Factual answers only please (CAL Hiring)

[Plug]

Right now reserve on the 737 is kinda slow, unless there is a bad weather day. I get 12 days off and have done personal dropping (no pay if you do that), however, at our pay it only costs about $80 to drop a day. With a wife that 8 months pregnant, an extra day at home is worth more than $80.

As others have said, 737 is slave labor, 756 is a good mix, and the 777 is going way junior because the trips for junior pilots suck (LGW, CDG, TLV, DEL). As far as commuting goes, anyway you slice it commuting sucks! It seems most of the 737 trips for junior folks are not commuteable except for maybe 1 end. 756 trips, mostly to Europe, are mostly commuteable and thus the reason I am jumping over to the 756 on the next bid.

Cheers

 

[RocketRob]

777 is going way junior because the trips for junior pilots suck (LGW, CDG, TLV, DEL).

I wouldn't say that, its just that being on reserve you don't get called much. So mucho time in the crash pad unless you live near by =). As for the overnights, LGW is ok (free train into town, just low time for a 777 trip), CDG is a great overnight (just lots of traffic on ride back to airport in morning), TLV is one of the best overnights in the system (contrary to popular belief!), and DEL..... well I'll give you that one, but it is interesting; and a cool flight routing.

 

[fxbat]

You guys should push for the Aurora in crawly it is about a 5 min van ride from LGW.
The rooms are 10 times nicer and there is a train behind the hotel. It is close to high street and walking distance to supermarkets. It is home to Delta and American crews every night, and I believe it is cheaper than the Hilton.

 

[Plug]

I wouldn't say that, its just that being on reserve you don't get called much. So mucho time in the crash pad unless you live near by =). As for the overnights, LGW is ok (free train into town, just low time for a 777 trip), CDG is a great overnight (just lots of traffic on ride back to airport in morning), TLV is one of the best overnights in the system (contrary to popular belief!), and DEL..... well I'll give you that one, but it is interesting; and a cool flight routing.

I was just going by what a 777 pilot told me that was on my jumpseat a few weeks back. The LGW hotel is at the airport and supposedly the Gatwick Express is going to stop running. In CDG they apparently changed hotels and the rooms are small and never ready. TLV always seems to be in open time. Then there is DEL ;-)

Now I'm not saying these trips wouldn't be fun to fly and different from doing DCA, or BOS but going to the same handful of cities over and over again probably gets old. Heard the 787 will be a common type with the 777 and thus offer a variety of flying, that is when I plan on bidding over to that.

Cheers

 

[CAL EWR B737]

FYI the following was a blast mail from one of the 756 Assistants to his pilots. Some interesting reading. Things change quick around here so what was accuarate last week may all ready but out dated.

One clarification I have read some on here talking about not being able to move down in aircraft status. We have a two year equipment freeze on all long training courses, however you can be released from that freeze by any upgrade in status (F/O to CA) or upgrade in aircraft type. However once the two year freeze is over one can move down to a smaller aircraft type.




"Last week we had our annual B-756 Flight Standards Meeting in IAH. One of the nice things about being a check airman is the ability to attend these meetings and get the "scoop" of what is going on. I thought I would share the highlights with all of you so you can benefit as well.
Larry Kellner spoke on several subjects:

1. Aircraft delivery
2006 6 - 737-800
2007 2 - 777
2008 30 - 737-8/900
2009 30 - 737 8/900
2009 the first of 20 787's spread over 3 years

We plan to retire the B-737-300 in the 2008 - 2010 time frame. The initial B-787's are planned to replace the B-767-200's although we always have the option to keep them as well if the business plan dictates.

2. Mergers:
Larry said what he has always said, that it is our goal to remain independent and grow at a rate of 5-7% a year which is about the growth rate we have maintained for the last several years. However, if there is a round of mergers among the large carriers we would be forced to look at a partner as well. This is because 80% of out revenue comes from 20% of our corporate accounts. The biggest requirement of our corporate accounts is route structure. There are several large companies that would prefer to be flying us, but don't, because American has a larger route structure. If other airlines become as large as American through mergers then they would draw way even more of these valuable accounts and we couldn't afford to lose them. He said that we have about the same market cap as United and that if there ever was a merger between the two airlines that it was unclear who would be the buyer and who would be bought. He reminded us that NWA has the "golden share" that requires their approval before any other airline can purchase us. This would not exclude us from buying someone, but does protect us from someone buying us. Larry said that there is a lot in the papers these days about mergers, but don't mistake the importance the media puts on this to represent the likelihood of it happening. He did say that he keeps up to date on all of this industry news and that if it ever comes to a merger that he will ensure that the employees are taken care of. We are not talking to anyone about a merger at this time.

3. Satellite Bases: Larry said that there are some real benefits to satellite basing. He mentioned that any satellite basing decision would be tied into PBS and he wanted to let the PBS situation settle down before exploring possible sites. The plan is to look into the possibilities in the spring

Fred Abbott and Clay Watters spoke about:

1. Sat Com for the fleet. We have in our capital budget request a plan for Iridium SATCOM. We currently use IMARSAT SATCOM which is an expensive geosynchronous system with satellites in stationary high orbit. Not only is the service sometimes not available, but the units are very expensive and the cost per call is expensive as well. The Iridium system has numerous satellites in low polar orbit giving much better reception and coverage. The cost for installation is much cheaper and the cost per call is less expensive as well. There will be a portable phone in the cabin for F/A use during medical emergencies. The SATCOM will be used for voice communication to company and MEDLINK as well as data transfer through ACARS. They are currently not certified for CPDLC or ADS but we expect that certification will come shortly after installation. We expect to have the entire B-757 fleet completed before the end of next summer.

2. Electronic Flight Bags (EFB's) are also coming by next summer. They will be a large screen display which will be hard mounted near the clipboard on the B-757. They will be placed on all the CAL fleet with the B-756 getting theirs first. Here are some nice functions of the unit:

It comes with 2 video cameras over the entrance to the cockpit door and the forward galley. Video will be displayed on the EFB.

It will contain:
Jepps
Charts
Aircraft and cabin log book
MEL book
Operations Manual
Flight Manual
It will be tied into the data link system to down load log book write ups as well as update the jepps. This will only occur on the ground and will require no pilot action. It is also tied into GPS and although the airport diagram in your Jepps will not be a moving map, you can find your location on the airport diagram any time by hitting the refresh button which will place a cursor over your present location. The Jepps display can be expanded for those of you like myself who have trouble reading the small print at night. The monitor will have a day mode which is color and a night mode which is background highlighted. The units have an ability to cross load and are redundant. They also have back up battery power with the loss of all electrical power. There are no plans at this time for a paper backup system because of the redundancy and backup provisions.

3. Age 60 rule appears as though it will be voted upon in November. It is being attached to the Transportation Spending Bill and expected to pass. ALPA and the ATA and the FAA are meeting to determine how the rule will be written in the FARs. It is expected that they will have the rule ready to go if and when the bill is made law. There are many implications and at this points this is all speculation because we do not know what the final language of the bill will be assuming it is even approved. But here is the situation as best as I know it right now.

Only pilots who are on the CAL senority list upon the effective date will be allowed to continue flying past age 60.

Since the A fund is frozen you will not incur a penalty if you choose to retire between 60-65. Your B plan is not affected at all by the rule change. Since your lump sum is calculated based on the value of your annuity it will be slightly lower at 65 than it would be at 60. This is because the annuity assumes that you will only live on this income until an average age of death. When you retire 5 years later you will not be drawing benefits during those 5 years making the annuity worth less. By taking a lump sum you are basically receiving the value of the annuity which is now less. If you chose to take the annuity instead of the lump sum there will be no penalty. The good news is that whatever amount you lose in this calculation you will more than make up for with the money being put into your B fund. I am not an expert on retirement issues. Please check with your financial advisors before making any financial decisions being based on what you read here.

You can expect your LTD payments to go up to cover the cost of an aging pilot group. One thing to consider if you were planning on retiring at 60 and now will be staying longer is that you may not need the LTD insurance. Your sick bank will be used first and if you have an extensive sick bank you can go a year or so just using that. It your financial plans were to retire at age 60 any income after that age would be gravy anyway. Something to think about.

4. Hiring: We are planning on hiring 336 pilots in 2007. We are currently hiring 12-16 a week.

5. Lastly, we talked about single engine taxi in during the meeting. It turns out that only 12% of our pilots are using the ability to single engine taxi to the gate after landing. It is a good fuel saver. We are also looking into possibly single engine taxi out for those long conga lines and I will get back to you if we decide to go that route. If you have the opportunity to shut down the right engine please give it some consideration. Make sure that you let the engine cool first (757 - 2 minutes, 767 - 3 minutes). Also make sure you have crossed all active runways and completed the after landing checklist. Leave the bleeds alone and let the left engine run the left pack. Some words of caution: Do not shut down on icy or slippery conditions or during winter operations. Consider the ramp and whether there is an uphill j-line. Also if you have to stop in a congested are please allow yourself a little straight ahead room before trying to turn into the left engine. I have been doing this for a while and it works rather nicely. See what you think.

End"

 

[Paul McCartney]

Fact: CAL is only interviewing those with a four year degree. Does not matter what else you have going for you, i.e. internal recs, etc. No degree=no interview. I just don't understand why they don't make it an "official" requirement like FedEx, Alaska, etc.

 

[psysicx]

Can you drop reserve days for open trips? How long is callout for reserve?

 

[Captain X]

No degree=no interview.

100% not true.

 

[lookin4better]

CAL EWR 737, thanks for that post....lots of good info!

about the satellite bases? Any idea about where these would be and how they work?

 

[CAL EWR B737]

Not sure how they would work. First I have heard of this in a while. In the past the cities or areas that were mentioned:

Bos
Florida
Den
LAX