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New FAA flight time/rest rules?

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amcnd

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 1, 2003
Posts
901
Anyone figure out how,... lets say a 10hr min rest would effect flight schedules? longer trips, less credit? would it cause the need for more pilots at your airline? Trying to figure out how the quality of life will be like......On one side, more lines to pick from is good. But if you have to work 1-3 extra days a month to make up for the lost credit, that would suck.
 
As a reserve always on min days off and only paid guarantee, I'd say it'd be a great thing.
 
At comair where there are 20 year captains and 10 year FO's on reserve with min days off I say it is a great thing as well.
 
For NW Airlinkers, our MEM base in particular only has 3 main banks, and a lot of short flights like MEM-JAN/XNA/HSV etc. Same for Mesaba. It is really hard to build pairings that do not include reduced rest, and have more than 4-6 hours credit per day. It is just impossible. That's why it is so important for the new Pinnacle TA to include min-pay-per day (4 hours at least) to protect from having 4-day trips with very long layovers and very low credit.
 
For NW Airlinkers, our MEM base in particular only has 3 main banks, and a lot of short flights like MEM-JAN/XNA/HSV etc. Same for Mesaba. It is really hard to build pairings that do not include reduced rest, and have more than 4-6 hours credit per day. It is just impossible. That's why it is so important for the new Pinnacle TA to include min-pay-per day (4 hours at least) to protect from having 4-day trips with very long layovers and very low credit.

Just another sign that everything along the Mississippi river should just be sent out to sea, from New Orleans to Memphis to St Louis (East St Louis especially) to Minneapolis..... Send it off with most of the east coast... I mean really would anyone miss Philly or Newark too?
 
it will guarantee most people will be at min days off

This is not necessarily correct. If you had a min-pay-day of 4 hours... assuming that at least half of the days you'd be working 6 hours, and the other days you'd be getting paid 4, most pilots would be crediting well over 100 hours per month. This would be unacceptable for most regionals. What is more likely to happen is more equality in line-building, you won't see half the seniority list getting 10 days off while the top guys get 20. Most guys will get 14-16.
 
But if you have to work 1-3 extra days a month to make up for the lost credit, that would suck.

Regionals have enjoyed way too many years of pilots working maximum hours to make ends meet. It is time to drop the number of flight hours, get the payrates up and make sure there are rested pilots flying the plane. The solution to making more money is NOT to fly more hours but negotiate higher pay.
 
I do believe this will force lines to have less days off as schedule planning will have to create more work days to meet line gurantees while complying with new regs. I have a feeling regional pilots will take it worse than others. The airlines will fall back on the argument that their hands are tied because it is a government law and if they could extend duty days they would. The pilots will be backed into a corner because it is either work more days with less duty or more duty for more days off. There will not be a monumental shift in a cost structure (both pilot pay and fee-per-departure) or else it may be the end of the regionals. The regionals have built their business on a well known cost structure; a major change will either make it unprofitable for the airline or the mainline feed. If it comes down to concessions in pay, the regionals will concede and life will go on, albeit with less days off and less overall pay. Pessimistic, but that is the way I see it.
 
Again the law of unintended consequences will rear its head, only time will tell what he real fall out will be.
 

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