Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain Tony

That's ASA. If there is a loophole, they will find it and......

Let's not forget ASA's most recent trend in loopholes, which is building pairing with long sit times. More and more lines are being built sit times of 2 or 3 hours between trips. It seems to be happening quite often, as this effectively does nothing but create more reserves for a brief time span of time that can be called upon or re-routed as necessary.

 

-75 hrs min guarantee
-11 days off, at least 2 days in a row per block of off days
-Reserve lines are published in monthly bids with specific days off, so you can find a reserve line that has days off that you want. Airport Standby lines are also published the same way.

-We have a reserve proffering system where you can put in a bid each day for the next day assignments, requesting a specific open flight sequence, specific RAP, or specific Airport Standby shift. Next day assignments are published by 1700 Central time, and must be confirmed by each reserve pilot through a telephone system. Awards go in seniority order, Most senior pilot gets what they want and most junior gets whats left (usually the early morning standby shift!)

-15hr RAPs (Reserve Availability Period), extendable to 16hrs. 2hr callout from receiving the call to signing in at the crew lounge. Callouts go in reverse seniority order. Most junior pilot on RAP gets called first. You can proffer for a RAP that starts at either 4am or 10am. Sched can assign a custom RAP if you arent legal to start at 4am or 10am.

-Airport Standby is an 8hr shift. Most bases have 2 daily shifts (ex: 6am-2pm, 1-8pm) and some bigger bases like DFW/ORD have 3 daily shifts. Scheduling can call you from a RAP at home and make you come in and sit a custom built 8hr Airport Standby shift. Scheduling cannot make you sit Airport Standby after finishing a flight assignment. Standby is credited at 3.9hrs for calculating flight time, the 8hr shift counts towards duty time.

-10hrs off in base between flight sequences, must request this from scheduling

-They recently created an option for reserve pilots to put themselves on lists for requesting more flying (for pilots who would rather have an overnight than be in a crashpad) or pilots who want less flying (live locally and dont want as much flying). I dont know how much they use these lists, since it has been a while since I have been on Reserve.

-Reserve pilots can request to swap days within their schedule through a computer entry subject to staffing limitations. If you are working on the 5th, but off on the 10th, you can try to swap so you are off on the 5th and working on the 10th. You can also swap with other reserve pilots, not subject to denial by scheduling.

-Reserve pilots can pick up open time on scheduled days off that goes on top of the 75hr guarantee

-Deadhead pay 75%

I am sure I am missing some stuff, but there will be some other Eaglets who chime in with more details.

 

Duty is an Obligation

The requirement to answer your phone during specific periods of time is an Obligation... Hence it is duty. Regardless of what they tell you, the cases have already been decided.

 

No kidding. An airline without RR, to me, is like Bigfoot. I've heard and read about it, but I've never actually SEEN it with my own eyes.

 

The contract technically allows for airport reserve, but it also requires them to agree on a suitable lounge facility for the RR to use. I would hope that our MEC wouldn't agree to our current crewrooms for airport standby...

In the event that they did implement airport reserve, the contract limits us to an 8-hour stretch.

I think the real reason we don't ever use it is because we don't have enough staffing in each base to assign people to sit in the airport. On any given day, we typically only have 1-4 reserves available in each base to begin with.

 

The problem is that pilot requirements in the FARs don't talk about duty. They detail "flight time limitations and rest requirements," rather than duty time limits. The 16-hour "duty day" is implied through the 8-hour lookback rest requirement; there isn't a stated duty-day limit in FAR 121.471.

 

Thanks for the info man!

BTW. Something I could never figure out exactly. I often hear the you have at least 11 days off on reserve. Can you ever have more? How many days a month must you fly/bid?

Thanks again.

 

Yep, you can pick up OT until you get down to 8 days off for the month.

 

How would it be possible to have more then 11 days off per month? Or is that not a possibility if you are a reserve pilot? I often read posts where guys are talking about working 16 or 17 days in a month, and how much they credited, how do you get more then 11 days off in a month? Is there a bidding method that allows you stack trips or days in order to meet a flight/duty time obligation, however having more then the set 11 days off? Is 11 days a hard number?

Thanks again for the info, it is very helpful.

 

If you have a reserve schedule where you work the last 5 days in a row of the month, then bid a schedule working the first 4 days of the next month crew sched will have to give you an extra day off (can't work 7 days in a row). You can also put in a request to drop a day of reserve duty, but you will lose pay if they grant your request.

To really get 15+ days off you have to have a regular line of flying, not reserve. The regular lines can be built up to about 90 hrs of work, then you could pick up OT on top of that. Manipulating your schedule can get real tricky, but you'll learn how once you get on the line.