Flight Options

[dime line]

Hey Fozzy, funny, but so true

 

[Fozzy]

Ya, I could not resist. Way to many guys from the other frac's out there asking, "So when you getting that contract done so we can get a raise?".

Well, WE HAVE A CONTRACT. It may be crap, but we do have one, and we do not have to worry (that much) about the rules changing.

 

[hawkercpt]

never mind. isn't even worth the effort.

 

[Hobbes]

we got a clarification from our PM...the ground travel is the companies responsibility if they use the alternate airport so to me, that means I take a taxi from my home. Also, if they send you out of the alternate, they have to send you back to there (in case you park there.) In that case I will get a taxi home. That won't be bad for me...plus, my duty starts when the taxi shows up in my mind. As far as what they can expect...in 5 years, when they schedule stuff tight, I just tell them it is so, and say "hey, here is how long I think it will take me, I will do my best." They have always been cool with that, and I have missed a few airlines when they schedule it too tight, and I never got in trouble, just got on the next flight.

Also, we were told we will still get priority club points with the new rate card thing.....

 

[BE40Driver]

What about our Hilton points and the Hilton contract? Have you stayed in a Holiday inn express lately? Just heard that Joe S. just bought a house in PHX.

 

[beechjetpilot1]

If you are domiciled in ONT and they want you on a 0700 Southwest flight out of LAX, you are going to have to catch a cab at 0300 or 0330. And then on day 8, if you parked at LAX, you will have to spend a couple extra hours getting home. This will only increase our duty days! I would like to implore all of you NOT TO DRIVE YOUR OWN CAR in that situation unless they are willing to pay for milage and parking at the other airport. If you drive the 75 miles, the least they should do is pay your milage and parking, but nothing was mentioned on the memmo about them paying.

 

[dime line]

Ya know Be40driver I've heard that Joe S is moving to PHX to work with Kenny R. on a new charter deal

 

[dime line]

Hey Hawkercpt......never mind. isn't even worth the effort.

Fozzy,
Well, WE HAVE A CONTRACT. It may be crap, but we do have one, and we do not have to worry (that much) about the rules changing.


You have nothing to say, thats fine, but really whats not worth the effort about what Fozzy said?

 

[Dep676]

Ya know Be40driver I've heard that Joe S is moving to PHX to work with Kenny R. on a new charter deal

I heard they are splitting the old and the new. The old are going with Ken and Swift. The new are going back to Raytheon. You know Joe and Ken are buddies.

 

[Heavy Set]

If you are domiciled in ONT and they want you on a 0700 Southwest flight out of LAX, you are going to have to catch a cab at 0300 or 0330. And then on day 8, if you parked at LAX, you will have to spend a couple extra hours getting home. This will only increase our duty days! I would like to implore all of you NOT TO DRIVE YOUR OWN CAR in that situation unless they are willing to pay for milage and parking at the other airport. If you drive the 75 miles, the least they should do is pay your milage and parking, but nothing was mentioned on the memmo about them paying.

Just another reason to not live in the LA Basin.... Why live there if a one-bedroom condo costs $300K and you have to wait in traffic for hours and hours to get from one side to another? I am surprised more people are not moving to Phoenix or Lost Wages???? LA sucks!!!!!!!

 

[gunfyter]

I heard they are splitting the old and the new. The old are going with Ken and Swift. The new are going back to Raytheon. You know Joe and Ken are buddies.

Splain...

 

[Frac Daddy]

I heard they are splitting the old and the new. The old are going with Ken and Swift. The new are going back to Raytheon. You know Joe and Ken are buddies.

Ok, where did you hear this?

 

[Frac Daddy]

gunfytr,

What he means is that the pre-owned aircraft are going to Swift Aviation and be run by Kenn Ricci, while the new fleet stays with Raytheon.

I know we are eventually are going to be sold but, to me, this does not pass the sniff test.

 

[SheGaveMeClap]

It's the hot new rumor among the former TA pilots. The CW guys don't know anything about it. Here's the skinny:

Joe S. and Kenn are moving all the pre-owned airplanes to PHX. Oh yeah, supposedly Chris H. just bought a house there too, so he's in the loop. It's gonna be a whole new company, and all the new fleets will stay in CGF and operate their own little gig. I just heard it two tours ago.

Spread the word, it's gotta be the truth!!!

 

[Heavy Set]

How many pilots would willingly jump to the used, junky fleet when they could fly new aircraft instead? Would the FLOPS Citation X be considered a used aircraft? Wouldn't mind flying a X....

 

[gunfyter]

This sort of jives with the NJA/Options merger rumours.

We are merging with somebody... otherwise the company would not be fighting so hard on the Merger and Scope sections of our TA.

 

[Dep676]

This sort of jives with the NJA/Options merger rumours.

We are merging with somebody... otherwise the company would not be fighting so hard on the Merger and Scope sections of our TA.

Kind of makes a little sense. Since the other part I heard was that the new stuff was going to NetJets.

 

[Dep676]

How many pilots would willingly jump to the used, junky fleet when they could fly new aircraft instead? Would the FLOPS Citation X be considered a used aircraft? Wouldn't mind flying a X....

Not sure why they would want to stay with the old stuff. May not have a choice though. If you are in the old stuff you might just have to stay there. Also Heavy Set you need to be hired at Options before you can fly the X. If you were to get hired you would start in a small cabin and not see the X for a long time.

 

[gunfyter]

Kind of makes a little sense. Since the other part I heard was that the new stuff was going to NetJets.

Oh boy...

 

[FracCapt]

Kind of makes a little sense. Since the other part I heard was that the new stuff was going to NetJets.

Really? I heard all the airplanes were going to United so that they could have a second shot at their fractional, and all the pilots were going to be divvied up between all the Majors(more pilots may have to be furloughed to make room for all the big heads).

I don't know where you idiots get this stuff from....oh yea, now I remember...you already said it.

 

[Grim Reaper]

It is really rather charming to think that one of the largest Defense Contractors would again put itself in a position of liability.

Ladies, Gentlemen, Why do you think Raytheon gave Ricci the Boot. Because Ricci was Dickin' the Dog and Raytehon was gonna get left holdin' the bag so why not take over. It has happened to Raytheon before. Sell off a subsidary only to have it fail and get left with hat in hand. Not this time guys and gals.

In my view, the future of NUTJETS is in question given its inability to determine how to pay its pilots a living wage and contend with the existing economic conditions. It is clear from the IBT letter to the rank and file NJA pilot that NJA is in dire straits financially.

Just because NUTJETS is a BH company today does not mean NUTJETS will be a BH company tomorrow or next week. Big Daddy War Bucks Warren is not in the habit of writing personal checks to underpin the financial standing of a sudsidariary.

It is also a know fact that Swiift is over extended in one and perhaps several other transportation ventures. In fact, Swift can not even arrange financing for the purchase of a new EMB 145 for Flight Options. So, how is it that Swift could assume the financial liability associated with the service contracts attached to some of the aircraft in the existing Flight Options used fleet while giving up the new fleet entirely? I do not know. I'm just asking!

I do not personally know if Ricci, Salata, or Hertzburg have made living arrangements in PHX. I suspect those that continue the rumors have no proof either.

Fair Winds and Following seas to all NetJets Pilots.

Peace, OUT!!

 

[dime line]

Hey FracCapt, I'm not looking to flame you, but how do you know the rumor is is not true? Just a question

 

[gunfyter]

Just because NUTJETS is a BH company today does not mean NUTJETS will be a BH company tomorrow or next week. Big Daddy War Bucks Warren is not in the habit of writing personal checks to underpin the financial standing of a sudsidariary.


Also interesting because another rumour says we are for sale and Goldman Sacks is the buyer....

 

[Dep676]

That fact is that they are all rumors. There is not much any of us can do about any of it. Even if some turn out to be true.

 

[NJAowner]

My 2 cents

Just because NUTJETS is a BH company today does not mean NUTJETS will be a BH company tomorrow or next week. Big Daddy War Bucks Warren is not in the habit of writing personal checks to underpin the financial standing of a sudsidariary.


Also interesting because another rumour says we are for sale and Goldman Sacks is the buyer....

GF: interesting since Goldman Sachs was one of the original shareholders of NetJets and sold out to BH. RTS also was at GS before he took over EJA.

As far as merger and scope, the company may be fighting hard since once it is in a contract it never comes out, and who kows what is up 5, 10, 15 years from now.

Also keep in mind, Wall Street has RTS as the even money favorite as WB's hand picked successor to run BH.

Fly safe.

 

[Frac Daddy]

Hey FracCapt, I'm not looking to flame you, but how do you know the rumor is is not true? Just a question

You want him to prove a rumor is not true? Seems to me that the burden of proof is on those that start or spread the rumor.

 

[FracCapt]

Hey FracCapt, I'm not looking to flame you, but how do you know the rumor is is not true? Just a question

I don't KNOW it's not true....but I don't for a second believe it is. Some stupid rumor like this(though it's a bit different each time) pops up every few months. It's just a bunch of people either worrying about stupid sh!t or trying to spread BS for their own amusement. You have no clue how fast rumors, no matter how ridiculous, spread at this place...and it's due to the idiots that automatically assume it must be true and start repeating it to everybody they run into.

It's a rumor...how can I prove it's NOT true? Then again, where is the proof that it IS true?

 

[waveoff]

Here's another rumor for y'all!

I heard this one in a maintenance hangar when I was in CGF a couple of days ago. Evidently, FLOPs is going to start flying cargo at night with some of the older planes. If it's true, I can only assume it's to make up for lost revenue. The planes will be converted at a maintenance base and crews will be strategically placed to fly the trips at night. I don't really believe this one but I thought I would throw it out there for you rumor dogs. Maybe someone has more info on this?

On a sidenote... Are you guys flying alot? My last two tours were full 8 day stints but I hardly worked! I was on a few different planes but while I was on them they were green. I talked to some other crews and they said that they were working their butts off while others were at home for most of their tours on standby. Our schedulers probably still rely upon the "sodomizer" to do their jobs for them. Why do they pay someone to be a scheduler when the company relies upon the "sodomizer" to schedule things? This company needs to have a person, not a computer, to assign trips and such. This might help avoid the "working hard" and "hardly working" groups. But what do I know...I'm just another number on a meaningless seniority list.

 

[SheGaveMeClap]

My understanding is the schedulers are supposed to be making sure the sodomizer is doing a good job, and to change things they don't like. However, I've been doing three and four 2.5 hour repo legs each tour. Doesn't sound very efficient to me. However, the schedulers on my row are friggin' idiots. I called in to get released early on day eight last tour, as my airplane was in mx with an engine REMOVED from it. They told me I couldn't leave early because there were still trips in the hold file and they might need to assign one to us. I said we only had one engine on the airplane, and they said they might need to repo an airplane to us, so we could repo somewhere else and pick up a trip. Think we are short on crews or airplanes? I would say so....

 

[FracCapt]

My understanding is the schedulers are supposed to be making sure the sodomizer is doing a good job, and to change things they don't like. However, I've been doing three and four 2.5 hour repo legs each tour. Doesn't sound very efficient to me.

I used to question those long repos all the time. I kept getting the same answer...it's cheaper than a charter. Well, I guess most of the time it is. What really irritates me is when I do a 4hr repo(not common, but it does happen) to cover a Beechjet or Citation trip. I'd be willing to bet that with a little schedule shifting, I could have done a sub 2hr repo to cover a different trip, and somebody else closer to my trip start point could have covered that. When doing a Hawker trip, there's less flexibility since they can't go down...but when doing a Citation or Beechjet trip, there is a ton of flexibility there. The problem is usually that the row schedulers don't communicate well enough with one another to see a better solution.

I quit worrying about it, because none of my suggestions accomplished anything. When I see something really outrageous, I email my PM and Joe and let them know about it. I have gotten things changed a couple times by doing that. One instance was an ATL-SAF repo(wintertime, 100+kt headwind) for a Beechjet trip to the Dallas area. A buddy of mine in a Beechjet was in ABQ doing a repo to MCI to cover a Beechjet trip to Miami...neither of us had any planned trips later that day or the next. I suggested to scheduling that the trips be swapped, but they said no. I emailed a couple of PM's about it, and within 30 mins it had been changed so that they went to SAF and we went to MCI. We cut out 90 mins of repo time on the Beechjet, and 2hrs on the Hawker. In this situation, contacting certain people actually worked...but several other times it has fallen on deaf ears. Oh well...I just drive the limo, and go home on day 8.