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Crashpads... what's the deal?
- Thread starter flight-crew
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flywithruss
Rocky Top!
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2001
- Posts
- 237
My $.02
Why people do this is simple ... we are cheap, poor, and/or heavily in debt! Like many other posters, I think there's a cost/benefit analysis here .... it is not worth spending very much money on a place you only need to sleep, and only a few nights a month! Some people may feel differently, and they're the ones who live in domicile or spend big $ on a nice crashpad.
I actually have a theory that it is possible for a pilot to be "homeless" ... save a LOT of money by not actually living anywhere! If any starving regional pilots want the details, PM me! Since I fly corporate, I haven't had the chance to try it.
The things we do for this business, I tell ya!
Tailwinds, y'all ...
R
Why people do this is simple ... we are cheap, poor, and/or heavily in debt! Like many other posters, I think there's a cost/benefit analysis here .... it is not worth spending very much money on a place you only need to sleep, and only a few nights a month! Some people may feel differently, and they're the ones who live in domicile or spend big $ on a nice crashpad.
I actually have a theory that it is possible for a pilot to be "homeless" ... save a LOT of money by not actually living anywhere! If any starving regional pilots want the details, PM me! Since I fly corporate, I haven't had the chance to try it.
The things we do for this business, I tell ya!
Tailwinds, y'all ...
R
flight-crew
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2001
- Posts
- 167
I'll add a little humor to this...
One of my friends said that he came up with the perfect crashpad solution. This only works for single guys... well, maybe a select few married guys.
Find a girlfriend who lives close to the domicile you are based at. See if she's OK with seeing you every now and then when you are in town, and if she doesn't mind if you stay at her place when you are in town. Not only do you have an instant crashpad for $0, but you won't be lonely either
~
p.s. - could "flywithruss" please Private Message me on your idea of not actually living anywhere. I'd love to hear the details!
One of my friends said that he came up with the perfect crashpad solution. This only works for single guys... well, maybe a select few married guys.
Find a girlfriend who lives close to the domicile you are based at. See if she's OK with seeing you every now and then when you are in town, and if she doesn't mind if you stay at her place when you are in town. Not only do you have an instant crashpad for $0, but you won't be lonely either
~p.s. - could "flywithruss" please Private Message me on your idea of not actually living anywhere. I'd love to hear the details!
LR25
Its just a vintage VW
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2001
- Posts
- 1,641
Yea its not glamorous, but its cheap.
I lived in an FBO during the day, flew at night with a layover, got around 6-7 hours of sleep a night, woke up early in the morning, loaded the airplane flew back to my base and would go get breakfast then go to the FBO which had a shower and cable TV with a nice pilot lounge.
Did that all week then on my last day in on Fri would drive 5 hours to home to my WIFE and then went back for a Mon night departure.
Cost to me, none.
Its called paying your dues, it aint for the weak at heart.
Heres to all the crashpaders, regoinal guys, freight dogs,especially the freight dogs.
OOTSK's (Order of The Sleepless Knights)
I lived in an FBO during the day, flew at night with a layover, got around 6-7 hours of sleep a night, woke up early in the morning, loaded the airplane flew back to my base and would go get breakfast then go to the FBO which had a shower and cable TV with a nice pilot lounge.
Did that all week then on my last day in on Fri would drive 5 hours to home to my WIFE and then went back for a Mon night departure.
Cost to me, none.
Its called paying your dues, it aint for the weak at heart.
Heres to all the crashpaders, regoinal guys, freight dogs,especially the freight dogs.
OOTSK's (Order of The Sleepless Knights)
flight-crew
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2001
- Posts
- 167
That's exactly what I'm talking about! You basically lived like a bum for 5 days straight. Then went home for 2 days, and then did it all over again.
I'll do the math. You are spending 28% ( 2 divided by 7 = .28) of your life at home. Yet you are spending the most money on and having the best standard of living when you are home. You are spending 72% ( 5 divided by 7 = .72) of your life working. But you spend absolutely no amount of money or anything for that MAJORITY of your life.
Hey man, if you've got a wife and a house then you've got to do what you got to do. I'm not trying to fault you at all. But do you see my point. My point is that why not spend a little money to improve the majority of your life or nights. I'm not talking about a ton of money. Just something where you have a nice setup with you own room. So maybe it costs you $3K per year.... you may not be able to do that 2 week vacation to Maui, but at least you'll have lived decently that whole year - 72% of your life. Your short layovers at night situation is somewhat like a "highspeed", "nap", or "standup" at the regionals. For those you definitely need a place to sleep during the day unless you can function on minimal sleep.
Again, what other pilots do for their commuting situation is there business and only theirs. But I'm just trying to understand the logic behind being so cheap.
I'll do the math. You are spending 28% ( 2 divided by 7 = .28) of your life at home. Yet you are spending the most money on and having the best standard of living when you are home. You are spending 72% ( 5 divided by 7 = .72) of your life working. But you spend absolutely no amount of money or anything for that MAJORITY of your life.
Hey man, if you've got a wife and a house then you've got to do what you got to do. I'm not trying to fault you at all. But do you see my point. My point is that why not spend a little money to improve the majority of your life or nights. I'm not talking about a ton of money. Just something where you have a nice setup with you own room. So maybe it costs you $3K per year.... you may not be able to do that 2 week vacation to Maui, but at least you'll have lived decently that whole year - 72% of your life. Your short layovers at night situation is somewhat like a "highspeed", "nap", or "standup" at the regionals. For those you definitely need a place to sleep during the day unless you can function on minimal sleep.
Again, what other pilots do for their commuting situation is there business and only theirs. But I'm just trying to understand the logic behind being so cheap.
dispatchguy
Dad is my favorite title
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2001
- Posts
- 1,569
It depends on your life situation. Take me for example, I commute to a dispatch job in PHX from Northern Indiana.
Why you may ask? It's because wife doesnt want to move out there yet. She comes from a tight-knit family, that doesnt fall far from the tree. Since I am the more mobile of the two of us, I do a 2-leg commute each week, yes ouch. If I were single, sure, I'd move to PHX and never come back to northern Indiana, but......
At my c-pad in PHX, I pay 210 a month, but I have my own room as I am a roomie for someone who lives on the southside of PHX.
When I dispatched in DFW, I lived with 6 other guys who flew for ASA in DFW. Never was there more than 3 of us in the pad at any one time. I was there the most, since I dispatched and didnt fly. In some ways, that was cool as I could watch over the place while everyone was on a trip or days off, but the second it was my turn, it was another 2-leg commute back home.
Debt has nothing to do with it (at least for me), it is, however, that airline people, for the most part, arent going to spend money they dont have to. Maintain two "official" places to live can get difficult, whereas at a crashpad, you dont have to. When I came out here to PHX, I moved two rollaboards full of clothes, my flight bag, a wok, egg-scrambling skillet, pizzacutter, a few kitchen utensils, a toiletries. My golf clubs come out after ground school. My quality of life is fine, I have a good air conditioning system.
When I worked for UAL at the ORD F/A crew desk, there were F/As that crashed in the ORD crew lounge. Working mids was an experience as at around 0500 the sleeping F/As start passing the crew desk to get ready for their flights - the last thing I wanted was to see a bunch of F/As bed heads
Why you may ask? It's because wife doesnt want to move out there yet. She comes from a tight-knit family, that doesnt fall far from the tree. Since I am the more mobile of the two of us, I do a 2-leg commute each week, yes ouch. If I were single, sure, I'd move to PHX and never come back to northern Indiana, but......
At my c-pad in PHX, I pay 210 a month, but I have my own room as I am a roomie for someone who lives on the southside of PHX.
When I dispatched in DFW, I lived with 6 other guys who flew for ASA in DFW. Never was there more than 3 of us in the pad at any one time. I was there the most, since I dispatched and didnt fly. In some ways, that was cool as I could watch over the place while everyone was on a trip or days off, but the second it was my turn, it was another 2-leg commute back home.
Debt has nothing to do with it (at least for me), it is, however, that airline people, for the most part, arent going to spend money they dont have to. Maintain two "official" places to live can get difficult, whereas at a crashpad, you dont have to. When I came out here to PHX, I moved two rollaboards full of clothes, my flight bag, a wok, egg-scrambling skillet, pizzacutter, a few kitchen utensils, a toiletries. My golf clubs come out after ground school. My quality of life is fine, I have a good air conditioning system.
When I worked for UAL at the ORD F/A crew desk, there were F/As that crashed in the ORD crew lounge. Working mids was an experience as at around 0500 the sleeping F/As start passing the crew desk to get ready for their flights - the last thing I wanted was to see a bunch of F/As bed heads
Speaking of ORD crashpads:
UA weren't the only one with bed-head f/a's. I was one of the huddled masses at AA, doing the same thing. I commuted from RDU, and my first year on the line had a nice crashpad. After that I realized I was only spending 4-6 nights per month on average in Chicago, so I "moved" to the crew lounge. The Hilton made that possible, at about 6-7am there you could see crewmembers from all over the place working out and showering for the day.
Our crew-scheduling was centralized though, so not too many of the office staff had to see what we really looked like, unless we slept in for a late sign-in!
UA weren't the only one with bed-head f/a's. I was one of the huddled masses at AA, doing the same thing. I commuted from RDU, and my first year on the line had a nice crashpad. After that I realized I was only spending 4-6 nights per month on average in Chicago, so I "moved" to the crew lounge. The Hilton made that possible, at about 6-7am there you could see crewmembers from all over the place working out and showering for the day.
Our crew-scheduling was centralized though, so not too many of the office staff had to see what we really looked like, unless we slept in for a late sign-in!
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