Well, only 51% of the group voted them in. Working here doesn't suck for most, but I do understand why we are where we are.

 

So I'm curious...how's the schedule at NKS for someone who lives in base? What is the length of most trips (how many days)? Are there a lot of turns? How much flexibility do you have in your scheduling (i.e. how hard is it to drop trips on days you don't want to fly and pick up trips on your days off)? How long does one generally stay on reserve? How is the schedule for a typical reserve guy (again how easy or hard is it to drop/pick up reserve days)?

I know these are a lot of questions, but I'm trying to get a good feel for what the QOL is like in regards to the typical pilot's schedule.

Thanks!

 

Wow, great questions. It would probably take several pages to answer properly. I'll try to put something together for you, but if you don't have an internal recommendation (who could answer these questions) it probably won't matter. In the mean time try the NKS Hiring thread.

 

I'd say the QOL for someone living in base is very high. There is a mix of turns, 2-day, 3-day, 4-day trips. Some bases have more red-eye flying than others (as some mentioned above)

There is a fair amount of flexibility. We use Flica and provided there is adequate reserve coverage, you can drop, swap trips with a stroke of a computer key. It's real nice.....hasn't worked too well over the summer, however (due to poor reserve coverage).

Varies base by base. Some bases you'll be on reserve for a couple months....others much, much longer. See above for the ease of dropping/ picking up trips.....it's very easy, provided, there is adequate coverage.....see above Soooo, YMMV.

There are a few huge nuggets in the CBA here. One being the month-to-month transition language and the 4-day off between trips (includes reserve as well). Those two alone improve everyone's QOL.....although, I'd venture to say the 'transition' benefits fewer people, on average, than the '4-day'..

 

The transition conflict and 4 days off is really nice. I am in the top third in the seniority and I easily get 20 days off a month.

 

Thanks for all your responses! This is great info!

 

Latest MEC letter about KCM, it's a no go! I thought J.H. and CA R.D. wanted to put this operation on the leaders list, top of the world, 21st century crxpp.

They want contract consetions for that.

We are the definition of Cheap.
(3 bucks per pilot/month.)

 

Did anyone really expect the company to pay for this? The union says it would be mutually beneficial...

I don't see how.

 

I actually thought we were moving in that direction, but nm....

 

I don't see how either, but you can't expect the company to cough up the cash without trying to get something.
My suggestion would be, back burner kcm, its obviously not worth 100% deadhead, or new transition language, but at some point the tsa/dhs is going to require some kind of one time training....

Also, the new duty regs are coming up... maybe some horse trading there worth $3 per month.