Mesa pilots in PHX with plywood boards?

[RP170]

Get back to mowing my lawn, you missed a spot around the hedges.

Priceless!

 

[ballsdeep123]

Hahaha, 37 yrs old and flying an RJ with no ATP? Pathetic.

Yeah and now that you're done stealing all of mainlines jobs, you'll probably be 60 flying a 90 seater around for 50 bucks an hour. Congratulations!

 

[rickair7777]

Hahaha, 37 yrs old and flying an RJ with no ATP? Pathetic.

3500 hours in a B737...hmmm.

And I suppose you expect us to believe that you got that job on your own merits as opposed to your affirmitive action ticket? Yeah, right.

 

[Espalda Mojado]

Yeah and now that you're done stealing all of mainlines jobs, you'll probably be 60 flying a 90 seater around for 50 bucks an hour. Congratulations!

Not likely, now that I'm 27 and upgrading on the 737 within a year. Enjoy your RJ, it is a cool little plane to fly.

 

[Espalda Mojado]

3500 hours in a B737...hmmm.

And I suppose you expect us to believe that you got that job on your own merits as opposed to your affirmitive action ticket? Yeah, right.

I admit, I got a full-ride scholarship for hispanic flight students, and a B737 type from a government grant for minorities, to help get me land my Boeing job. I love this country. I am thinking of helping out some RJ FOs by paying them to do some landscaping work at my new house in Miami, if anybody is interested send me a PM. It will pay more than your flying job.

 

[Inconceivable]

Fyi that is the type of pairing that was implicated in the FDX TLH B727 accident a few years ago.

I believe they do not build red-eye +1 trips anymore, let alone +3!

 

[Lear70]

This has got to stop somewhere. I'll admit, I slept in the airplane ONCE at PCL... of my own volition, simply because we were 2 hours late on a 6:05 CDO and the hotel was 15 minutes each way.

By staying on the plane I got a little over 3 hours sleep, the rest of the crew that went to the hotel got just over an hour. Not that one is all that better rested than the other, but I'll take what I can get.

EVEN THEN, I knew it was border-line unsafe and that was with JUST 2 LEGS with a week of CDO pairings. I was well into the sleep rhythm, but still tired every morning returning to DTW. THEN they tried to start front-loading CDO's with turns (or back-loading them) and guess what...?

CAPTAINS STARTED CALLING IN FATIGUED IN DROVES!!! This was the fall/winter of 2004 if anyone on here remembers that lovely 3 month period at the bottom of the seniority list.

We all discussed it in ops and over beers and the message boards and private emails and basically challenged each other to call in fatigued as it was warranted.

The company couldn't staff and finally got the hint. The front- and back-loaded CDO's went away.

YOUR pilots could do the same thing. I don't give a rat's a*s if you want to call it an illegal job action or not, there is NO recourse if you call in fatigue, THEY CAN'T TOUCH YOU.

So yes, you CAN make a stand on this issue. Right here, right now. Without recrimination or termination or disciplinary action. The bonus side: the more of you that do it and it becomes public, the more of you might be willing to do the same thing. Eventually it will have its desired effect.

Regardless, don't fly fatigued! That's just about the most unprofessional thing you can ever do, next to doing drugs or alcohol before flight.

 

[ultrarunner]

Excellent post Lear! And very well said.

The FAA continues to skirt the fatigue issue so it is left up to us, as pilots, to do the right thing.

You're either fit for flight or you're not.

 

[BOOMER2]

I admit, I got a full-ride scholarship for hispanic flight students, and a B737 type from a government grant for minorities, to help get me land my Boeing job. I love this country. I am thinking of helping out some RJ FOs by paying them to do some landscaping work at my new house in Miami, if anybody is interested send me a PM. It will pay more than your flying job.

Glad to see my tax dollars at work for you Paco! I bet you didn't have to go through any water survival training, already an expert at that! I'm just glad you can type some English.
You had mentioned having some of us RJ folks over to take care of your yard; won't that p!ss off your relatives??

 

[ballsdeep123]

Glad to see my tax dollars at work for you Paco! I bet you didn't have to go through any water survival training, already an expert at that! I'm just glad you can type some English.
You had mentioned having some of us RJ folks over to take care of your yard; won't that p!ss off your relatives??

Now that is funny! What an unappreciative piece of sh!t.

 

[urflyingme?!]

Profession? Union? You've got to be kidding me. Mesa, SCABS of the Industry. How many of you either flew for or jumpseated on Mesa in the past or present? And you wonder why these airline manager's treat you as they do?
"Well, I needed to build time to get out of there" or "I was desperate, I needed a way to work or home." Thanks for your support!

Labor Union.....ALPA? Grow some hair on your nuts and put a stop to the downward spiral of this once called "profession." Oh yea, I forgot, you don't really belong to an AFL-CIO Labor Organization........it's a Professional Airline Association.......White Collar Professionals.

I wonder what David Behncke or former real EAL Pilots would say to ALPA leadership or to those of you that "support" airlines like Mesa today?

Pathetic....

ALPA is AFL CIO. As for scabs, go f yourself pal.

As for this issue as a whole, i think that bringing plywood is a great way to spread the message.

 

[urflyingme?!]

How would calling in fatiqued work? If you're ON the trip, you've already ACCEPTED the trip... so I guess by this rationale, you could never accept the trip in the first place. Which only thousands of your peers already have without formal complaint.

Unless you know of any formal complaints, which I don't.

You can't call in fatigued until you're actually fatigued.
EX: I'd like to call in fatigued for my 345pm dep on sunday, thank you.

 

[Frozen Ronin]

Man, the wood jokes are still cracking me up! That's so BAD!

At least in Alaska we're paid well for being bent over!

 

[Lear70]

As for this issue as a whole, i think that bringing plywood is a great way to spread the message.

Actually, it's not bad.

If every single one of the crews brought them with you, it would send an amusing signal to management.

Just imagine a couple dozen pilots walking around with plywood boards in their hands, take a picture of a bunch of them walking around in the terminal plus a picture of the crew later asleep in the aircraft, put the schedule with them and send them to every major network talk show, news network, etc.

I betcha Conan O'Brian would probably feature it as a WTF piece.

Heck, it would also be fun to carry them with you when you picket during your next negotiations.

p.s. I can't believe someone hasn't mentioned anything about laying wood to the flight attendant on the aircraft between flights...

 

[pgcfii2002]

The pilots with plywood boards woke up at their layover with morning wood.

 

[ERJFO]

X9746 ONLY ON THU BSE REPT: 1718L OPERATES- OCT. 05 ONLY Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
Base/Equipment: PHX/CR9 CA01FO01 -

TH 2815 PHX-OKC 1803 2208 205 206 3CR9
TH 2799 OKC-LAS 2238 2324 246 242 CR9 451 0 448 0 621 LA2234 -
7462 D-END: 2339L (NR 900) REPT: 2213L ST. TROPEZ (702) 369-5400 000 -- -- -- -- -- --
FR 2886 LASIAH 22580406 308 253 1154
SA 2783 IAH-PHX 0600 0640 240 256 55 CR9
SA 2819 PHX-TUS 0735 0825 50 46 45 CR9
SA 2972 TUS-LAS 0910 1028 118 116 CR9 756 0 751 0 1230 LAS 1228
7463 D-END: 1043L (NR 900) REPT: 2311L ST. TROPEZ (702) 369-5400 000
SA 2835 LAS-TUS 2356 0116 120 116 CR9 120 0 116 0 220 TUS 1219
7464 D-END: 0131L (NR 900) REPT: 1350L LaQuinta Inn (520) 573-3333 SHUTTLE 000
SU 2944 TUS-PHX 1435 1524 49 49 104 CR9
SU 2910 PHX-DEN 1628 1916 148 147 37 CR9
SU 2911 DEN-PHX 1953 2046 153 152 CR9 430 0 428 1 711
D-END: 2101L --------------------------------------
TOTALS BLOCK 1837 DHD 0 CREDIT 1823 18.38 T.A.F.B. 7543
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
Hear is an example of a Mesa camping trip. Sorry that is didn't transfer well. If you notice, the crew gets into IAH at 4:06 and leaves at 6 am. Let me ask this question. Does your contract prevent your company from building a trip like this? Woud you get a hotel for the 1:54 minute turn? -Bean

To answer your question, the contract I work for prevents the company from building a trip like this:

"duty periods that begin between 2101 LT and 0429 LT will not be scheduled to exceed 11 hours."

From the same section:​

"A trip that operates between 0100 LT and 0400 LT will be constructed with no more than 2 segments."​

 

[ERJFO]

I admit, I got a full-ride scholarship for hispanic flight students, and a B737 type from a government grant for minorities, to help get me land my Boeing job. I love this country. I am thinking of helping out some RJ FOs by paying them to do some landscaping work at my new house in Miami, if anybody is interested send me a PM. It will pay more than your flying job.

Classy

 

[dingo222]

A must have for every mesa pilot this holiday season:

http://www.rvstuffusa.com/nachotablebytravelchair.html

You can pack it in your flightbag, slide it between the seats and presto!
sleep like a baby! It also doubles as a drink holder, or a table outside of baggage claim for some 3 card monty

 

[n32jk]

How many hours between flights is YOUR airline required, by contract, to provide a hotel to you?

Mesa
Comair
Eagle
ExpressJet
Mesaba
Chautauqua
SkyWest
ASA
Pinacle
TSA
Air Wisconsin
Colgan
Piedmont

Just curious...

At Pinnacle you are granted a hotel room if a scheduled break is more than 5 hours on a full day. ANY CDO is gets a hotel room. We have restrictions about what can be done if the CDO is short. limited to 4 CDO's.

We have way too many 4 hour and 59 minute "productivity breaks" during the day on trips. I have considered taking a sleeping bag into the main hall in a terminal like PHL or someplace equally busy, along with a sign saying hotel expenses diverted to management bonuses. Probably a career ender, but it would get media.

IS IT REALLY TRUE THAT MESA PILOTS SLEEP ON THE PLANE ON CDO'S ?????

Maybe this could be spun into a security issue?? Does the airport know they are there free to roam around other areas while there is no security?? There has to be a way to really embarrass Mesa management. Really stiff security fines might get their attention.

 

[Soverytired]

IS IT REALLY TRUE THAT MESA PILOTS SLEEP ON THE PLANE ON CDO'S ?????

.

YES.

For any CDO less than 4 hours, the crew is allotted ONE hotel room for all 4 crew members to share. This is actually a recent "improvement" . . . prior to about 3 months ago, there was NO HOTEL PROVIDED.

Since it's just too wierd to check into a hotel room with 1 bed for 2.5 hours with 3 other (mixed-gender) crewmembers, the VAST majority of most crews just bring sleeping bags, cots, pillows, earplugs, jammies, and sleep masks and just sack out in the plane.

Most CDO's on the west coast have 4 legs, starting at 1900, flying until 0900 (14 hrs). By day 3, you're a zombie, and by day 4, you're toast. So you either sleep on the plane, or you call fatigue and take your chances.

I've done both.
--------------------------------------------------------

Only contract protection is CDO's can't be scheduled >14 hrs. So the company came up with 13:56 hr schedules. Clever, eh?

A sample: (Out, off, block time, turn around time)

BSE REPT: 1925L

2752 PHX-SBP 2010-2049 139 25
2794 SBP-LAS 2114-2224 115 127
2866 LAS-MFR 2351-0157 206 353 (3:53 turn, so lights out and 3 hrs of sleep'n on a jet plane)
2704 MFR-PHX 0550-0906 214

D-END: 0921L

Total duty: 13:56




Figure 90 min to get home, 90 min to get back, 90 min to sleep/eat/exercise/clean up/kiss wife/pay bills, and you have at BEST 5.5 hrs of sleep during the middle of the day. By day 4, you will be WIPED OUT. (I'm dead by day 3)

-------------------------------------------------------

Company response: These are legal, they are allowed per the contract, and somebody must have bid the line. All true.

My response: Avoid these lines at all costs. I know my limits . . . because I've flown past them on these shifts and scared the bee-jezus out of myself, and seen some unbelieveable stuff from the guy on the other side of the box as well.

Fatigue is a funny thing, and will creep up on you when you least expect it. I can say with certainity that I've ALWAYS taken off feeling fine, then been drop dead tired 20 minutes into the flight. Kinda late to deal with at that point.