Cal reserve pilots!

[a10hogplt]

Ok guys, i start training in december and wanted to ask the new cal pilots their opinion. I live about an hour and 50 minutes south on newark. Obviously i will want ewr as my base. Can i stay at home when on reserve or not? Will i get 2 hour call outs? This will have to do with what airplane i fly as well, meaning getting the 73 will mean shorter reserve than 75/6. What do you guys think?

 

[geshields]

Ok guys, i start training in december and wanted to ask the new cal pilots their opinion. I live about an hour and 50 minutes south on newark. Obviously i will want ewr as my base. Can i stay at home when on reserve or not? Will i get 2 hour call outs? This will have to do with what airplane i fly as well, meaning getting the 73 will mean shorter reserve than 75/6. What do you guys think?

Our "B" reserve is 3 hours to a push meaning 2 hours to get to the airport.....

HTH,
Greg

btw, welcome aboard!

 

[CAL EWR B737]

Congratulations and Welcome To Continental!

"A" Reserves have a 9 hour call out and are limited to a Max of 25% of total reserves - Reserve Guarantee 72 hours

"B" Reserves 2 hour call out and 76 hour guarantee.

Things are moving quickly and you should be a senior reserve a few months after IOE.

Even on "B" reserve 1:50 is doable but you have to live with your uniform in your car. Short calls are fairly rare but you never know.

B737 is taking about three to four months to line holder in EWR
B756 will be closer to a year in EWR

Will have no problem getting EWR

 

[a10hogplt]

thanks for the info.......so how long do you think it would be until i could hold long call out reserve on the 73 compared to the 75/76?

 

[acbarney]

I live 102 miles southwest of Newark. I started indoc in June. I'm on the 756 out of Newark and have been able to get my first or second choice of long call reserve every month since I finished IOE. Long call (A) seems to go junior on the 756. The system seems to work such that A guys get called first for any open time the day before. I get used 95% of the time but I've only been "called" off a reserve day and given 9 hours to get to Newark once. The B guys seem to be flying less but I don't know how often they get short called.

A reserve works great for me, since it's about 1 1/2 hours to the parking lot for me, and you must allow an additional 1/2 hour to get from the employee lot to the gate, and I don't want to live in my uniform.

Have fun in Houston!

 

[propjob27]

Our "B" reserve is 3 hours to a push meaning 2 hours to get to the airport.....

Techically this is correct. CAL short call reserve is not a "two hour to show" callout. It is a "3 hour to push" callout.

In other words, yes, it is standard to have a show time one hour prior to depature in EWR, ie show at 0800 for an 0900 push. HOWEVER, let's be honest, is anyone going to know if you were not in the terminal exactly an hour prior to push? No way. You can show at 8:20 or so an 0900 push, and still have time to run to the weather room, sign the release, and then walk down the jetway to the aircraft and leave on time. And no one's the wiser.

Our manual states that for narrow body domestic flights, the crew should plan to be on board (meaning in your seat, walkaround complete) the aircraft :20 minutes prior to push.

 

[Mr Hat]

I'm an ExpressJet guy who lives about 45 minutes west of EWR....I was on reserve for a little over 3 years and never missed a short call. The key for me was to be ready to leave during during rush hour because you may need the full 2 hours (maybe 2:15, 2 to show 1 to go so it's 2 1/2 really because you have to be on the airplane 1/2 hour prior to push). Also bidding is important, I typically bid the early early shift...this way if they called me I got in before traffic hit. I missed a trip once because there was a fatal accident on 80 and I got stuck literally on an on ramp for 2 hours, the CPO made sure it did not count against me. Your contract says 2 hours "under normal driving conditions". You should have no problem with a 50 minute drive. Besides, only millionairs can live any closer to EWR unless you want to ghetto it.

 

[kaisersose]

I have been on reserve a total of a couple years over the past 8. Short calls are very rare. Sounds like your life would be best served by bidding the 73 because you will get a line quicker and put an end to the uniform in the car thing. Also, getting your butt in the seat 20min prior is not a problem if you drive into the lot at show time in the 73. In the 756 you would have to hope the trip you got doesn't involve drawing all the circles on the chart (etops). You can check on the computer to see what the order is for call out as well. It is not rock solid because you can't always tell what the other guys legality issues are but it helps you sleep at night if you see that you are number 10 for a 4day.

Welcome and have fun in the box.

PS bring some warm clothes. The whole building seems like it is about 50 degrees.

 

[a10hogplt]

Thanks for all the info. Kaiser......would you be able to tell me how long until i could get the long reserve on the 737 vs. 756? Long reserve would be great for me where i am, just wondering how hard it is to get that in the 73 and 756. thanks!!

 

[Airmike767]

Hi,
I'm currently on Reserve on the B756 in Houston. You'll be surprised how easy it is once you get into the system. I would reccomend that you bid the B756 in EWR for a couple of reasons. The biggy is pay, after the first year its:$71.64 widebody B767 for example or 62.13 for the B757. You can get into the mid range on the B737-800 or -900 but alot harder. Reserve flying is at the blended rate so you would blend up to the B756 as well.

My second reason is that the flying from EWR on the B756 is mostly trans Atlantic. Mostly three day trips with good layovers at 24 hours average. These all have an afternoon show.

One other thing to think about is Guam.........if you go to Guam and agree to stay 18 months they will start you at second year pay! Blended B737 but alot nicer than $29.97.

Heed the advice about the chilly air in the training building avg 65F or so.......

You will also get a signon for the CCS system (Crew Scheduling Computer) and can access the CBTs whereever you have a laptop and an online connection.

Hope you enjoy yourself!

Fred

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