Hey guys. I'm joining the ranks in a few months and had a few questions on trying to make a little extra on reserve. Considering the movement there I guess this might be moot. I live locally in NYC and with my low SSN I'll probably be getting maddog or 717. I understand ALV is usually around 72-74 hours. How would a reserve guy go about getting up to around 90-100 hours of credit? Green slip pickups? Yellow slips? I live 30 minutes from all 3 NYC airports but at the same time I don't want to give up too many days off to get to the 90-100 hours. Thanks.

 

Yellow slips are your best bet for on call days. The obviously get processed before the green slips. I'll find a few trips in open time that I like and list them as my first preference. I will then do a second preference just covering the days I want to be called first. You can restrict that second preference by a bunch of variables (min credit, call out, etc).

Definitely put in for green slips on your off day. Remember, reserve green slips are paid on top of the guaranteed credit. So, you really cash in on reserve flying a green slip.

I've had relative success doing this, I usually always fly something I wanted and have only sat short call 2 times in 6 months. I'm a 717B/ATL so there is a lot of flying to be had. Good luck.

 

To OP. You know your last sentence is kinda contradictory. You are getting paid on your days off to fly green slips.

Once you learn how to use the template, you can control what day off you can make available to them, and even what type of GS trip they can assign you. You will be moving up the rank pretty quick, then your qol should improve. Good luck

 

Haha yea reread it and it is contradictory. Is it realistic to get to 90-100 hours credit on reserve? Or even as a line holder for that matter?

 

Yes and yes.

On reserve green slips give payback days. You get paid more and get your off day back.

 

Unless you greenslip ON your reserve days. In that case, the first days credit goes on top of your reserve guarantee with the rest just counting toward your reserve guarantee, no payback days. I only GS on reserve days if I feel that it's highly likely i'll be used anyway or I really want my off days. Otherwise it's much more lucrative to save your GS for off days.

 

If you live in NY it is very reasonable. There are multiple ways to accomplish that and they change depending on your seniority and manning in your category. If anything you will do better then 90 to 100 and keep a good quality of life.

 

It is reasonable, and sustainable. Generally. In my experience, NYC is a different type of base then the rest, especially "out West", and if you are one of the very, very few locals who live within an hour (or 30 minutes in your case), you can mine it for gold.

Here are the unique points: very expensive housing/transportation = high commuter ratio; 3+ bases = coverage challenges; junior pilots = lots of young kids at home and in school; high population density/originating passengers = the first wave of flights goes OUT from base, not in, and last bank of flying lands IN base, not at out-bases.

That drives my strategy (yours might be different): most amount of pay credit for the least number of days flying/away. That has been netting me about 1200-1300 pay hours per year, but only flying 240-260 block hours per year, about 5-12 flight days/month. Infinitely sustainable, unlike flying regular green slips, which are in ADDITION to a full month of flying.

- bid Reserve on purpose; less flying, more pay

- get Senior! Easy in NY, your seniority will very quickly build - in a year or two you'll be King. And it's good to be the King

- Bid, and get, what every one else wants: weekends and holidays off, slant towards more fridays off than Sundays

- Blanket Green slips entire month for every base, every day. If you elect to answer the phone you can be on the next flight in 40 minutes to solve whatever problem Crew Scheds needs. They will eventually learn their "Go To" guys

- Answer the phone: I'm here, where do you need me? Let's make a deal!

- No Yellow Slips. Ever. No need. You are trying to do the least amount of flying possible for the most amount of pay. Never volunteer to fly for free, unless you really, really want that particular layover. You are not trying to fill up for the month, you are trying to be available for longer green slips.

You will find when you go on-call on Mondays you are starting off with tons of other "prey", and no lions. By Thursday, you will not have flown, but are now only available for 1 or 2 days. On friday, the coverage drops to bare minimums, and now they need pilots to cover trips, a few greenslips go out. You're there to lap it up. Pays you straight pay, in addition to Reserve Guarantee, and your get a 24-hours payback day for every off-day violated, PLUS a 9-hour recovery added that spills into next week. Now you are only on-call from, say, 09:30 Wednesday, after the morning flying has gone out, and you become "invisible" to Crew Skeds. Oops! It's the weekend already - more poor coverage, more green slips. Or time off. Repeat infinitely.

Result: typically 1 or 2 greenslips a month, occasionally an out-of-base one, lots of payback days, some go into the bank for the once-a-year Regular months to burn payback days on 8:45 Austin turns.

...and unlike Regular green slips, you are not actually flying 100+ block hours per month, so you don't fatigue out. And you are not taking other people's flying, or reducing jobs, because you get all your payback days PLUS recovery time, creating even worse coverage later in the month. You are a loan-shark dangling a high-interest credit line for the Company to bite.

 

In reality, you have less control than you think. If your category is overstaffed, you will make min guarantee. Who knows what the 88/717 B coverage will look like in 4-6 months.

 

I will, however, be filing this little gem for future tactical PCS'ing. Nice work.

However, I've always had better luck bidding all my RES days in a row so that you, in effect, get an extra few days "off" due to FAR 117 requirements for 30hrs rest (vs getting your rest on X-days and notwithstanding the rare 30-hour layover.) Also, with all your X-days in a row, you have a better chance of the entire GS going above guarantee (ie: being a real-deal GS.)

That being said, I stand by my statement that if the category is fully staffed, this discussion is moot.