Carl, you get the benefit of the doubt since you clearly just want what is best for all DL pilots, but I think that overall DALPA has been a fairly effective advocate...not to foment north v south discord, but you're attacks seem to imply that FNWA Alpa was a "real" union, while DALPA is a weak, ineffectual company schill.... but it seems to me that DALPA has produced far greater contact results over the years, so maybe, just maybe they have been doing something right.

 

One trick pony rides again!

 

Prove it. I'll bet a case of your favorite beer, that you're wrong. Way wrong.

 

I guess I left out a third option:

Neither management nor Dalpa, but fancies himself as an insider. So he pushes the company's agenda at the line pilot's expense to feel like he's a part of the club.

See also: sailingfun.

just out of curiousity, do you think Delta pilots use more sick leave than their peer set? And if so, what are you basing that opinion on?

 

No idea, I call in sick when I am sick and don't when I am not.

 

From my understanding, what I was told at least, is the company says sick calls are up on new hires... flying crappy trips and schedules, young pilots... with young kids who are carriers for everything, pilots over 62... who are over 62, and I guess the rest are fine but susceptible to being pushed down a flight of stairs.




















































Push.

 

Wasn't SD saying we use 25% more than historical, as opposed to industry average? Industry average is easy to understand: we don't reward flying sick.

As for the presumed spike in historical usage, I would attribute it to a convergence of factors, not least of which is 117. Add the fact that people are using SB/SWF to fly up to new 117 limits, and you end up with a bunch of tired guys, that don't resist well to getting sick.

The "data" we're being provided isn't any more substantiated than Carl's allegations about sailingfun. File it under "self-serving rumor".

 

Let's review the Aeronautical Information Manual. To the older generation, the Airman's Information Manual:

Chapter 8.



CAUTION-
The CFRs prohibit a pilot who possesses a current medical certificate from performing crewmember duties while the pilot has a known medical condition or increase of a known medical condition that would make the pilot unable to meet the standards for the medical certificate.

b. Illness.

1. Even a minor illness suffered in day-to-day living can seriously degrade performance of many piloting tasks vital to safe flight. Illness can produce fever and distracting symptoms that can impair judgment, memory, alertness, and the ability to make calculations. Although symptoms from an illness may be under adequate control with a medication, the medication itself may decrease pilot performance.

2. The safest rule is not to fly while suffering from any illness. If this rule is considered too stringent for a particular illness, the pilot should contact an Aviation Medical Examiner for advice.

c. Medication.

1. Pilot performance can be seriously degraded by both prescribed and over-the-counter medications, as well as by the medical conditions for which they are taken. Many medications, such as tranquilizers, sedatives, strong pain relievers, and cough-suppressant preparations, have primary effects that may impair judgment, memory, alertness, coordination, vision, and the ability to make calculations. Others, such as antihistamines, blood pressure drugs, muscle relaxants, and agents to control diarrhea and motion sickness, have side effects that may impair the same critical functions. Any medication that depresses the nervous system, such as a sedative, tranquilizer or antihistamine, can make a pilot much more susceptible to hypoxia.

2. The CFRs prohibit pilots from performing crewmember duties while using any medication that affects the faculties in any way contrary to safety. The safest rule is not to fly as a crewmember while taking any medication, unless approved to do so by the FAA.

d. Alcohol.

1. Extensive res... let's just skip this one.

e. Fatigue.

1. Fatigue continues to be one of the most treacherous hazards to flight safety, as it may not be apparent to a pilot until serious errors are made. Fatigue is best described as either acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term).

2. A normal occurrence of everyday living, acute fatigue is the tiredness felt after long periods of physical and mental strain, including strenuous muscular effort, immobility, heavy mental workload, strong emotional pressure, monotony, and lack of sleep. Consequently, coordination and alertness, so vital to safe pilot performance, can be reduced. Acute fatigue is prevented by adequate rest and sleep, as well as by regular exercise and proper nutrition.

3. Chronic fatigue occurs when there is not enough time for full recovery between episodes of acute fatigue. Performance continues to fall off, and judgment becomes impaired so that unwarranted risks may be taken. Recovery from chronic fatigue requires a prolonged period of rest.

4. OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA (OSA). OSA is now recognized as an important preventable factor identified in transportation accidents. OSA interrupts the normal restorative sleep necessary for normal functioning and is associated with chronic illnesses such as hypertension, heart attack, stroke, obesity, and diabetes. Symptoms include snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness, intermittent prolonged breathing pauses while sleeping, memory impairment and lack of concentration. There are many available treatments which can reverse the day time symptoms and reduce the chance of an accident. OSA can be easily treated. Most treatments are acceptable for medical certification upon demonstrating effective treatment. If you have any symptoms described above, or neck size over 17 inches in men or 16 inches in women, or a body mass index greater than 30 you should be evaluated for sleep apnea by a sleep medicine specialist.

With treatment you can avoid or delay the onset of these chronic illnesses and prolong a quality life but lose your medical.

f. Stress.

1. Stress from the pressures of everyday living can impair pilot performance, often in very subtle ways. Difficulties, particularly at work, can occupy thought processes enough to markedly decrease alertness. Distraction can so interfere with judgment that unwarranted risks are taken, such as flying into deteriorating weather conditions to keep on schedule. Stress and fatigue (see above) can be an extremely hazardous combination.

2. Most pilots do not leave stress "on the ground." Therefore, when more than usual difficulties are being experienced, a pilot should consider delaying flight until these difficulties are satisfactorily resolved.

g. Emotion.

Certain emotionally upsetting events, including a serious argument, death of a family member, separation or divorce, loss of job, and financial catastrophe, can render a pilot unable to fly an aircraft safely. The emotions of anger, depression, and anxiety from such events not only decrease alertness but also may lead to taking risks that border on self-destruction. Any pilot who experiences an emotionally upsetting event should not fly until satisfactorily recovered from it.

h. Personal Checklist. Aircraft accident statistics show that pilots should be conducting preflight checklists on themselves as well as their aircraft for pilot impairment contributes to many more accidents than failures of aircraft systems. A personal checklist, which includes all of the categories of pilot impairment as discussed in this section, that can be easily committed to memory is being distributed by the FAA in the form of a wallet-sized card.

i. PERSONAL CHECKLIST. I'm physically and mentally safe to fly; not being impaired by:

Illness

Medication

Stress

Alcohol Fun

Fatigue

Emotion

---------------------------

Basically there is no tolerance whatsoever from the other side of the mahogany table if one is sick and flying and the flight ends poorly.

 

This is correct. All it said was that we are up 25% since 2012.

I can't imagine that a crazy busy flu season (I even came down with it for about 36 hours recently, and I never get it) and stacking trips up back to back to back to back to back via FAR 117 has had anything to do with it.

 

Well they now track total sick days used which included off days that you don't call in well. An apples to apples comparison to other airlines would be credit hours paid out as sick time.

I used to work for an airline that counted the number of sick calls. If you called in sick for two trips in a row it only counted as one sick call. The smart people who came up with that couldn't figure out why everyone stayed out for two trips when they called in sick.

We will never come up with a sick program that works for everyone. Management wants to reduce sick time usage and we want to have a ton of it just in case. The abusers will always abuse it no matter what phony program they come up with. I mean do you really think the abusers can't get a doctor to verify something for them? They just need to give up policing sick calls and plan on all of us using the time we have. Anything less is a bonus for them.