Pilot Housing
 

Hey all,

Just stumbled upon this site and thought it would be a good place to start to ask some questions.

Do airline employees want to be catered to?

More specific, do you have a need for housing when flying into the many cities that you do? If so, what are you looking for?

As someone who manages property in the Milwaukee, WI area, I'd like to provide housing to pilots, flight attendants, or whoever else may need something for what I'm guessing would be short terms (long term if you want that as well). If this is something that would work with an existing property, we'll start there. If not, locating the right property to fit your needs would be done.

Through research, it's been found this type of housing may be referred to as "Crash Pads". Whatever it may be called, or the need may be, your help and input would be greatly appreciated to see if we can set something up to cater to you!

Is there a need for those in the airline industry for some type of housing other then hotels?

If so, how long of a term would be normal?

What type of amenites are you looking for?

Is there anyone local you would suggest to be contacted in regard to this?

Any other input you are willing to offer would be great.

Thank you for any help you are willing to provide.

Bfwatkins

In general, this is what crews are looking for in a crash pad. Initial basings are about 6 months to a year.

Location
Price
Security and safety
Furnishings
How many people you will allow to reside in one apartment
Cleanliness
Honesty of the landlord
Reliability of the super if repairs are required.

These are just a few things off the top of my head.

Contact a short term apartment rental agency for further information. Or you can advertise in the local papers.

Pilot Housing
 

Capt,

Thanks for the quick reply and information!

Because it's about 3 miles from my front door to "Ticketing" at Mitchell International Airport, properties would be within about the same area (no War Zones around here).

The plan is to provided "All Inclusive" housing. An example would be a 3 bedroom home/apartment would allow for 3 persons, 1 per bedroom. Each bedroom would have a bed and dresser. Living room, bathroom and kitchen would be common areas. The living room would have end tables, chairs, T.V. The kitchen equiped with pots/pans, dishes, silverware, etc. The common areas would have a housekeeping service come in every 7-10 days. All utilites and CABLE would be provided.

Being employed in law enforcement, honesty of the landlord will not be an issue.

Being so close to a larger airport, research will contine by going there and try to talk with pilots and flight attendants willing to do so. Your suggestion of speaking with short term rental agencies will also be done.

Thanks again for your response.

What you are proposing I've seen done before but only at a city that has a crew base. The only airline I know of that has a base in MKE is Midwest. You could advertise in their union papers classifieds or if you know someone who has access, they could post a flyer in operations.

Most crewmembers aren't looking for permanent housing in domicile, and cost is definately a consideration.

I know of a very successful crashpad in Northern VA, about 4 miles from the Washington Dulles Airport.

This crashpad has 4 bedrooms in a townhouse (3 male bedrooms upstairs, one female bedroom downstairs in the walkout basement). Each male bedroom has two sets of bunkbeds (university twin size with high quality mattresses). The female room has 3 sets of beds. There are three full baths in the house.

The crashpad has 18 "residents", with each one assigned their own bunk. Each also has a designated closet space (which is big enough to keep 1-2 changes of clothes and an overnight bag). There are no dressers or other furniture other than the beds in the rooms. (keep in mind that in crashpads it is VERY uncommon to have more than about 1/4 of the "residents" there in one night since they are usually flying for work or at home).

The house additionally has Cable TV (satellite), wireless internet, and a computer workstation available for crew to use. Kitchen is stocked with basic supplies (pots, dishes, etc.), and a cleaning service cleans the house every other week, including bringing fresh linens.

The owner (also a crewmember) keeps the property as an investment (which has grown considerably given the market in DC) and only charges $150/per person/per month. Some crashpads also charge an additional "premium" if you are a reserve line holder (since you are more likely to be using utilities or spending nights).

The $2400 covers mortgage, utilities/cleaning, insurance, taxes, and leaves about $100/month for a maintenance/upgrade fund or profit.

Don't know if such a set up would work in MKE, given that it is a much smaller crewbase, but something for you to toss around in your head. Keep in mind that a typical crewmember isn't looking for permanent living arrangements, but instead a place to spend between 3-5 nights a month when their schedules don't permit them to fly home immediately after a trip (or require them to be in domicile the night before reporting to work). Amenities are nice and most crew members don't want "hot bunks" where you swap beds each stay, but cost is king for most situations. The cheaper the better... I know of another crashpad that had 26 residents for about $75/month and everybody was happy.

FlyerJosh,

Some great information...THANK YOU!

Is it safe to assume those using a Crashpad have no cars? You would have to have a pretty big lot to put cars for 18 "residents" of a single family house.

Something else that comes to mind is how do neighbors take to a "Crashpad" house or apartment? I know it's nothing at all like a rooming house (I use to own 3 of them), but I could see some neighbor complain to the "inspectors" about all the people coming and going. I would be upfront with the neighbors and let them know what the property would be used for right from the start. There are always those that still wouldn't like it and start to complain.

Lastly, would you have any contact information on the 2 people you mentioned? You could also give them my e-mail address if they would be willing to share any more information. They can e-mail me at [email protected].

Thanks again, it is appreciated.

Unfortunately I don't have their contact info any longer since we have all been scattered to the winds by the mass furlough/terminations that come with an airline's demise, but I will see what I can come up with...

The parking issue isn't really a big deal, since it is very rare for more than 4 or 5 people to be in the house at one time (despite having 18 residents)... Some crashpads are located in apartment complexes near an airport that provide transportation, or near public transportation (such as the El in Chicago). Of course this is a great benefit since crewmembers don't have to have a crashpad car and the costs that come with one.

I don't know about how the neighbors take having a crashpad, however for the most part the crashpads that I know of tend to stay relatively quiet since it's more of a hotel room than an airline frat house. That's not to say that there isn't an occassional party, but remember that since people have to get up and leave for work at 5am, there should be some sort of agreement between the people who stay there to keep things reasonably quiet.

Hey Flyerjosh,

Do you have any availability in your crashpad?

Thanks

I don't crashpad there, but I do believe that there might be room in one of the old ACA/IDE pads around IAD. If you are looking, PM me and I might be able to put you in touch with some of the folks who could help you out.

As a side note, I will have a room/crashpad available in ROA (for incoming PDT crews) available in late April. If you are interested, PM me.

~J

Hey Josh, for some reason i cannot pm you, do you have an email adress i can use? thanks for your help

bf:

From a business standpoint, I believe de727upsco hit the nail right on head. Contact the airlines that services your area and find out how many personnel actually "stay" in that city for an "extended" period of time.

I think the main difference between a airline crash pad and "normal people" apartments has not been made clear so far.

The way a crash pad works, is that you have a lot of people that use it, but hopefully not at the same time.

Let me explain. Airline work schedules usually allow many pilot and flight attendants to commute to work. So someone living in say... Omaha, can still live there yet work out of MKE.

He/She will travel to MKE (usually) the day before their trip starts, and spend the night in the "crash pad". The next day they leave MKE and usually overnight in hotels in other cities for a few days time. The goal of this airline "commuter" (as we call em) is to spend as few days in the crash pad as possible. They try to travel in the day you start or travel home the day you end the trip. But many of the work schedules require you to start early on the first day or end late on the last. Trips that start late and end early are the most desirable and tend to go to the more senior people (we bid our schedules according to date of hire senority)

So a pilot or flight attendant has two choices, to sign up for a crash pad, or buy a hotel room in the city they are based for every night they have to stay there. This is an important thing, because many "commuters" will compare the fixed cost of joining a crash pad vs. the cost of using a nearby hotel. If a commuter had to spend 6 nights in MKE, and could get a hotel room for 35$, then it might be unlikely that they dign up for a 250$/mo crash pad.

But if the hotels are expensive (like NYC for example), or the commuter needs a room for say 10 nights a month, then a Crash Pad is a better deal.

So back to the original point of this post, you might have a fair number of people signed up for the crash pad, but night to night you will usually have less than 1/3 of them using the facility. This is because we all bid different schedules, and when a commuter is off, they go home.

That having been said, there is one exception. A pilot or flight attendant that is "on call", or what we call reserve may or may not have to spend every night they are on duty in the crash pad. The company will call upon them to travel out to cover flying as needed. But if they are not assigned any flying, they usually have to remain in the crash pad and be ready to get called in. Even in this case, these commuters will not spend every night at the crash pad because of days off, or being assigned flying out of town.

I hope this helps you understand the unique nature of a airline crash pad.

As for advice on what to install in the place, one big plus for a crash pad is high speed internet (cable usually) hooked up to a wirelss router. This allows multiple people to get online in the same place. I recommend a decent TV (cable),a dvd player, and a good coffee maker. Iron and ironing board is a plus too.

Good luck

Room near LAX
 

I have a furnished bedroom, with it's own entrance, with a shared bathroom, (2 sinks),with my 30 yr. old daughter. It's in Playa Del Rey, 10 minutes from LAX. Prefer female.

Calling all pervs.....

You rang? :D

Pilot Housing
 

Hello, is there a good place to post info on a small house for rent near SFO which would be visible to SFO-based pilots? Thank you.

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