Great Lakes commuting from East Coast?

[Vladimir Lenin]

Has anyone done that?
Please spare the negative comments ( I did the search). I need a place to work and I am not getting any younger. With my times, I think I may be a pretty good fit.

Thanks, I don't think I can take another summer of dodging CBs in a ratty 172 and yelling "right rudder"

 

[white E]

Communting anywhere sucks....even if you commute from...IAD - LGA, it still sucks. The furthur you have to commute, the more flexible you need to be. I commuted from PHX-DCA, CLT, PIT, PHL....it sucked every single time...even if I was in first class drinking like a fish.

I think Great Mistakes has a ORD domicile....that would be a lot easier than DEN!

-W-

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

I think Great Mistakes has a ORD domicile....that would be a lot easier than DEN!

-W-

Do they? ORD? I dont think they fly east of the river

 

[Godvek]

Do they? ORD? I dont think they fly east of the river

They don't fly east of the river. Silly Rabbit.

 

[gt1900]

No they don't have an ORD base. The ORD base went away 3 years ago. As far as commuting goes. It all depends on what you make of it. Yes, it can suck, but for me it beat the hell out of living in DEN. I commuted out of SEA and it wasn't that bad. If you set your expectations low, then you won't be pissed when the commute gets a little tough. Bank your sick time for missed commutes since there is no commuter clause and the CP could care less why you missed your commute. In the event of missed commutes honesty isn't the best policy at Lakes. Call in sick and take the day off!!

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

Can Lakers commute on just about anyone? What's the best way from PHL, BWI, IAD or DUL?

 

[Turbosnake03]

Can you Great Lakes guys commute on almost any airline?? If not, which are the ones that will or won't let you?

thanks

 

[Cardinal]

You can jump an most anybody. We have one guy going to EWR, another to BOS, we've have had one from ALB, one from PHL, etc. Just plan to lose a whole bunch of your 10 days off.

 

[labbats]

Communting anywhere sucks....even if you commute from...IAD - LGA, it still sucks. The furthur you have to commute, the more flexible you need to be. I commuted from PHX-DCA, CLT, PIT, PHL....it sucked every single time...even if I was in first class drinking like a fish.

I think Great Mistakes has a ORD domicile....that would be a lot easier than DEN!

-W-

I don't think ORD even has turboprops flying into it anymore.

 

[Flechas]

I think the best thing to do is to move, at least while you are junior. I don't know if you are maried or not, but for what I can see, QOL decreases beig time if you commute.

 

[Guitar Guy]

You can jump an most anybody. We have one guy going to EWR, another to BOS, we've have had one from ALB, one from PHL, etc. Just plan to lose a whole bunch of your 10 days off.

Cardinal's right on. Sometimes you'll find commutable lines to bid, other months you won't. And as a new guy, you likely won't get a shot at the commutable lines for several months anways. Definitely budget some time and cash for commuting in early and maybe overnighting in DEN after your late finish on your last day. Of course, you can sometimes just bite the bullet and pick up some flying to make extra cash and log some extra flight hours for those times when you can't get home between scheduled trips. Most Lakers can tell you wonderful stories about 24-hour-and-one-minute breaks between 5- or 6-day trips when it will be virutally impossible to commute, especially out to the east coast.

And always remember with commuting, that certain times of the year are just plain tough to commute, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's and the summertime. And DEN is popular place for skiers and the outdoors-y types pretty much year round.

 

[Guitar Guy]

Can you Great Lakes guys commute on almost any airline?? If not, which are the ones that will or won't let you?

thanks

I don't know of any airline that barred Lakers when I worked there. Frontier gives passes to GLA employees under a reciprocal agreement which helps with commuting, because pass riders travel at a higher standby priority than regular jumpseaters under the agreement.

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

Can anyone post a super-junior, new hire schedule for someone based in Denver?
Is DEN and PHX only bases? Cheyenne is no longer an option?

 

[Guitar Guy]

Bases, other than DEN, can come and go. A few years ago, PGA was a 1900D base and CYS has been both an EMB-120 and a 1900D base in the past. PHX is a relatively new base.

Sorry I can't help you on the schedules but it will vary. Some schedules have early starts and late ends on the last day, some don't. Trips are often 5 or 6 days long. There's also another type of schedule called "high speeds" where one leaves during the last bank out of DEN, goes to their destination and stays on duty the entire night before flying back the next morning. On high speeds, the company will provide a hotel but you may end up working a little extra during the night, perhaps ferrying a plane or some other duty. Although a few pilots like high-speeds, it's not uncommon for junior F/O's to end up with them.

 

[Cardinal]

Do four of these straddling every weekend and you have the average newhire schedule. This is actually a fairly productive 5-day by Lakes standards. The lines have had alot of flying the last few months, upwards of 90 hours. But that's after a solid year of 10-11 day off, 75 hour lines.

Jul 2005 BE1 pairings
DAY DH C FLTNO DPS-ARS DEPL ARRL BLKT SEGT GRNT TBLK TDHD TCRD TPAY TDUTY LAYOVER


TH 5143 DEN-LAR 1035 1120 45 46
TH 5144 LAR-DEN 1135 1218 43 44
TH 5181 DEN-LAR 1320 1405 45 46
TH 5181 LAR-WRL 1415 1517 102 102 18
TH 5174 WRL-LAR 1535 1637 102 102 10
TH 5174 LAR-DEN 1647 1730 43 44 115
TH 5027 DEN-AIA 1845 1940 55 55 10
TH 5027 AIA-CDR 1950 2016 26 29 621 0 628 0 1056 CDR 903
D-END: 2031L (RR 800) REPT: 0534L BEST WESTERN (308) 432-3305 TAXI
FR 5012 CDR-AIA 0619 0644 25 27 10
FR 5012 AIA-DEN 0654 0750 56 57 50
FR 5167 DEN-GJT 0840 0947 107 108 228 0 232 0 428 GJT 2018
D-END: 1002L (CR 1100) REPT: 0620L LA QUINTA INN (970) 241-2929
SA 5166 GJT-DEN 0720 0820 100 109 30
SA 5061 DEN-FMN 0850 1012 122 124 18
SA 5062 FMN-DEN 1030 1150 120 125 47
SA 5114 DEN-AIA 1237 1332 55 55 10
SA 5114 AIA-CDR 1342 1408 26 29 503 0 522 0 803 CDR 2136
D-END: 1423L (NR 900) REPT: 1159L BEST WESTERN (308) 432-3305 TAXI
SU 5114 CDR-AIA 1259 1324 25 27 10
SU 5114 AIA-DEN 1334 1430 56 57 50
SU DH 5101 DEN-BFF 1520 1613 53 28 BE1 121 28 152 0 414 BFF 1322
D-END: 1613L (NR 900) REPT: 0535L HAMPTON INN (308) 635-5200 SHUTTLE
MO 5098 BFF-DEN 0635 0730 55 103 45
MO 5017 DEN-CYS 0815 0850 35 41 10
MO 5172 CYS-DEN 0900 0935 35 43 50
MO 5131 DEN-LBL 1025 1245 120 122 15
MO 5131 LBL-WDG 1300 1350 50 50 15
MO 5132 WDG-LBL 1405 1455 50 50 15
MO 5132 LBL-DEN 1510 1530 120 123 30
MO 5019 DEN-CYS 1600 1635 35 41 20
MO 5024 CYS-DEN 1655 1730 35 43 735 0 816 1 1210
D-END: 1745L --------------------------------------
TOTALS BLOCK 2248 DHD 28 CREDIT 2430 T.A.F.B. 10410

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

Ok, am I reading this right? 10 to 20 minute turnarounds?
And, what do the numbers after the times mean i.e. TH 5143 DEN-LAR 1035 1120 45 46

 

[AdSo81]

The sched for this month for a fairly new guy seem to average 11 days off and about 90 hours of flying....the fun part for this month, most of my 11 days off come with in the first two weeks of the month. After that...a 6 and a 5 day trip seperated by a 24 hour break. Pretty hard to commute for about half the month if you were to ask me. If you u dont want to commute, Denver certainly isnt a bad place to live, if you can take advantage of your days off there is plenty to keep you busy. Its not super uncommon for some high speeders to use there days to ski during the winter.

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

It's an OK place to live, but probably not on Lakes paycheck
back east things are cheaper and I dont really ski

 

[staylow]

Hey Vald-

What up dog? Commuting from the eastcoast into DEN will be just about the same from any place you might try. You probably want to try the "commuter special" the first couple of times you commute until you have figured it out what works best.

Commuter Special: The very first flight going from your nearest airport to DEN. For me, a former Laker, I commuted from Kansas for three years and United was the only ride to DEN. I always tried the 0715 flight because 90 percent of the time somebody over slept and that left a seat for me.

Be sure to score some passes from the pass bureau because if some other United or United Express pilot is jumpseating you are last. So if there are two seats and you don't have a pass United goes to DEN with an open seat. "We only take one jumpseater" that's what they say. Remember that so when you're a captain and there are two United jumpseaters who want a ride on your plane...you can leave one. I did! Makes a brother feel good.

See ya!
Staylow

 

[Flechas]

Hey Vlad, did you get a job offer?

 

[labbats]

Holy crap!


TH 5143 DEN-LAR 1035 1120 45 46
TH 5144 LAR-DEN 1135 1218 43 44
TH 5181 DEN-LAR 1320 1405 45 46
TH 5181 LAR-WRL 1415 1517 102 102 18
TH 5174 WRL-LAR 1535 1637 102 102 10
TH 5174 LAR-DEN 1647 1730 43 44 115
TH 5027 DEN-AIA 1845 1940 55 55 10
TH 5027 AIA-CDR 1950 2016 26 29 621 0 628 0 1056 CDR 903

 

[Cardinal]

Ok, am I reading this right? 10 to 20 minute turnarounds?
And, what do the numbers after the times mean i.e. TH 5143 DEN-LAR 1035 1120 45 46

Block Time is :45 minutes, Credit Time (arcanely based on historical block "segment times," and what you'll actually get paid for, no matter what happens) is :46.

10-20 minute turns aren't an issue at the outstations, you just stay on the airplane, cross the seatbelts, load up your 3 passengers and blast off again. It's the :45 minute turns in Denver that kill you, when you need to eat lunch, drop a load, do the paperwork for the next leg, and hike a 1/4 mile back out to the airplane.

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

Hey Vlad, did you get a job offer?

no, but that's where my app will go in a month or so

 

[Guitar Guy]

Holy crap!


TH 5143 DEN-LAR 1035 1120 45 46
TH 5144 LAR-DEN 1135 1218 43 44
TH 5181 DEN-LAR 1320 1405 45 46
TH 5181 LAR-WRL 1415 1517 102 102 18
TH 5174 WRL-LAR 1535 1637 102 102 10
TH 5174 LAR-DEN 1647 1730 43 44 115
TH 5027 DEN-AIA 1845 1940 55 55 10
TH 5027 AIA-CDR 1950 2016 26 29 621 0 628 0 1056 CDR 903

]

That's not atypical or all that bad. For a 1035 departure, your duty starts at 0935 (unless they are back to 30-minute shows). And you are off duty 15 minutes, if I recall correctly at the end of the day. So that means a crewmember is on duty for a shade under 10 hours, assuming the 1-hour show at the beginning. Given that the contractual limit is 14 hours and the FAR limit is 16 hours, this day doesn't come close to the limits.

I guess you might be surprised by the number of legs, but given how short some of those are, the total block time for the day looks to be about 4 hours, 53 minutes. It can get a bit busy on those short legs, talking with ATC, getting ATIS/ASOS/AWOS, calling back times, making traffic calls and whatnot. What can also get a bit hectic is a day that long with limited breaks. The longest one on the day above is 1 hour, 45 minutes, which is long enough to relax and grab a bite to eat.

That said, throw some weather or traffic delays and some days you just got behind with little or no chance to catch up.

 

[crashpad]

insane in the membrane...INSANE IN THE BRAIN!!!!!

 

[BarbrPole2theOM]

]
the total block time for the day looks to be about 4 hours, 53 minutes. QUOTE]

Actually it is about 6 hrs and 21 min. I actually like those days, keeps you busy and you don't have to spend all day sitting around getting tired and listening to the normal crew room talk.

 

[gt1900]

You guys think 15 to 20 minutes to turn a 1900 is hard.....Try turning a 717 or 737 in 30 minutes. That's what SWA and AAI do all day long. I remember bitching about only having 1 hr. to eat lunch during the day. Well, I just flew a 5 leg trip last Thurs. up and down the east coast and the longest sit was 43 min. No crew meals or anytime to get lunch. Thank god the Cpt. ran up and got us a sandwich to eat on the way to LGA. I would much rather stay busy and fly 7 hrs a day and get 15 to 18 days off then have 2 hr sits, fly 4 hrs a day, and only get 11 days off. While I'm at work, work me like a slave. Then let me go home and enjoy my time off!

 

[tattoo13]

Here you are..

I have been at lakes for 2 1/2 years...been a captian for about 1 1/2 years and I commuted from msp and now sea...Commuting sucks anyway you look at it..summer are the worst..last week is a great example...I had a 10:30am show in den...all flights from sea to den that morning way oversold...so I left sea at 11:59pm thursday night...flew suncountry to msp...arrived late and just made a 6:45am flight on united out of msp to den...I looked at all my options and that was the only way to get to work....Your QOL even at lakes is 100% better if you live in phx or den...cant stress that point enough....