Many people are waiting and it's not going to get any better. Was at the SLC training center yesterday for 700/900 differences training, and they're running 75 guys through new-hire class this month alone. Problem is, there's not enough sim time for 75 guys per month.

Sim delays for some guys are 6-8 weeks, but no delays for others. In my class, they had 18 slots for 29 guys, so 11 guys got to defer; they let us bid by class seniority, and nearly all the senior guys took the deferral.

The check airman who did my LOE said that they're now doing sims in Cincinnati as well as SLC and ATL. The SLC sims are running 22 hours a day, 7 days a week (I did my 700/900 ride today, and I saw the schedule) and so are the ATL sims. A few weeks ago one of the ATL sims went down for half a day and it threw the entire schedule out of whack.

There's a lot of movement. I've gone up 100 numbers in 100 days. And I believe there are now about 170-ish guys below me. (But I'll still be on reserve...)

 

I wanna hear specifics! What'd they do to you? Headed to IAH for reserve in February and am wondering just how it's gonna go...

 

Wana know what reserve is like? At some point between 4-4 or 9-9 you're going to get called in to fly a plane. That's why you chose to fly for a regional right fly planes?

 

I'd be fine if they had me fly every day. What I don't want to do is get TDY'd to MSP to sit in a hotel room watching "Judge Judy" reruns for 5 days straight. Which is what I hear is happening at this very moment in MSP, guys getting TDY'd there on reserve and then flying 0 hours per month. At least, that's what an MSP reserve told me today in the training center...

 

This isn't anything new. It happens constantly.

When assigned a TDY, even to sit in a hotel you're "working" in the eyes of SS.

Sitting at home on RSV is "not-working". Makes total sense right?

Wait until they TDY you off to Minnie then TDY in a guy from MSP to your domicile.

 

You clearly haven't spent much time on reserve. If they called every day and had us fly a plane and sent us home I think most people would be happy with it. What people hate is when they call you for a 5 day TDY somewhere and have you sit there not flying when you could be at home. Reservists also hate when they're called at 4am and released into rest for a 4pm show time so they can fly until 2am. When you refuse it they threaten you. They also like to assign 7.5 hours of RDY multiple days in a row when everyone knows they have no intention of having you fly.

I was called out for a maintenance flight once and they kept asking me to be there as fast as possible because the captain was already there. I told them I needed 2 hours. I actually got there in 1.5 and asked where the captain was. They told me at that point that they actually had no captain and the flight was canceled, but now since I was at the airport anyway I was going to sit 7.5 hours of RDY.

If people got called out to fly a plane every day they wouldn't be complaining. People hate the sleezy tricks crew support plays on the pilots and the fact that they TDY you all over the place just because they feel like it and can't stand to see you in your house getting paid for it.

 

At least the MSP hotel is nice and has an awesome gym. I got stuck at the short DEN hotel for a 6 day TDY. The internet had a blazing.25 MBPS, and nothing to walk to.

 

I've had a 5 day TDY to the Custom in LAX when the air conditioning in the entire hotel broke.. The location is really nice but 5 days in the Custom including 3 with no A/C in the summer can make someone go a little crazy.

 

I was the most senior person on reserve at my domicile. They TDY'ed in three different MSP guys about 400 numbers junior to me. I was 4th in the bucket behind these people.

They then proceeded to call me in for locals (2 hours of credit) three days in a row.

"You're just sitting at home, he's in a hotel, operational need"

"Huh?"

 

Isn't there a MOU that prohibits this supposedly?

Well, they think I live in Houston, maybe I can talk 'em into TDY'ing me to SFO where I live (yeah, yeah, I know, I'm dreaming)