had many FO's turn down an offered landing so they could go non-current.

That is biased by time and requirements. At one point "bounces" was easy-peasy just 3 TO and LAND in sim. Now it is more like a check ride. The "threat" environment had an impact on which way people swayed(at least marginally) on their desire to go non-current.

Bainite

Don't know if you've flown a plane with electronic checklist like the 350 or 220, but it beats the heck out of using a paper QRH. The only time we ever touched the QRH in 350 training was to read the evacuation checklist on the back cover. Never actually opened the thing. Doing windshear escape and TCAS RA's on autopilot is pretty neat too.

FL370esq

That was my point...ATL-based pilots only get 5 hours of pay for bounces (no travel day) unless they went to MIA but I hear MIA is no longer being used for the Airbus fleets.

crewdawg

Ah yes, misread your post. Public school...don't read good.

Viper25

Can somebody give a TLDR and ELI5 for how FRMS works, when it applies, and implications for a pilots schedule.