How can it be that in the last 2 months I have flown with 4 FO's that have all been here around 10-11 months and I am hearing the following from them all:
1. I have never once been through the fatigue process. We have had some long days but my captains (intentionally not capitalized) say that the company is keeping track of grievance calls.
2. I did not know that you could order more than 3 meals in a day.
3. I have had to stay in plenty of smoking rooms. My captains said that if we moved to another hotel we would not get our rest adjusted.
4. I never heard of getting the 10 hours rest adjusted upon arrival at the hotel.
5. No idea what FRDA or RAATS stand for.
6. My other captains have never told me what is MEL'd on the plane, I don't even know where to look.
There are others. I know, I know, they should know their contract, etc. But they are still looking up to the Captain in many cases for guidance as they try to adjust to the NJA way.
Number 1 simply blows me away. How the hell can someone be here for nearly a year and not have had their captain call in fatigued for the crew? This is nuts as we all know what an average tour is like. A note from GH comes out nearly every month telling you to use your fatigue policy the way it was intended to be used and you still can't muster up the courage? Should I assume that I am just working that much harder and that is why I have legitimately fatigued nearly once per tour?
And don't attempt to justify it by saying you are saving the FO's job because he/she is on probation. If you are fatigued and you don't get some rest the outcome could be much worse. This company isn't going to terminate a probationary pilot for a legitimate fatigue call or moving from unsat/unsafe accommodations.
Ok. Your turn to be CAPTAIN.
Very curious, Seat 0A, couple of quick questions for you ( and please, sir, I am not calling you out at all)
Number one: Did these FO's read the union board at all?? A lot of good info, sorted from the daily whininig and BS that is on there, is disseminated in those pages, hence why this FO is on there keeping up with current events, even if I am a thickheaded opinionated SOB.
Number two, what fleet is this on, 'cause to be honest I don't see too many captains like described in 1,3, and 6. In a matter of fact, most of em made sure we were exactly on the same page.... I hope this isn't a new trend at NJA.
Number three, what type of person were these FO'S? Were they proactive types, borderline zero pulse fellas forced from another end of the industry?
Number four, did any of them carry their blue book or contract with them, or at least have the number to the union steward?
I vote that you pose this very question on the union board because at the least this is a disturbing trend that can be reversed quickly with a little proactivity from the pilot group.
Carry on, folks, I'm off to go hit some baseballs.
Sincerely,
HiSpeedFlyer
Pissing the whole world off 8 at a time.