Pilots and their CELLPHONES

[Axel]

Maybe it was a weekend and the minutes are free anyway.

Free for 49.99/month. If the company wants you to have a cell phone they shoud either issue you one or pay a stipend for the use of yours.

 

[Phony Marconi]

This is such a negative environment. 10% of the posts are people helping each other out.

You're right!

OK....here's a positive, friendly, helpful suggestion on how to deal with the communication quagmire:

Next time an issue comes up during taxi-out that requires communication with the Company, do this:

Notify ATC of the need to return to the gate. With all engines operating, taxi safely back to the gate, shut down, recall the jetway or airstair, politely brief the passengers, exit the aircraft and proceed to find a landline in the terminal, and make a fuggin' phone call!

 

[av8er2]

How about we all get on board and propose a week or a month that no one uses their cell phones to help ASA. That will get things changed very fast.

ASA pilots need to get together on issues like this if they want it changed. You see Mgt. is together on issues to put ASA pilots down and because they are togther they are stonger.

Just look at the pay scales, they want to take money out of your pocket and still have you use your phone and not pay for it.

The cell phone saves the company probably millions a year and they won't give the capt. $20 or $30 a month. Most other decent companies that use cell phones give them to the worker.

 

[screwed_again]

another gay-ass dumb thread.

 

[DetoXJ]

For all you cry babies who don't want to use your cell phone just call ops at the airport you are at and they can easily patch you through to Mx, Dx, Scheduling, ect. ect. Don't use your cell phone if you feel you are getting jipped, just use the radio. There is no need to taxi back to the gate just to use a land line. Tool!!

 

[IFLYASA]

How about we all get on board and propose a week or a month that no one uses their cell phones to help ASA. That will get things changed very fast.

ASA pilots need to get together on issues like this if they want it changed. You see Mgt. is together on issues to put ASA pilots down and because they are togther they are stonger.

Just look at the pay scales, they want to take money out of your pocket and still have you use your phone and not pay for it.

The cell phone saves the company probably millions a year and they won't give the capt. $20 or $30 a month. Most other decent companies that use cell phones give them to the worker.

I actually asked "MyASA" about this issue. I gave a scenario of when the APU door is unknown, and we have to manually reset it. The ONLY way to do this is via cell phone. Use a few minutes, help the company, and keep the airplane flying fast. Or, don't give in, defer the APU with the door in the Unknown position, and keep it under 300 knots. Think of how much time and fuel this is going to cost?? They would pay my cell phone bill for the rest of the year just on one flight. Their answer was "We do not provide compensation for any cell phone usage". This is where they need to get their heads out of their a$$es and do some cost analysis. It's not rocket science, except to management.

 

[DetoXJ]

I actually asked "MyASA" about this issue. I gave a scenario of when the APU door is unknown, and we have to manually reset it. The ONLY way to do this is via cell phone. Use a few minutes, help the company, and keep the airplane flying fast. Or, don't give in, defer the APU with the door in the Unknown position, and keep it under 300 knots. Think of how much time and fuel this is going to cost?? They would pay my cell phone bill for the rest of the year just on one flight. Their answer was "We do not provide compensation for any cell phone usage". This is where they need to get their heads out of their a$$es and do some cost analysis. It's not rocket science, except to management.

I'm confused. What can your cell phone accomplish that you radio can't in your above scenario? Please explain.

 

[IFLYASA]

I'm confused. What can your cell phone accomplish that you radio can't in your above scenario? Please explain.

To do an APU reset you have to be in the aft equipment bay and run a reset program. You press certain buttons and wait for certain LED's to light, and continue based on what it's reading. You can't call maintence from the radio or Ops phone and just write down the sequence. You have to have your head up there with your cell phone and read out the indications to maintenance, and they give you instructions based on what it reads..

 

[DetoXJ]

To do an APU reset you have to be in the aft equipment bay and run a reset program. You press certain buttons and wait for certain LED's to light, and continue based on what it's reading. You can't call maintence from the radio or Ops phone and just write down the sequence. You have to have your head up there with your cell phone and read out the indications to maintenance, and they give you instructions based on what it reads..

Just defer the APU over the radio. Probably quicker and less hassle than crawling into the APU hell hole. Being limited to 300 knots for one flight to get to a hub isn't a big deal as far as the company is concerned. A 300 Knot limit at most might add a couple minutes to the flight plan time and as far as fuel burn goes, it will probablly save the company some $$ in gas since going "balls to the walls" isn't the most economical way to fly.

 

[Flyerjosh]

To do an APU reset you have to be in the aft equipment bay and run a reset program. You press certain buttons and wait for certain LED's to light, and continue based on what it's reading. You can't call maintence from the radio or Ops phone and just write down the sequence. You have to have your head up there with your cell phone and read out the indications to maintenance, and they give you instructions based on what it reads..

Why in God's holy name would you as a pilot climb up into the aft service bay and conduct an APU reset. As far as I'm concerned, anything that isn't basic requires a mechanic.

Taxi back. Shut down. Call contract MX. If the sequence isn't listed in the MEL under "operator", then I'm not touching it.

As for the whole cellphone thing. Do what you want. Personally I pay for enough minutes that I can call whomever I want, whenever I want. Always have, always will.

For me, it's more important for ME to get things done as quickly as possible. Taking the time to walk inside, find an available company phone, deal with the issue, walk back out burns up time I'm not getting paid for.

I'll spend the extra few bucks a month to pay for the phone so that I can reach my overnight on time and go out for a few beers with the crew.

 

[IFLYASA]

Just defer the APU over the radio. Probably quicker and less hassle than crawling into the APU hell hole. Being limited to 300 knots for one flight to get to a hub isn't a big deal as far as the company is concerned. A 300 Knot limit at most might add a couple minutes to the flight plan time and as far as fuel burn goes, it will probablly save the company some $$ in gas since going "balls to the walls" isn't the most economical way to fly.

The problem with this is we are not always flying to a maintenance base. Like all the MCO flights, back and forth to SAT/TUL. 300 knots to SAT would take about 3 hours.with headwinds. Also the CVG flights as well. It can take hours to get maintence their to work on the aircraft. If this were just back and forth to ATL it would be different. I have seen some aircraft with 2 pages of write-ups waiting to go to a maintenance base, about 2-3 days of flying. Imagine being limited to 300 knots for 8-10 flights. That adds up.

 

[PCL_128]

To do an APU reset you have to be in the aft equipment bay and run a reset program. You press certain buttons and wait for certain LED's to light, and continue based on what it's reading. You can't call maintence from the radio or Ops phone and just write down the sequence. You have to have your head up there with your cell phone and read out the indications to maintenance, and they give you instructions based on what it reads..

Holy crap, what on Earth are you doing messing around with stuff back in the aft equipment bay? Is this normal at ASA? That stuff should be left to mechanics, not pilots. Your job is to fly the frickin' airplane, not play mechanic. Go back to the gate, have dispatch call outstation maintenance, and they can run the reset procedure or defer the APU. Why do regional pilots always think they need to do everything themselves?

As for the complaining about the 300 knot limit, what is your normal cruise speed? We plan almost every flight at 300/.74 anyway.

 

[FN FAL]

it totally amazes me that pilots pay hard earned money for their cellphones and its all for the benefit of the company.

Maintenance calls, Crew Scheduling calls, Dispatch calls, it adds up to hours of minutes they have to pay for and no one does anything about it.

the company would be screwed if no pilots would use their cell phones to call the company

the other day we were in canada and the capt was on with dispatch for a half hour and his cell phone, that call probably cost him 20 bucks and no one benefits but the company.

I refuse to use my cell phone for the company and i love it, cause i dont use my minutes and something someone else shoule be paying for.

my wife's company gave her a nextell and she uses it for company use maybe once a month, we use them every single day, all for the benefit of the company, and whos pays? you and i do. step it up guys and stop using them for company purposes.

I fly cargo 135 and I haven't had a cell phone for over 6 years. I refuse to get one one until I decide whether or not I'm going to get my CCW.

 

[FN FAL]

They don't require you to have a cellphone, just like they don't require you to have a car.

Following this line of thinking, you should charge the company for your home landline if they've ever called you on it. You should also charge them your auto expenses since you drive to work in it. Laundry expenses should be billed to the company. Ever been to the company website from home? Charge them for your computer too.

Are you retarded? If you're too cheap to pay for a quick phone call, then go inside and use a company phone.

you're way off base.

First of all, you get milage re-embursement for using your car for work related travel? If not, that's too bad, we do.

Second, when I used to work for a union, we used to get paid two hours pay if the company called you at your home...ever, for any reason.

 

[Skaff]

As an FO I never used my cell phone for dispatch calls or for mx. Since I've upgraded, I do use it from time to time. I make over $1.00 a minute when the a/c door is shut and my cell phone plan only costs me about 4 cents a minute. If I open the door and run inside to make calls to dispatch or mx, I'm not making any money for that work. If the main cabin door is closed and the parking break is off, I'm making .96 cents a minute more (if I made a buck an hour) than I would be making if I was inside making my calls. Does it help the company out? Yes. Does it help me out? Yes. Its a win win. The attitude that the pilots must win and the company must lose is stupid. I hope we never fly together you a$$.

 

[Flyin2low]

Imagine being limited to 300 knots for 8-10 flights. That adds up.

At my company, they run MELs out to the full 10 days then get authorization to extend them another 5. How about 90 flights without an APU.

 

[Puck Mugger]

To do an APU reset you have to be in the aft equipment bay and run a reset program. You press certain buttons and wait for certain LED's to light, and continue based on what it's reading. You can't call maintence from the radio or Ops phone and just write down the sequence. You have to have your head up there with your cell phone and read out the indications to maintenance, and they give you instructions based on what it reads..

I wish you were were kidding, but I guess you are not.

 

[IFLYASA]

I wish you were were kidding, but I guess you are not.

No I'm not kidding. I'd rather do this, about 5 minutes, then fly on a hot summer day with no APU.

 

[Dash8301]

The company may not reimburse me but I use my phone for the convience and to save time for our passengers. Now I won't use it if I don't have service or I am in Canada. You can also write it off your taxes if you use it more than 50% of the time for company business.

 

[hoover]

Where do you work? If this the worst thing you have to complain about, sign me up!