+1 I'd take 20 an hour instead of 30 an hour if they paid duty. Honestly it's ridiculous, it's hard to believe a bunch of otherwise intelligent guys fall for this crap. Be AT the airport for 12 hours, but due to some strategic sits, you fly 6 hours.. and get paid 6 for 12 effectively 15 dollars an hour not 30. Other jobs that might pay 15 dollars an hour... nurses assistant, secretary, and a myriad of other jobs that require significantly less training.

But lets not forget the carrot, someday in the distant future, you will hold 20 days off and make 300k... of course if you just made 60k for the entire 30-35 years of your career in net earnings you probably outearn those 300k years... assuming you can get to fedex and upgrade and in the mean time no unions give more wages back, and you can work the system appropriately.

The unfortunate thing is we really can't judge how we did until the end of our careers. Also no data is available which would be relevant towards seeing what percentage of guys starting at a regional eventually make it to a senior major airline captain.

But yes, the moral of the story is we should be paid duty, and we should open our eyes to how much we give up to fly planes.

 

I worked for an air ambulance company. We were paid to be Available. On the other hand, many regional contracts are Pay for Departure. Each flight is one unit.

My point was, we are Piece Workers. We are paid when we complete a unit. The more units (or flights), the greater the pay.

If you want to be paid for down time, management will surely agree to it.... as long as the total is less. I cannot think of any worker, including the truckers, who get paid while they sleep.

I am all for maximizing my income which is why I supported a minimum credit per day. It forces management to be more efficient. You only want me to fly one hour, okay, pay me for four.

And when a long sit is still in the best interest of the company, fine, give me a hotel room for anything over, say, four hours. The reality is there WILL be lines which require sits. I just want to make them expensive enough that management will minimize them.

Also, the down side of trip rigs, is since they are paying while we sleep, the goal for management in making lines is to limit rest periods to 9:01. Not so bad for a two day, but horrible for every night of a four day.

You say you would be happy to be paid by the pound. Okay, so when the plane is empty are you willing to fly for free? .

 

Doesn't Cape Air pay duty hour?

 

Yes, on the 402 side.

 

There is a simple answer to this..... some jackass decades ago decided it would be a good idea to get paid for only our flight time... This is one of the only professions in the world where we pretty much get raped for the amount of time we actually have to be at work and labor laws basically ignore.

For those of you trying to defend this you obviously have no clue or just want to keep throwing out excuses because you think we would make less if that was the case. Most of us average 12 hour days and get paid for about 6 of it.

Keep in mind I am not talking about getting paid for down time in hotels. Just for the hours we are at work.
I know it will never change but this is by far one of the stupidest decisions ever made in the pilot profession.

 

Once you are senior enough to hold productive lines, you will not want duty hour pay as it will be a paycut.... about halfway up the list should do it... maybe more at regionals.

 

A view from the non 121 world... Just simplify the whole damn thing. 1st yr FO you get 20K a year. 2nd yr FO you make 38K. etc... You are expected to fly a credit of about 80 to 99 hours a month. You get paid a set salary like an "exempt" salaried employee at any corporate job. Keep it simple/stupid way of doing things. Then you don't have to worry about when to release the parking brake and start the clock.

 

That's what minimum monthly guarantee is.

And I don't see how that would stop anyone from worrying about on time performance (releasing the parking brake). You would still need to be out at the appropriate time..

 

I can speak only for SkyWest, but even the lowly RJ FOs are getting paid roughly in this manner. We get paid one hour for each two hours of duty, and since FOs (at least the ones not on first year pay) roughly make $35-40 per hour, it works out to nearly $20 per hour for each hour of duty time. That's what makes the standups or continuous duty overnights work.

And of course, since non-union SkyWest is riding on the coattails of union contracts, I'm sure it works in a similar fashion at other carriers as well.

 

If a salaried employee works 40 hrs a week or 2080 hours a year for a set amount, say 40K a year, there is no punching in or punching out on a time clock. If they work 30 hours one week and 50 hours another week it does not matter. They get paid 40K a year. No pay for overtime and no deduction for under-time. Get rid of the min guarantee, the credit per trip, etc. Just set a salary and pay it. It's just a different mindset and model for the airlines. The airline executives working in the offices that own an airline get paid a salary, you should too. I'm just saying.......