Management wouldn't mind because they could make money off of us

 

Are these the same companies that would have to cancel hundreds of flights in the first week when an "unexpected" number of crews did not get to work due to "unforseen" reasons?

 

And then the Feds wouldn't get their jumpseat. That's a battle fought hard by those that came before. Never underestimate a ticked-off captain.

 

Truer words never spoken....

AA

 

That would have a chilling effect on the air transportation industry in general... As in, it would shut down overnight when 50% of the pilots suddenly couldn't get to work.

 

Whats the rumor that Regional Capts will be required to have a mainline Capt as a mentor?

 

Part of the problem is that the term regional is no longer accurate in many cases. It historically meant the operator of smaller aircraft used in one "region" of the country... now we do still have "regionals" that still operate 10-37 seat piston, prop & jets just in geographic sections of the country... and we have "regionals" operating all jets in Mexico, Indonesia, Canada and the Carribean, and throughout most of the US.... all still called regional.

We have several "regionals" that make the DOT list as being a Major airline... and we have a few national airlines that are not majors, and are actually smaller than some regionals, but operate larger equipment...

It's just a mess out there.

The arguement for 1 list looks better and better every day.....

 

We still have people that don't get it....

Listened to an FO tell me a story about how his regional stripped away his go to the hotel flight, stranding he and his crew in base with no hotel. All were commuters, the FA went to stay with friends. Both pilots did have nightly rate crashpads, but they were removed from the hotel flight so late in the day, they couldn't get into the crashpad that night. They both basically keep it to commute in the night before, or stay the night after their trips... but if told early enough they can get a bed for the night... anyway.
He hopped a later flight home and got to bed in the early morning and his Captain went home as well. The company gave them deadhead flights out of their base to go to the outstation to pick up their trips. The FO says he woke up to his alarm clock and just couldn't get out of bed and function properly with only 4 hours sleep.... plus he would be scheduled to fly right up to 2300 that night... which wouldn't really allow for a 24 hour lookback with 8 hours of rest. He's have plenty of off duty time, but most of it spent in travel not local in nature....

So, he called in fatigued.

I think he did the right thing.

His question to me was, what about his Captain, that DID show up and fly the trip... in spite of the fact that the Capatain's commute was longer than his own... which had to have resulted in even less rest than he got.

I advised him that he really doesn't actually know if the CA did return home, or if he changed his mind and went and rented a hotel room.... just to worry about his own situation. If he found himself paired up with somebody who didn't seem fit for duty that was a different matter.... but not to go looking for trouble or excuses without proof.

Then again, the way upgrades at most regionals has ground to a halt, I won't be surprised to see him dime the guy out or call Pro-Standards... if his airline has such a thing.

 

Perhaps I'm misreading your post, but you assuming he's going to report the captain is just as unreasonable as him assuming that the captain was fatigued.

 

If you try to deny a jumpseat to an FAA check airman, you will probably loose your ticket. If you would be overweight due to the check airmans weight, then you have to kick off a passenger or some bags.

Joe