Duty Rig??

[pgcfii2002]

Just wondering what the term means?

 

[StaySeated]

Rig = Ratio

Duty Rig means you get credit for a minimum amount based on the amount of time you are on duty i.e. with a 2/1 duty rig you get one hour of credit for every two hours on duty. Good luck finding a 2/1 rig, I just used this as an example, they usually run in the 3/1 to 4/1 range.

Trip Rig means you get a credit for a minimum amount based on your time away from base. Same theory, 3/1 and you are away from base 210 hours in a month earns 70 hours of pay.

At the end of the month you get the larger of your flying credit hours or your duty rig or your trip rig. Duty rigs pay if you have a solid CDO line with a short leg there and back. Trip rigs pay if you have a horribly inefficient month sitting on your arse in some random hampton inn.

Another form of a trip rig is a minimum day credit or show credit.

All of the above focus on improving the efficiency of trips. If the company is going to pay you to be away from base or just to show up for work, than they will fly you to get some utilization. You rarely see a four hour sit with a rig because they cost the company money. I know there are exceptions but contracts with rigs are mutually beneficial for both the pilot group and the airline.

 

[MusicMan]

Come to Air Wisconsin if you'd like a 2/1 duty rig. It isn't that hard to find.

 

[Rekks Inbound]

Yea, Baby! Yea!

Rekks

Seriously, this is just one of the things every pilot in this industry needs to do when they come up on contract negotiations. These, as well as other points that directly effect QOL are what we as an industry need to do to "raise the bar". 3/1 or 4/1 duty rig? Guys, we need to do better than that. Every pilot out there needs to grow a set and stand up to management these days, show them you are worth the money (except GJ; may they rot in he!!). AWAC hung on to their rigs, and you wouldn't believe how much money we make on them. So what if my hourly is $1.50/$2.00 hr less than others. I'll make it up, and then some, in rig pay. Try it on your next contract, I think you'll like it.

Rekks

 

[StaySeated]

I am aware that a 2/1 and other good rigs are out there, but there just are not a lot of examples. I also agree that pilots need to educate themselves on the finer points of contract language instead of flipping to hourly rates and getting a chubby.

 

[Rekks Inbound]

Agreed.

Rekks

 

[ArcticFlier]

SKYW has a duty rig, and it's 2:1. If the scheduled day goes beyond 12 hours, the duty rig is 1:1. What we don't have is a trip rig.


AF

 

[logolight]

Not to create confusion but AWAC also has trip rigs at 4 to 1 which means that for every 4 hours you spend on the entire trip, you're paid 1 hour. This helps when you have two leg days within a four day trip.

 

[ReverseSensing]

At the end of the month you get the larger of your flying credit hours or your duty rig or your trip rig.

Good post, but a minor addition: Some contracts (like QX) will pay the rigs by trip. So if you have 5 trips in a bid, you could be paid trip rig (4:1) for 2 trips, duty rig (2:1) for 2 trips and block (average block in QX's case) for 1 trip, for example.

 

[StaySeated]

Everyone on your negotiating committee should drink for free until the amendable date of your contract. Good stuff.

 

[pgcfii2002]

So do you get duty rig ONLY if it exceeds your flight time (block) per month (say 80 hours)?

 

[ReverseSensing]

So do you get duty rig ONLY if it exceeds your flight time (block) per month (say 80 hours)?

The short answer is yes, usually if you have rigs, if the rig results in more credit hours than block hours, you'll get paid for the higher number of hours.

I guess the easiest way to explain it is that block really matters for duty legality and your logbook. What you care about in terms of pay is credit hours. The rigs determine your credit hours, or what you get paid for.

People get confused when someone points out they got paid for 105 hours one month. They didn't fly (block) 105 hours, they credited 105 hours, through rigs (and day guarantees, etc.).

So depending on your contract, rigs, and your schedules, you could get paid for a lot more hours than you fly. That's why so many threads about hourly pay are somewhat pointless, while threads like this are great.

 

[indianboy7]

So do you get duty rig ONLY if it exceeds your flight time (block) per month (say 80 hours)?

nope....a rig is meant to guarantee a minimum amount of pay for a pilot. It basically assures that the guy will get money for days when he flies one leg and has a 38 hour layover. The company also is somewhat forced to build lines and trips which will maximize the efficiency of crewmember schedules in order to avoid paying a pilot for sitting on his ass doing nothing. This is all applied on a day by day (duty rig), trip by trip (trip rig) basis....

Now, if standard pay exceeds anything from a trip or duty rig, then the pilot gets standard pay. If the pay from a trip or duty rig exceeds standard pay, then the pilot gets the rig pay. Basically, the guy gets whichever amount is more.

An example from last week for me. I flew a 3 day trip. We have a 2:1 duty rig, and that's it. On the first day, we had 8 legs, 11 hours of scheduled duty time. The scheduled block time for the trip was 7 hours. The second day had 2 hours of block time for 7 hours of scheduled duty time. The third day had 6 hours of block time for 7 hours of duty.

on the first day, we'd get paid 5.5 hours (duty rig) or actual block time, whichever is greater. ... we get paid 7 hours

The second day is where we cash in a little bit. duty rig pay is 3.5 hours. block time is 2 hours. We would get paid 3.5 hours for doing 2 hours worth of work. Now, if we ended up sitting on the ground or getting delayed, etc. etc. and our block time exceeded 3.5 hours, we would get paid whatever that block time is (only because we get block or better also ... confused yet??).

The last day should be pretty self-explanitory.

crewmember pay agreements are probably the most confusing things out there. I don't think I'll ever figure it out 100%......

 

[ReverseSensing]

nope....a rig is meant to guarantee a minimum amount of pay for a pilot.

Funny how we each gave him correct info, but I said yes and you said nope.

So now on this thread there are three different examples of how the rigs are applied: Per bid, per trip, and per day. There is a lot of complexity here, but it is important that everyone, take the time to understand not only their own contract, but how other companies do it too.

 

[pgcfii2002]

Makes sense......just worded differently between both of you.

 

[logolight]

Duty rig = per day

Trip rig = Per trip

 

[Comin-In-Hot]

Holy shiot --- ASA need rigs in our flippin' contract.