Great stuff. Management is now responding publicly to union claims about pilot workload. This is a new posting at their website.

"Recent very public claims that sub-Continental pilots are “now flying an average approaching 90 hours a month” are not true. The chart below shows the actual average for June 2011 for each fleet for both lineholders and reserves. As can be seen, the more correct statement would be that sub-Continental pilots are “now flying an average approaching 65 hours a month.” An average that is not markedly different from years past, including 2010 (shown below) when line values were reduced pursuant to a negotiated furlough mitigation agreement with ALPA."

United Airlines Negotiations : Fact check : Pilot Flying Hours

 

Union should be all over this one, too. Safety isn't about averages, it's about the extremes. If just one pilot is flying near the limit then that's one too many. One accident from one pilot being worked to the limit is unacceptable. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be something they teach in business school, where it's all about metrics and averages.

 

Stats are fun. CAL management tried this back in 08. How they use the numbers are not realistic. Go figure

 

Wait, 90 hours a month is considered unsafe?

 

Apparently management thinks so since they went through the effort to pull together data to create current and historical charts, by fleet type, to refute it. And then posted this info on a public website.

It they didn't think it was a problem, they could have posted a statement saying "Yes, some of our pilots are flying 90 hours a month, well within and even 10% below FAA guidelines. We're proud that all of our pilots are completely onboard with the merger and are working extra hard to make it go smoothly."

 

well as far as the 737fo reserve if the average is 60 and i'm flying 80......

I wonder if these numbers are skewed with people on the seniority list that fly little to none. Chief pilots, other management types, people on LOA and disability.

Actually I checked again and I do average 60hours/month. I took the ytd flying and divided by the 6 months that have gone by this year. Nevermind the fact that I was returning from furlough and that all of jan and all but the last week of feb I was in ground school and sim training.

 

The problem with these numbers is we don't know what they actually mean.

From what I see the 2011 numbers do show a substantial increase in flying by the average pilot, but throw in S/L, vacation and other items such as DH pay and the numbers seem low.

What is need is the distribution, and the mode of the fleets to get a better picture of reality.

This is the problem when people start throw numbers and they get used indiscriminately.

 

I agree that there is no perspective on what these numbers mean.

Is the company trying to say that they ARE NOT BUILDING schedules to between 80-90 hours a month? If they are, then they are definitely "spinning" their numbers. The union probably used the numbers from the line awards while the company used the post-month final flying numbers.

As was mentioned before, "flying" is only going to show just that. What about the DH time? Averages are just that...some are flying less and some are flying more with a lot of the "less" side being sick calls, vacations, and training.

My actual totals since the beginning of the year have "averaged" over the company's numbers, not including DHs, and taking into account a vacation month so far. Leaving off the vacation month, the average goes up to just shy of 80 hours ACTUAL flying, not including DHs.

But flying hours as we know don't complete the picture of on the road time. The company will spin this to mean, "Look these greedy pilots are only flying 60 hours a month while the poor souls of the traveling public have to slave to take in one vacation flight a year." Selectively leaving out all the time we are sitting in the airport on duty not getting paid. Leaving out all the time you are doing duties prior to pushing off the gate to start that flight time. We all know the drill and that the company's numbers are worthless drivel. Where is the chart showing how much time away from base pilots are doing each month?

 

I'm in the middle of working 15 out of 17 because somehow the FAA accepts that a travel day to a checkride is a day off. I have been significantly above the company's "averages" since a solid sick call in March. So last night when I opened this drivel I saw red.

After taking sometime to reflect I think it is clear the company is cattle prodding the angry bull. Wouldn't surprise me if they want to lead us into doing something stupid. They would love to drag CAL ALPA into court ala UAL 2008 despite the reputation cost to "the world's leading airline". The flying public cares about the fact that flights cancel for lack of crews not how many hours the company claims it's pilots are flying. Friday night in EWR CAL canceled/delayed international flights like it was a commuter airline.

Honestly I think the union response to this drivel should be nothing. By responding it would lend credence to this spin having a hair of truth. Those of us that make this circus run know perfectly well pathetic and dangerous the airline's staffing model has become. The credit range for my BES in August is 79:30-89. That means below 30% seniority the line average will be at least 84 hours flown. Bottom line your game is tired and predictable Mr Bonds and Abbott.

BTW: love that catchy new title "sub-Continental".

 

I agree. There is no penalty for the company doing something so blatant but watch how fast they would be all over ALPA if the reverse were true. They can inflame all they want, doesn't mean we have to take the bait.

Kind of goes with our pay and work rules: "sub-standard" right?