SiouxPilot2012

Hey. Question for the DECs. Is it safe to assume none of the DEC’s break guarantee and to not expect that from a budget standpoint to make over 75 hours until you’re line holder? -thanks

MD-11Loader

That’s correct. It applies to any reserve. The company is allowed to stop you from flying at a certain point if they want in order to keep you from breaking guarantee.

YLpilot

That being said if you live in base you can pick up some OT on a day off if you want to sacrifice one of your 11 (or less) days off. Also the occasional JM. Which sucks.

Tyrion

Picking up meaningful OT is a challenge in itself. Can't start before 10am after your last reserve day. Most available OT includes an overnight, which can't go into your reserve day or create a 7 day conflict (that you can't swap out). If you find a turn, it's probably about 2.5 hours credit or less (ORD to PIA turn, cha-ching).

What else am I missing?

dera

You can drop a reserve day to make room for an OT trip. The 8 days off a month is more restrictive.

YLpilot

Drop a reserve day? What is this now?

NoValueAviator

You cannot do OT on a DV, period, per CS. Pretty lame but that’s their position. Unless they need to JM you, obviously lol

dera

Interesting. I dropped a day this month and picked up OT that day. It showed up as 24 instead of DV. Not sure if they made a mistake.
You can also move your days around to make room for an OT trip, they aren't coded DV, correct?
When you live in base and are not super junior, RSV means a day off anyway. (I just realized this is a DEC thread. I believe CA's are used much, much more than FOs on RSV days).

Tyrion

There is the problem. This is a DEC thread, and the comment was intended to address the concern of the potential DEC on what to expect as a 145 CA at ORD. The phrase "Denied due to staffing" has been burned into our retinas.

Potential DECs should be informed so that they can make a wise decision about whether or not to bail at their current airline to join Envoy. They already should know that they will be perpetual reserve as FOs upgrade and fill lines above them for a couple years. That is the price they pay to get CA pay, PIC time, and a bonus check... oh and flow (/s).

What SiouxPilot2012 asked is a very important point, and something that has not been made widely known. At other regionals, crediting 100+ hours a month is easy to do. At Envoy, it is hard to break minimum guarantee, not impossible, but difficult to do in a meaningful way. Our lines are thin, many in the low 70s, and no min day guarantees means we spend a lot of time away from home, with little pay to show for it. When you account for the lack of hours, many DECs could actually take a pay cut compared to being an FO at other thinly staffed places.

There are a lot of things that Envoy and our pilots do differently, largely because of the flow. Displacing FO's to the left seat... FOs avoiding upgrade on a large scale, that makes no sense at other places where the norm is fly (to the max 117 limits), get your time, get your upgrade, and get your PIC time as fast as possible so that you can get out of the regional world.

As SiouxPilot2012 and other DECs consider coming here, there is a logical disconnect. The expectation is that if Envoy is so desperate to hire all these DECs and pay big bonuses, then we must be min staffed, so the DEC will fly and fly a lot. In reality, we are not thinly staffed, we are just poorly managed. On average, Envoy pilots fly less than 50 hours per month. That is practically unthinkable at most places in our industry.

Also, with the lack of flying, and perpetual short call reserve, DECs should know that they will need a crash pad if they commute. Reserve at other regionals typically means you'll get an overnight, you just don't know where when you show up to work. At Envoy, you might commute in for 5 reserve days and never have to put on your uniform. Those RSV days are not "a day off" for the majority of pilots who commute to work.

dera

Yeah, like I said, my comments were more on the FO side. DECs are in a different situation.
It's not bad if you live in base. It sucks whale d*ck if you commute.
It's not true though that Envoy pilots fly less than 50 hours per month on average. The majority are still lineholders, and they fly the usual 70-80 hours a month.