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Pinnacle's new fatigue policy

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For those of us not in the know, what are they doing to you guys?

Scaring people to fly fatigued...

In a nutshell...
If you call in fatigued you now have to fill out a flight safety report within 24 hours of the call and contact your base manager to schedule a meeting to discuss why/how you were fatigued (I think within 72 hours of the call). Your fatigue call will be "considered unjustified" if these things aren't accomplished. I assume that means you'll be mistripped. This probably isn't legal and if someone sues them they'll probably win; however, as always with the management tactics here, lawsuits are cheaper than higher wages and adequate staffing levels.

It seems like every 3 months we get a new "you better not miss any work or you'll be fired" memo. Makes for a good laugh and roll of the eyes. The problem is they're conditioning pilots (especially the new-hires that are on probation) to fly sick and fatigued. Nobody wants to deal with management here and they use that to their advantage.
 
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I filed those for fatigue calls anyway. It CYA's. Don't be a tough guy and live on no sleep just so Pinnacle can justify their terrible schedules.
 
I would suggest also calling your FAA POI to be present in the meeting with your base manager.

They should be really interested (unless they're in the companys back pocket).
 
At my former carrier we had tons of "get back at the company" fatigue calls...for example scheduling would add a round trip as you got to your overnight and folks would just say "oh, ok, I'm fatigued." This resulted in many a visit to the carpet on mahogany row.
 
It would be against federal regulations to fly fatigued. No memo will change that.

My understanding of fatigue could even be caused by getting a poor nights sleep, even if you went to bed at an appropriate time. Would that be correct?
 
I'm a little confused.

The policy has always been to file a FSR after calling fatigued. That's part of the safety follow-up and tracking.

The meeting with the base manager has always been the same too. Non-discplinary.

Maybe the crew scheduling part was the new addition.
 
I'm a little confused.

The policy has always been to file a FSR after calling fatigued. That's part of the safety follow-up and tracking.

The meeting with the base manager has always been the same too. Non-discplinary.

Maybe the crew scheduling part was the new addition.

And the fact that they are threatening to call it "unexcused". Or what ever term they used.
 
It would be against federal regulations to fly fatigued. No memo will change that.

My understanding of fatigue could even be caused by getting a poor nights sleep, even if you went to bed at an appropriate time. Would that be correct?

Nobody decides you are fit to fly except you. The alternative? I crashed but I was tired, sorry? Safety is safety, and if you are tired and don't feel safe for WHATEVER reason, then DON'T fly. I would flood the POI with calls, emails, letters, everything. This has only intimidation value only. Kind of like writing up discrepencies....There's nothing they can do if the plane is broke. There's nothing they can do if you're tired and not safe. It's all hand in hand. Good luck to you Pinnacle Pilots. This is BS and I hope it's resolved sometime soon.

Trojan
 

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