Inhofe offers two amendments to faa reauthorization

[HA25]

oh.... and as an aside, if I have to chose between more pilots making less money and working their a$$ off... vs less pilots making more money and being rested, I'd take the latter. However I don't have to worry about that since I'm sure unit labor costs will go up for pilots, even if these rules don't come into effect. Age 65 alone will assure that.. much less 1500 & ATP to drop gear on an RJ.. How many guys will have the money to pay their way to 1500 hours in order to go make $14K/yr? not too many I'm sure.

 

[tailwindz]

To the OMG the sky is falling crowd:

You guys would like to keep the existing regulations so that you can WHORE out yourselves for the coin. That is you have to do so to makeup for the financial situation you find yourself in, or is it just because you want too? All the while you expect me (or whomever) to sit next to you and do your job while you sit and sleep or vegetate in your seat. Don't make your problem, mine.

For the Supplemental operators, I think the least effect will be on the 74 cargo operators. It will mean more heavy crewing, but I think that will make trip rigs a priority for those that do not have them, thus again leveling the field. The biggest effect is going to be on the passenger operators, especially the narrow body ones. It will remove alot of floor space to create Class 1 rest facilities.

"Class 1 rest facility: a bunk or other surface that allows for a flat sleeping
position, is separated from both the flight deck and passenger cabin to provide
isolation from noise and disturbance and provides controls for light and​

temperature."

The added cost of crewing will just be passed on to the customer as an operational cost just like fuel. Adding say even $350 per hour to a 747 crew cost is not near as much as fuel price increase. Do the math.

As for cargo demand, it either has to be there ASAP or it can take the slow boat. Heavy crews alone will not make the switch.

Maximum Flight Duty Period (hours and minutes) based
on
Rest Facility and Number of Pilots
Class 1 Rest
Facility
Time of
Start
(Home
Base)
3 Pilots 4 Pilots
0000-0559 13:50 16:05
0600-0659 15:10 17:40
0700-1259 16:30 19:20
1300-1659 15:10 17:40​

1700-2359 13:50 16:05

So, really? The sky is falling? IMHO, I think not.

 

[HA25]

Every company's got 'em.... most of the time their the rough around the edge type, maybe a former trucker, or cop... they're now a big airline pilot and they whore out for the OT like nobody's business.. Wish we still had real unions in this country, the type with thugs who pay you a visit with baseball bats.

 

[pilotyip]

Does this help?

look up elastic and inelastic demand and get back to me..

Elasticity: The degree to which a demand or supply curve reacts to a change in price is the curve's elasticity. Elasticity varies among products because some products may be more essential to the consumer.

Elastic Demand: As an example, if a 2% increase in price resulted in a 1% decrease in quantity demanded, the price elasticity of demand would be equal to approximately 0.5. It is not exactly 0.5 because of the specific definition for elasticity uses the average of the initial and final values when calculating percentage change. When the elasticity is calculated over a certain arc or section of the demand curve, it is referred to as the arc elasticity and is defined as the magnitude (absolute value)

Inelastic Demand: Products that are necessities are more insensitive to price changes because consumers would continue buying these products despite price increases.

 

[HA25]

Inelastic Demand: Products that are necessities are more insensitive to price changes because consumers would continue buying these products despite price increases.

So...

With regards to air commerce, the moving of air freight, whether for AMC, the Chinese, the Arabs or otherwise falls in this area. It is macro economically dependent, but not in and of itself a factor of the business cycle; rather it's driven by it. Moving Business travelers (the only profitable segment of airline travel) is also dependent on the business cycle and not a factor in the demand curve (to the chagrin of all those on-line business meeting companies). So, the only segment that could be argued to be "Elastic" is personal/vacation or recreational travel... and thanks to Priceline.com, Travelocity, et al, that's been the bane of every non-rev airline employee and for all I care .. good riddance!

In the end, pilot labor is insignificant as a cost, compared to the capital costs and fuel costs of running an airline... however, what managers love is that labor costs are flexible (thus why we have unions)... but when you drive a regulatory wedge into the mix... that flexibility is reduced in favor of labor.. squeezing the manager's profits, and their bonus.

 

[tailwindz]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THE LAST WORD "Bonus"

And there in lies the real problem.

 

[atpcliff]

RH: What is the general plan for the company? How many more pilots, %age wise, will they need?

I hope the transition ends well for u guys!

cliff
LUX

 

[pilotyip]

RH: What is the general plan for the company? How many more pilots, %age wise, will they need?

I hope the transition ends well for u guys!

cliff
LUX

This is no problem on the pax side we meet everything in spades, but cargo side is a new ball game. We hope the US will go like EU, Night time Jet curfew, no jet T/O or Land between 2300L and 0700L, makes crew rest management easy. Looking at a lot of options, like going out of business ha ha!, no fly between 0000 and 0800, having a crew come in every 2 hours stand hot crew for 6 hours, go into 8 hours of rest come back for another 6 hours of hot crew, moving to Canada, having crews in LRD that stand hor crew for six hours. Means more time on the road, less money much harder to rank up 100 hour months. The guys on this kind of schedule will be as fatiqued as anyone flying today, but they will be full legal. This assumes that the final ruling is as it stands now, but legally rested has nothing to do with being alert and capable of not flying when fatigued. There is no way anyone who lives on their days off on a 7AM to 11PM wake cycle with their family, can now pick up three night of 11PM to 7AM flying and not be exhausted. If you did not sleep in the cockpit, you did not survive. The biggest sham in Part 117, is no controlled napping ion the cockpit like some Int’l air carriers

 

[pilotyip]

RH: What is the general plan for the company? How many more pilots, %age wise, will they need?

I hope the transition ends well for u guys!

cliff
LUX

we hope the US will go like EU, Night time Jet curfew, no jet T/O or Land between 2300L and 0700L, makes crew rest management easy. Looking at a lot of options, like going out of business ha ha!, no fly between 0000 and 0800, having a crew come in every 2 hours stand hot crew for 6 hours, go into 8 hours of rest come back for another 6 hours of hot crew, moving to Canada, having crews in LRD that stand hor crew for six hours. Means more time on the road, less money much harder to rank up 100 hour months. The guys on this kind of schedule will be as fatiqued as anyone flying today, but they will be full legal. This assumes that the final ruling is as it stands now, but legally rested has nothing to do with being alert and capable of not flying when fatigued. There is no way anyone who lives on their days off on a 7AM to 11PM wake cycle with their family, can now pick up three night of 11PM to 7AM flying and not be exhausted. If you did not sleep in the cockpit, you did not survive. The biggest sham in Part 117, is no controlled napping ion the cockpit like some Int’l air carriers BTW There nothing here that is company policy, I am not even slightly involved in anything to do with a solution, this is just open chat between a couple old flyin buddies shooting the shut.

 

[atpcliff]

It WILL be interesting, that's for sure!

AA is saying they will need 2300 if the new rules go into effect, and DAL about 500. I heard before CAL would need something like 1300 more.