Long call is a 12 hour leash. If they call you at 8pm for a 8AM show you need to be able to make it and be rested. That’s pretty hard to do from the west coast.

I am not sure it's so much that it's a skeleton crew on the 737 as it is that almost all new hires that are sent to the 737 in NYC bid out on the next AE to one of the other 737 domiciles so most 737 openings are pushed to NY.

Would that make the calendar yearly total more than 400 then?

Pilot legend and lore still harbors the mythos of barely current long call pilots with epic beards living their best life fly fishing in Montana in between cliff diving competitions in Acapulco. Anytime someone challenges that narrative, someone will cut in quick with an isolated anecdotal example to the contrary, but standby for the shattering of dreams.

As mentioned, the 12 hour leash will make it virtually impossible, at least for large swaths of the day, to even theoretically be able to do it with a 2 flight commuter clause buffer, let alone the chance to do it anywhere near rested. And you won't be on LC very much anyway; expect SC or trips to get you there on day one the vast majority of the time (assuming a narrowbody, 756ER or even a 767-400 assignment...if and when 330/350/787 [LOL] assignments reach newbies that may change the game a little bit in theory, but the 12 hour leash in your case will still be awfully short even then).

When you do find yourself on LC, it will often be in the middle of a group of on call days. IOW only the most hyper Iron Man commuters desperate to lay in their own bed for as little as a couple hours after a trans con commute only to dash right back out for another trans con commute...you get it.

The LC system as we have it is not commuter friendly at all (a few exceptions like BOS/DCA-NYC commuters etc) and you won't be getting it very often for very long anyway. Splurge on a good pad and plan on using it, buffer in a generous hotel budget, or agressively slip trips on your terms as able.

I didn't do long call from home, but I sat long call much more than short call. I get that you're the grass is always brown type, but your expose is a bit high on the "life is horrible here" side.


What I personally did was put all my reserve days together in a big block. Take half the month off and the other half be within the leash. Every 3-4 days scheduling would give me a day and a half off to reset me to have 4 day availability (they get to choose your days off for that but it also gives you free extra days off). West coast you could commute those times if you really wanted to I guess. The 30 hours rest gives you 40 hours you know you don't have to be in domicile as you have a 10 hour reduced report when you're immediately back if on your schedule far enough in advance.

Thanks guys! Lots of good info!

It was a Skelton crew....during the time I was hired (late 2017) until summer of 18, DAL only sent a trickle of folks to the NYC 737 but grew the NYC 320 category by almost 100 folks.

Spring AE and a good deal of folks left, a lot of them in the 1-3 year timeframe so not exactly new hires....then the hiring stopped.

There were 195 Capts in the category and only 110 FO’s.

The grass if you can find it in NYC is always brown. The mythical bearded reservist exists but not in NYC and definitely not a new hire. In base with strategic bidding and moving of X days provides long stretches with the phone not ringing, sometimes you wonder if the strange area code that pops up is scheduling stealthily seeing if you’re in position.

Half the month is a not time off that can be planned. 12 X and 18 on call is the norm. Of the X days only 6 are immovable. And only 3 groupings can start with a * (or golden day off) Oh and crew tracking the people who are the ones who try to extend you into those days apparently “don’t know” and you have to get the duty pilot involved if you really want that day off. Green grass? Maybe, because the use a lot of sh*t to fertilize it. Noobs shouldn’t expect a cross country commute to work on long call, but hey it’s sill the best job you’ll ever have and yours to screw up... or not.

Honestly, every reserve more senior to the plug is making sure the plug has it the worst because that means they are doing better. Reserve gets good after you can hold a line and don’t have to do reserve. By then you have it figured out and apply that knowledge.

The original question was from a current or prospective NH pilot asking about sitting LC from most likely an opposite coast most likely on a narrowbody fleet. My point was don't count on it very much if at all. That has nothing to do a positive outlook or glass half whatever. A trans con commute as a NH reserve thinking you're going to sit LC at home with anything other than a constant /clock/icrew/travelnet watching obsession is pretty much a pipe dream. DL's a great place to be for a lot of reasons, but that's not one of them.

Very true.

If one wants to pre-position some place cheaper for LC, though, they could fly one leg to DTW or ATL and be reasonably positioned for LC and pay for a $45 hotel instead of much more in NYC. In most cases, I think continuing on to NYC just makes sense though.