It would reallt be good if this report were to get national play. Passengers need to be made aware of what it is really like flying on/for some regionals.

 

I feel sorry that the report made a blanket statement over all the regional airlines and it did not do a good job of separating major airlines from this issue. They didn't emphasize that this goes on only at a FEW regional airlines. Also adding the 18K a year salary was a real nice touch, now a bunch of junior FOs based in DFW probably won't get laid any time soon. However knowing the media's knowledge in aviation they could have really done worse so over all an ok report.

Does anybody know why a station in DFW did this report? Mesa doesn't even fly there much.

 

Coming from a Colgan pilot, not much room to talk. Don’t bash an airline that you’ve only heard stories from a friends friend who’s cousin works their. I have personally experienced Mesa first hand for 2 years and yes it does suck, you should be bashing management NOT fellow pilots… Mesa guys went through the exact same crap TSA guys are dealing with as we speak. You watch TSA’s contract will suffer to get Gojets jets back under one roof. My recommendation to you is don’t let anyone know your screen name here-as in XJET.

 

hahahahaahah...................................... ........ok


Management is going to continue to do this until the PILOT group stands up for themselves. And save me the a lot of other people on here dislike MESA, just caus everybody on here loves to argue with me doesnt mean you have to single me out.

 

You do have a point. Is not the Mesa guys, is that piece of sh!t Orstein and his buddies that have made that company what it is today. I for one stand by you guys, as our well being and our ability to negotiate a good contract down the line will hang on the balance of yours. So you have my support.

 

Mesa schedules to the max allowable by the FAR's...unfortunately no common sense is specified in the FAR's. Mesa standups do not always allow for sleep during the day because they do not always keep you on the same cycle...

You need 8 hours of rest, right? OK, so get up at 0600, fly a couple legs in the morning, get to LAS around noon. Now take an 8-9 hour break, go back to the airport and fly an all-nighter. Did you get your legal "rest"? Yup. Did you really sleep much during the afternoon? Probably not, because you started that day on the front, not the back of the clock. Also, the hotel hosts wedding receptions outside your room.

Night shift flying is largely impractical at the regional airlines. Most (but not all) industries that use a night shift staff it with folks who prefer that shift or at least stay on it for an extended period of time so they get acclimated.

Very few pilots prefer living their life on the backside, so they fly their shifts, and then immediately return to the front-side. When they go back to work, they are out of sync again... Most pilots view night flying as a temporary hardship that will be remedied by seniority, so they gut it out but never really adapt. This is a safety problem, as well as a QOL issue.

There is also a big difference between one long leg and 4-5 short ones. From personal experience, a long leg is better. You are alert when you show up, you get the bird airborne and then the fatigue hits you enroute. That's OK, you can be less alert enroute as long as you can wake up for 20-30 minutes to do the approach, landing, and taxi. Going up and down all night is brutal...

 

Management can and should be held responsible for every aspect of the poor conditions at mesa.

Unfortunately there is a grain of truth to what our boy saab says. I spent a few years being optomistic about mesa's next contract, then gradually came to the realization that a large percentage of the pilot group might not have the ballz to stand up for themselves when the time comes. I voted with my feet rather than wait and see.

DRASTIC events are going to be required to change anything at mesa: extended strike, loss of codeshare, furloughs. That will be the only way to purge mesa of JO and his merry band of @ss-clowns. Are you ready to do it?

Please prove me wrong in 2007 guys.

 

For Mesa to purge J.O it will take an act of God and I do not say this to wish the guys and gals at Mesa any harm. Mesa has a factory which feeds them pilots from Farmington NM. as long as they will keep having these low time Pilots come out of Mesa Pilot development J.O is going to continue to screw his work force. Like Rickair777 the only way might be to walk out and search for a decent company to contribute your efforts to where you will be treated as a professional.

 

My friend at AA actually loves trips that end with a redeye. His third trip day ends at like 5am and he lives 20 minutes from ORD, so he considers it a day off. One recent line he had was... Day 1: (early start) ORD-PHL-ORD-TPA.
Day 2 (early start): TPA-DFW-SFO. End in SFO at 11am local, 12 hour layover during the afternoon/evening, then redeye SFO-ORD. End in ORD at like 5am on Day 3. Goes home, sleeps for a few hours, then goes fishing. He loves that line.

 

Just an odd question: isn't management supposed to look out for the owners of the company and make them money? The pilot's are not paying management's salary, so I do not get this feeling here that management has a responsibility to the pilots? I don't remember "employee comfort" as a class I took for my MBA. That said, grumpy & tired employees don't do quality work, especially when they are the face the customer sees, and are detrimental. But....the only way their work environment will change is if the pilot group forces the action with their feet. If you don't like working there, quit and go somewhere else. At least SAABorooski had the cajones to do this. No pilots = no airline = broke shareholders. That get's people's attention.