Commuting under attack because of crash

[inthegoo]

From what I have heard and read, commuting is going to become alot harder in the future, they are going to monitor us much more closely and ADD IT TO OUR DUTY DAY and we will not get paid for it (of course).

Alot more trips will become uncommutable.

You will be stuck coming in the night before, and paying for a hotel room on your own dime.

Nice career

 

[buscap]

Won't happen.

How many other real safety issues have been highlighted just as much, to be simply forgotten when the talking heads move on to something else.



Ouch!!

Gosh. I hope that isn't a treble hook in my butt!!

At least I'm honest. I could've just hit delete, when he set the hook.

 

[tdwnds1]

I hope some change comes out of this....

Personally I wont kick the crew of the flight, out of respect for the dead. There not here to defend themselves and I think enough has been said. The loss of two human beings is ALWAYS a tragedy.

There is no doubt that "something" will come out of this. I am hoping its not the "more responsiblity, same pay" result. That is my fear. All pilots are professionals (from CFI to 747-400 Captain) and should be paid as such! At the very least it has opened some peoples' eyes over how low many regional pilots are paid and I dont at all buy in to the "dont have the experience" argument. Especially in this market.

Aviation seems an almost insane world sometimes. Perhaps the best thing that can come out this disaster is a little sanity.

One can hope....

 

[Speedtape]

How do we know that the pilot pulled back on the yoke?

 

[banditdriver]

we will not get paid for it (of course).

And why would you get paid to commute... Commuting is a luxury. As a someone who used to commute I can understand why you would think this, commuting blows a&&. The fact that you commute is not my fault, It certainly wouldn't make sense for you to be paid more than me because of it.

 

[makersmarc]

I think the answer, and I won't be holding my breath on this one, is to use the NetJets model: crewmember lives where he wants to and the company deadheads him to the point that his trip starts. The benefit to the company is that they can start trips wherever they want to, not just in a hub.

Make ALL carriers comply so that no carrier has a cost advantage over another. Commute time would be part of duty time. A side benefit would be that the company wouldn't want to pay for many commutes, so they would start building efficient trips. Instead of 4 commutes a month we would likely see 2. There would probably be a 7 on, 7 off type program. People that reside in domicile could make themselves available for extra flying.

For a carrier such as Crumbair, trips wouldn't necessarily start in CVG or JFNK. Trips could start in BOS or PVD or BNA or LGA or any where the company desires.

The airlines will moan and groan that this costs too much, but crews are already flying around the country quite a bit on other company's airplane to get to work. They could work out a cooperative mechanism where they would trade seats (positive space) on each other's aircraft. It needn't cost the airlines anything.

The problem that I can foresee is that given a choice of living in Williston, ND or Orlando, most pilots would choose the warm place. There could be some bottlenecks.

So there's your solution. We can always dream...

 

[makersmarc]

And why would you get paid to commute... Commuting is a luxury. As a someone who used to commute I can understand why you would think this, commuting blows a&&. The fact that you commute is not my fault, It certainly wouldn't make sense for you to be paid more than me because of it.

I would like to respectfully disagree. The common practice in our business is that a large percentage of pilots commute. For the most part there is some flexibility in how much we work (time off) vs how much we get paid ($). By not commuting you are getting more time off than a commuter does. On the other hand, the commuter gets to live where his wife and kids want to live (small joke). I don't want to sound like I'm trying to turn this around on you, but I could just as well say that living in domicile is a luxury.

I know you don't mean to sound like this, but it sort of sounds like you are saying, "This problem doesn't effect me, so go pound sand. Not my problem." Commuters wouldn't get paid more, they would just start each trip with a DH, that's all. How does that cost you anything?

 

[LowlyPropCapt]

...To say nothing of what it costs to live in many domiciles. Many regionals do not provide adequate compensation for pilots to reside in major metropolitan areas such as JFK/LGA/EWR, DCA/IAD or many west coast cities. You have to remember that many of us have families, and paying $1600 per month for us to live in a one bedroom third floor walkup with our kids is NOT an acceptable solution.

Besides, where do you draw the line? Is driving 2+ hours in heavy traffic any less fatigue inducing than a three or four hour flight into domicile? No it is not... You must agree with that. To argue otherwise would be moronic.

The key is better rest rules and the FAA supporting the pilots' prerogative to bag in sick or fatigued when they have ANY DOUBT WHATSOEVER about their readiness to go fly. The "winking and nodding" is really airline management KNOWING that they are forcing pilots to disregard the conditions of thier medical certificates and the guidelines in the AIM.

 

[jegermeister]

As a person who commuted for 8 years, I understand the toll it takes on you. Quite frankly it's insane that it isn't covered under regular crew rest. There are those who play it safe and commute in the night before, but even then it's disruptive to a normal rest pattern (assuming a late flight with an early show).

I completey understand the argument for and against commuting, but the underlying reality is that it does affect your performance. How many times have you given yourself an 18 hour day (with what only showed as 12 hour day on your schedule) to get one more chance at sleeping in your own bed? It gets even worse when flying CDO's.

I know that commuting is one of last reasons to hold on to for calling this a job worth having. But if we're going to get serious about holding the company/scheduling responsible for rest requirements, we also need to do ourselves and passengers a favour and hold ourselves to the same standard. For me it meant changing companies to get out of the commuting cycle.

It's a move I wish I had been able to make 8 years prior.
Jeger

 

[skyaddict]

Another one of many reasons commuting is almost mandatory: bases and the number of crews per base change frequently at the whim of management bean-counters. A grown adult can't simply pack up every year or two when seniority suddenly ejects you to a new base.