Originally Posted by exwaterski

Because they are on reserve. That's what reserve is. Jeesh.

I'm just going to back off from this thread because I can see this is just going to keep going around in circles. Best of luck.

Originally Posted by pagey

I don't think it's close to that.

The sim is the major cost here. I don't know what the actual sim cost is, but lets just say its 1k/hour for grins.

I'm going to do some really backwoods math so bear with me here. I'll try to stay on the expensive side so we stay conservative.

Lets say 8 hours a year in the sim. 8k. We'll cut that in half since you'll have a partner in there with you. So there's 4k a year.

2, maybe 3 nights in a hotel at 150/night. 450/year.

Instructor for 8 hours divided by 2 for the partner again at 150/hour. 600/year.

Pilot hourly rate 100/hr for 8 hours. 800/year

perdiem at 2/hour for 8 hours. 16/year.

Grand Total. $5416/year.

Now that is at sim time being 1k per hour. I'd be willing to bet the actual cost for an airline to run the sim is less than that, especially if the own the sim themselves.

This is pure speculation of course and I could be not even close to the ballpark.

Originally Posted by tom11011

No need to back off, your input is valid and appreciated. This is a place of discussion and ideas. Looking for creative ideas to solve a very real problem.

However I will disagree with you on your idea of reserve. I do not believe they are the same thing the way you just characterized it.

Originally Posted by FlyJSH

Say the "average" hourly rate for a pilot is $70 (CA and FOs blended). 75 hours per month is pretty standard guarantee and totals 900 hours per year. IF the company were to pay 150% for every hour over 75, how man hours would that $5400 pay for? 155. That is the extra cost of overtime is $35/hour, $5400/35= 155. If the company only under staffs FOs, it might get twice that many hours. So, for the cost of training one part time FO, the company can drive three current FOs to 1000 hours. (Or in the case of some companies, offer a $5k hiring bonus and get a full time FO.) Where is the benefit to the company?

Originally Posted by exwaterski

I just don't get the feeling we are talking about the same thing. If you can figure out a way to go part time while retaining seniority and status I'll be the first one to sign up. But what you are describing sounds more like free lance/independent contractors coming in and working a couple of days a month which I would not support under any circumstances. It is far more economical to simply pay existing pilots a premium to work overtime than try and bring in mercenaries to fly a trip or two. So if we agree all pilots would have to be on the seniority list than we can start to talk about what part time would look like. I said before I think lines somewhere around 50 hours.

Originally Posted by tom11011

That's pretty much what I am talking about. Pilots working a few days per month without any further duty to the company. No reserve, no healthcare benefits, no 401k, etc.. It's part time work, a mercenary as you put it.

Originally Posted by tom11011

That's pretty much what I am talking about. Pilots working a few days per month without any further duty to the company. No reserve, no healthcare benefits, no 401k, etc.. It's part time work, a mercenary as you put it.

Originally Posted by exwaterski

And since you don't want benefits can I assume you also don't want a spot on the seniority list or to have to pay union dues?

Originally Posted by tom11011

I thought about that but it is probably best to be on the seniority list for the good of all pilots. I don't know all the logistics. There are smarter people then me who could figure this all out.

Maybe you get a seniority number but certain things are not allowed while you are exercising a part time privilege. You have to choose to be activated full time for certain benefits to kick in. Maybe it means you cannot upgrade to captain.

Originally Posted by exwaterski

Okay so let's assume you are a voting member of the union and have a seniority number. It's still not a good idea to have a subset of members who have no stake in the contract outside of the hourly rate. How do you represent part time pilots who have no vested interest in the contract? You would have to cap it somehow like maybe you can only go on p/t status for a year at a time. If anyone knows the details of how part time/reduced schedules work for the Republic FA's I would be interested to know.