right because the systems oral won't actually determine whos proficient.. thats what the written test (that EVERYONE passes) is for

 

Hey, I've got plenty of SE turbine time..... piece of cake.



"So what do you do when you get a chip detect light in a Caravan?"
"Pitch for best glide."

 

It all depends on external factors.... but if modest conditions exist it performs well enough... during the summer time it feels like we are single engine all of the time (read crap climb rates/speeds).

 

When it comes to ALPA, your comments/concerns do NOT fall on deaf ears. Im assuming your a Dulles based FO. The schedules that United gives us are too put it bluntly,... sh1tty. They dont work very well at all when formed into pairings. While I personally think that stand ups are a disaster waiting to happen, when you run a report with no stand ups, you have probably the worst pairings in history. Youll have deadheads everywhere, 33 hour overnights in almost all locations, and you'll ultimately be very unproductive. Its also very hard to justify getting rid of stand ups when some of the most senior people bid them.

The night to morning issue was addressed going into June. I was given a pairing to review that had you arriving into HPN on day 1 just before midnight, but on day 3 and 4, you would be doing the first flight out in the morning. Luckily we managed to fix it.

We have gone with the rule of no stand ups to Altoona due to the cab ride, 30 minutes each way eats up too much time. We also decided that CHO will always be a stand up going forward because its a short flight. Why have a stand up crew who is going to go under guarantee anyway do long flights, when we could put the longer flights into pairings that will go over guarantee. Its also a nice little flight and almost gets you 6 hours of rest if you are on time.

The contract has also bit us in the ass a bit and caused use to have 1 day lay overs in places like BKW. Under the contract you CANNOT be scheduled for less than 10 hours of rest. Unfortunately in BKW you get in late on Saturday night, and would get around 9hrs 30min of rest before doing the first flight out on Sunday morning. This is illegal, hence the reason why a crew must sit there until Monday morning.

Its also very hard to convince crew planning to have nice commutable lines, when you have a 4 hour min day. They will not let us build pairings that have you finish on day 4 by just flying back to the hub and being released. They just arent going to approve a day that pays 4 hours for 1.5 hours of actual work. We understand your frustration.

Like I said though, the biggest issue is the way united schedules us in the first place. Take a look at IAH SF3 pairings. They have some very productive 3 and 4 day trips that have regular overnights, this is because CAL doesnt have banks of flights leaving at the same time. They dont have these stupid 3 hours sits in the afternoon.

If you have any other questions, shoot me a PM and Id be more than happy to give you my number to answer any other questions regarding schedules.

 

Not so fast. It depends. Which side of the chip detect light is on? Left side is Accessory Gear Box while the Right side is the Reduction Gear Box. Next you monitor Temps, if thats starting to skyrocket, engine failure is very likely. If not, you can continue and land ASAP.
I have some Van time from another life

 

"While I personally think that stand ups are a disaster waiting to happen,..... Its also very hard to justify getting rid of stand ups when some of the most senior people bid them. "

What makes stand ups bad are the folks that (for whatever reason) won't sleep when the sun is up. Folks need to accept that sleepy time is 0900-1700.

 

Hey V1, PM sent. Thanks for addressing my post!

 

Where is Colgan doing training nowadays? Indoc, systems, sim, etc...

 

Ground is in MEM and sim is in STL. For the DH4 overflow is in Seattle or as a last resort Toronto. I think Saab overflow is in Texas for the sim although im not sure on that.

 

I agree 100%.

It is amazing that something has not happened yet on a CDO. Pilots doing 4 in a row in the Northeast. Wintertime, snow blowing, visability down to 1/2 mile and here is a crew on their 4th CDO, having to fly a city pair EAS route from IAD-AOO-JST and not hit anything or anyone when doing it...

Disaster waiting to happen? Indeed!