Mesa pilots in PHX with plywood boards?

[ballsdeep123]

YES.

For any CDO less than 4 hours, the crew is allotted ONE hotel room for all 4 crew members to share. This is actually a recent "improvement" . . . prior to about 3 months ago, there was NO HOTEL PROVIDED.

Since it's just too wierd to check into a hotel room with 1 bed for 2.5 hours with 3 other (mixed-gender) crewmembers, the VAST majority of most crews just bring sleeping bags, cots, pillows, earplugs, jammies, and sleep masks and just sack out in the plane.

Most CDO's on the west coast have 4 legs, starting at 1900, flying until 0900 (14 hrs). By day 3, you're a zombie, and by day 4, you're toast. So you either sleep on the plane, or you call fatigue and take your chances.

I've done both.
--------------------------------------------------------

Only contract protection is CDO's can't be scheduled >14 hrs. So the company came up with 13:56 hr schedules. Clever, eh?

A sample: (Out, off, block time, turn around time)

BSE REPT: 1925L

2752 PHX-SBP 2010-2049 139 25
2794 SBP-LAS 2114-2224 115 127
2866 LAS-MFR 2351-0157 206 353 (3:53 turn, so lights out and 3 hrs of sleep'n on a jet plane)
2704 MFR-PHX 0550-0906 214

D-END: 0921L

Total duty: 13:56


Figure 90 min to get home, 90 min to get back, 90 min to sleep/eat/exercise/clean up/kiss wife/pay bills, and you have at BEST 5.5 hrs of sleep during the middle of the day. By day 4, you will be WIPED OUT. (I'm dead by day 3)

Company response: These are legal, they are allowed per the contract, and somebody must have bid the line. All true.

My response: Avoid these lines at all costs. I know my limits . . . because I've flown past them on these shifts and scared the bee-jezus out of myself, and seen some unbelieveable stuff from the guy on the other side of the box as well.

Fatigue is a funny thing, and will creep up on you when you least expect it. I can say with certainity that I've taken off feeling fine, then been drop dead tired 20 minutes into the flight. Kinda late to deal with at that point.

Why do you people work there?? I would rather work at McDonald's than deal with that kind of treatment. At least you get to fly a big shinny jet for less than you could make at McDonald's. But hey, at least you upgrade in two years or not really. It seems Mesa has seen it's best days. Now that airlines are making more money they might not go with the cheapest any more realizing that Mesa's product is about as bad as it gets. I guess you really do get what you pay for.

This is by no means a jab towards you Soverytired. Thanks for showing people what it's like there.

 

[ttuite]

Why do you people work there?? I would rather work at McDonald's than deal with that kind of treatment. At least you get to fly a big shinny jet for less than you could make at McDonald's. But hey, at least you upgrade in two years or not really. It seems Mesa has seen it's best days. Now that airlines are making more money they might not go with the cheapest any more realizing that Mesa's product is about as bad as it gets. I guess you really do get what you pay for.

This is by no means a jab towards you Soverytired. Thanks for showing people what it's like there.

Let me preface these remarks by saying that they are intended for only folks who think like this guy. I am always amazed when I read someone who writes the above. You just don't have a clue. Do you honestly believe that people have choices of all of the airlines and then sign up at Mesa? Could it be that Mesa is the airline who gave them a job? Maybe you would rather work at Macs but I sure wouldn't. I worked ther once and they treated me even worse than Mesa and certainly did not pay as well. As far as you and others comments to quit, well if you give me a job as an FO at another airline and pay me in excess of 80K to start then I would consider starting over. In the 6 1/2 years I have worked at Mesa I have NEVER flown with an FO or Captain that I didn't like. Can you say that about your airline? Let me paint a picture for you: the quality of life and treatment by management sucks, yet the people are great. I wouldn't trade ONE Mesa pilot for 10 whining United, Delta, ASA, Comair, or any other Major or regional. There are good people in all of those groups but the majority of them are big whining babies who have never had a real job in their life. As far as the future for Mesa is concerned, if management doesn't clean up its act they will be out of business in 10 years. I don't believe that there are very many Mesa people who care that much. The Majors will all be hiring, and all of the Mesa pilots will be moving on because guess what, while putting up with all of the bull crap at Mesa they picked up thousands of hours of PIC Turbine, and that folks is what makes you marketable. As far as the race to the bottom, any sympathy I might have had for you or others disappeared when the Mesa bashing started. I and other will be flying "real airliners, for real pay and working conditions" while you and others will be flying your little "puddle jumper" for your "airline" that you are not sure will even be in business in 5 years. the bottom line is that we are all management whores, You are just a higher class whore.

 

[siucavflight]

how does this equate to 80K a year?
http://airlinepilotcentral.com/airlines/major-national-lcc/mesa.html
Seven year CA pay on the CRJ is 66 an hour.
You get 75 hours a month.
That equals 4950 a month which equals 59400 a year before taxes. How are you making over 80K a year?

 

[pdub20s]

aaaahhh, good ol' flight info!! the only aviation forum bored that allows you to throw racial slurs and offensive comments and everyone sits around and laughs at it.

 

[ttuite]

how does this equate to 80K a year?
http://airlinepilotcentral.com/airlines/major-national-lcc/mesa.html
Seven year CA pay on the CRJ is 66 an hour.
You get 75 hours a month.
That equals 4950 a month which equals 59400 a year before taxes. How are you making over 80K a year?

First of all what you are reading is the base pay. There is not a line holder at Mesa who is only working base except the CDO's. (god bless anyone who has to work those) As for the rest, it's called JA. JA and open time is paid at double time at Mesa. Also, don't forget per diem. Per diem is great when you are TDY. It is then 24/7. This is due to our short staffing. My last pay stub had me at 76K for the year. I will now make 80K by the end of the year. For 7-8 year Captains that I know who hustle, 90K+ is not that unusual. I know an 9 year Captain who will make 100K this year but he has been rode hard and put away wet this year. Most of our 20+ year Captains will make over 100K just due to the $109.00/hr rate on the 900. When I talk with pilots from other carriers I find that the W2s aren't all that different. It is the QOL issues that are very different. If I was at Skywest I could make the same money and probably have 3 to 4 days off a month or more, work far less than 14-16 hours a day, and get paid for things that I don't do. At a union carrier like Comair, ASA, or AWAC, I would even do better. I average 10 days off a bid period, don't get paid for cancellations, and constantly have the interpertation of my contract changed. Things are not rosy at Mesa by any strech of the imagination, but there is money to be made. I didn't sign on with a commuter in 2000 for the quality of life. I signed on to get the experience to go to a major. I, like many others just got stuck after 9/11. Every day I am thankful that I got stuck at Mesa. I have been a Captain for all but 6 months of my career, work has been steady, and as I stated earlier I work with some of the best "whores" in the industry. I guess my biggest problem must be that that I have low expectations. But, I am very happy. Good news is that the looming pilot shortage is here and this broken down, bottom feeding, scumbag Mesa whore will more than likely be moving on within the next year or so. Life is all about what you make it. Believe it or not people in Somalia smile too.

 

[siucavflight]

First of all what you are reading is the base pay. There is not a line holder at Mesa who is only working base except the CDO's. (god bless anyone who has to work those) As for the rest, it's called JA. JA and open time is paid at double time at Mesa. Also, don't forget per diem. Per diem is great when you are TDY. It is then 24/7. This is due to our short staffing. My last pay stub had me at 76K for the year. I will now make 80K by the end of the year. For 7-8 year Captains that I know who hustle, 90K+ is not that unusual. I know an 9 year Captain who will make 100K this year but he has been rode hard and put away wet this year. Most of our 20+ year Captains will make over 100K just due to the $109.00/hr rate on the 900. When I talk with pilots from other carriers I find that the W2s aren't all that different. It is the QOL issues that are very different. If I was at Skywest I could make the same money and probably have 3 to 4 days off a month or more, work far less than 14-16 hours a day, and get paid for things that I don't do. At a union carrier like Comair, ASA, or AWAC, I would even do better. I average 10 days off a bid period, don't get paid for cancellations, and constantly have the interpertation of my contract changed. Things are not rosy at Mesa by any strech of the imagination, but there is money to be made. I didn't sign on with a commuter in 2000 for the quality of life. I signed on to get the experience to go to a major. I, like many others just got stuck after 9/11. Every day I am thankful that I got stuck at Mesa. I have been a Captain for all but 6 months of my career, work has been steady, and as I stated earlier I work with some of the best "whores" in the industry. I guess my biggest problem must be that that I have low expectations. But, I am very happy. Good news is that the looming pilot shortage is here and this broken down, bottom feeding, scumbag Mesa whore will more than likely be moving on within the next year or so. Life is all about what you make it. Believe it or not people in Somalia smile too.

Well if you are counting per-diem as your income(which I dont) and you are working all of your days off, and maxing out on time then I can see it. To me my days off are worth much more then what I could make going in to work. and you must be on the road a lot, after all Mesa pays the lowest per-diem out there at 1.25.
Believe it or not there are some regionals that you can work at that allow you to have a decent QOL and pay pretty well.

 

[acaTerry]

Why do you people work there?? I would rather work at McDonald's than deal with that kind of treatment. At least you get to fly a big shinny jet for less than you could make at McDonald's. But hey, at least you upgrade in two years or not really. It seems Mesa has seen it's best days. Now that airlines are making more money they might not go with the cheapest any more realizing that Mesa's product is about as bad as it gets. I guess you really do get what you pay for.

This is by no means a jab towards you Soverytired. Thanks for showing people what it's like there.

Haven't you heard of SJS yet?

 

[ttuite]

Well if you are counting per-diem as your income(which I dont) and you are working all of your days off, and maxing out on time then I can see it. To me my days off are worth much more then what I could make going in to work. and you must be on the road a lot, after all Mesa pays the lowest per-diem out there at 1.25.
Believe it or not there are some regionals that you can work at that allow you to have a decent QOL and pay pretty well.

I know that there are. Unfortunately I am not working at one of them. My statement was just a response to someone who was trying to raise the BS flag on me. It is in no way an endorsement to apply to Mesa. I try to make the best out of the cards I am delt.

 

[rickair7777]

Well if you are counting per-diem as your income(which I dont) and you are working all of your days off, and maxing out on time then I can see it. To me my days off are worth much more then what I could make going in to work. and you must be on the road a lot, after all Mesa pays the lowest per-diem out there at 1.25.
Believe it or not there are some regionals that you can work at that allow you to have a decent QOL and pay pretty well.

I can compare mesa paystubs with my current airline...but total income is not the whole story...

Since I have 6-8 more days off per month now, I like to pro-rate mesa pay based on days worked. I get paid about twice as much now (still at a regional, not comair). And that's after giving up my seniority at mesa!

 

[siucavflight]

I can compare mesa paystubs with my current airline...but total income is not the whole story...

Since I have 6-8 more days off per month now, I like to pro-rate mesa pay based on days worked. I get paid about twice as much now (still at a regional, not comair). And that's after giving up my seniority at mesa!

That is a valid point, I dont know what the average work month is like at Mesa, but I dont think that they get as many days off as most regionals. I hope that this new contract gets you guys better work rules at Mesa, after all we are all in this together.