Russian Roulette

[johnpeace]

I'll bet there's an investigative journalist somewhere who would love to hear about that.

 

[Abernathy]

I have said it many times over and the original poster is grimly correct. Within the next 5 years, we will see a major accident at the regional level with a fatigued crew at the controls unless the rules change. We will not have new rest rules in place this year either. The crew will likely be an abused reserve crew trying to move on in life, instead of a fat lifer captain who ridicules the above reserve crew types.

 

[sunlitpath]

I initially posted this as a reply, but I think it warrants its own thread.


I am a regional captain who is posting under his father's account because my password never reached me after paying my fee. At my airline the mantra "Delta has reset our rates" has reached a point of recklessness. Reserve pilots are being continually pushed to exhaustion and corners are being cut where possible as a result. Mark my words, an aircraft with "Delta Air Lines" written on the side and on which passengers bought a ticket on "Delta Air Lines", will experience hull loss. Eventually a lawyer will be able to attach liability to a mainline partner. Only then will we see responsible aviation practices. Keep sitting atop your house of cards General Lee, the fact of the matter is your company's reputation and your career rests on the shoulders of some lowly regional exhausted reserve who flys your passengers. Sleep well tonight

Do what you gotta do to keep it safe and healthy.

 

[ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by XJohXJ
Does your contract allow a scheduled 8 hour overnight?

Sure does

I'd love to know what your MEC got in return for that little gem!

 

[GeekMaster]

At ASA, it's always been legal. The only stipulation is that if your rest is scheduled below 9 hours, (down to 8) you are limited to a scheduled 10 hour duty day the next day. The sad part is that the 10 hour day can be extended a little more than that if it's due to irops.

 

[IBNAV8R]

The Comair crash in LEX paid out something close to $300 million dollars. That is a huge sum, and if that does happen again . . .

Sadly, $300M is the cost of doing business - cheaper than having enough pilots to do the job with adequate rest or paying enough to attract the best and brightest who can live where they work.

 

[flyboyike]

IF a lawsuit ever comes to fruition that punishes a mainline carrier for a regional's crash, the days of regional feed ARE OVER....

If only, General, if only...

 

[79%N1]

If only, General, if only...

Wow! Just wow. Here we have a guy openly wishing for a crash where crew members (oh, but just worthless Regional crews, who cares) perish, and then all other regional crews lose their jobs, too!!!!! What a bonus!

Truly the MOST classless thing I have ever read on this site. Nice human being you are. I sure hope some people crash and die, so I can be out of my job!

 

[Plainsman]

He (The General) posts here far too often to have a stable home life. I guess you get that from many years of hard work at Delter.

 

[COOPERVANE]

Wow! Just wow. Here we have a guy openly wishing for a crash where crew members (oh, but just worthless Regional crews, who cares) perish, and then all other regional crews lose their jobs, too!!!!! What a bonus!

Truly the MOST classless thing I have ever read on this site. Nice human being you are. I sure hope some people crash and die, so I can be out of my job!

The way I read it he was sort of mocking the General, not really wishing for it. He IS an overworked underpaid DCI pilot like you and me.

I hope I'm right

 

[Jar Jar]

Don't forget, one day you'll have grandkids who will end up on an airplane. Will it be an RJ with a fatigued crew and combined experience of 2000 hours?

And how about the person sleeping soundly on his sleepnumber bed under the approach path to that runway, is it your father/mother/son/daughter?

All in the name of allowing companies to outsource their workers? B.S.

If I fly Delta pax, they deserve a Delta crew. One brand - One List.

 

[79%N1]

The way I read it he was sort of mocking the General, not really wishing for it. He IS an overworked underpaid DCI pilot like you and me.

I hope I'm right

Ok. If I'm wrong how I read it, I apologize to him.

As far as "The General", read below to see how I feel about that classless individual.

 

[flyboyike]

Ok. If I'm wrong how I read it, I apologize to him.

As far as "The General", read below to see how I feel about that classless individual.

Apology accepted. My "if only" was more to the effect "if only there were something that would be more powerful than the corporate greed that put us where we are..."

Come to think of it, an accident probably wouldn't do it. Mainline has insurance too, plenty of it.

 

[Medeco]

You guys do realize the mantra from our managment at "ATLSE" is that 99% of fatigue calls are "BS/ screw you" type calls?

I'm sure it is true to a point, but the reserve calling in fatigued is most likely legit.

BTW, if you do use the F word and care about getting paid, the determining factor is if it was on company time and beyond your control(loud hotel/fire alarm), or directly caused by the company(screw scheduling calling the hotel room outside contract/FAA limits).

I used fatigue 2 times last year while on reserve and had to fight both times with a CP to get paid. Both, were directly related to the choice the company made in scheduling me, yet I was still indirectly intimidated and initially told it was unpaid.

All I ask of my fellow pilots is use the fatigue call if it is truly legit, otherwise call in sick if you are pissed about being extended. A stomach virus can strike anytime.

A clear BS fatigue call makes it more difficult for those who truly are to deal with our current management. It SHOULD not be this way, but it is.

When someone says just go to the FAA, the company will just pull out the reports and data they have to support their arguement. I can bet you with confidence, they have the data to support the arguement they bring. We have some really interesting stories I've heard from CP's and upper management of "fatigue" calls.

March is going to be interesting, and according to some SH has said April will be worse on the 200. Meanwhile, we have BH telling the union it wont happen again.

We shall see.

 

[BOX OFFICE]

Hello from a great hotel room in Osaka, Japan. Anyway, I hear what you are saying, and I think that is why the FAA is trying to change the rest and fatigue rules, to help guys like you who fly 6 legs a day or are tired at the end of each and every day. Someone is looking out for you. As far as corners being cut, you need to anonymously turn in that info to the FAA, and it will be fixed. Walk into to your local FISDO there in ATL (near the airport I believe) and raise your concerns. I bet they would want to hear from you. Also, when anyone buys a ticket online or a paper ticket, it states on the back or in small print who is flying you. If it is Comair, it will say it. Each airline has their own insurance, or can be covered by Delta insurance. The Comair crash in LEX paid out something close to $300 million dollars. That is a huge sum, and if that does happen again, expect even more RJs to be parked, because Delta can't monitor the training or create training programs for each RJ carrier, but they can for mainline. They monitor mainline's training closely. I am not saying "we are better than you", but some airlines out there have worse training, and that needs to be stopped. The reason this airline shuffles DCI carriers around is because of the Comair strike back in 2000. It cost Delta over $1 billion, and they have never forgotten that.

So, if more of your DCI planes crash, there will be less DCI planes out there the next day. IF a lawsuit ever comes to fruition that punishes a mainline carrier for a regional's crash, the days of regional feed ARE OVER. Insurance covers almost all of the liability, and unfortunately crashes don't stay in the minds of travellers all that long sometimes, unless they were involved or knew someone who was. (example---the Colgan crash victims and friends are pushing for the rest rule changes)

As far as me sleeping tonight, I will have a great sleep, because I know most pilots out there are professional, and that things are in motion to help change rest/fatigue rules for the better (or better than what we currently have). I would suggest throwing out a resume to the legacies or even SWA, and get away from the regional world as soon as possible. The benefits and choices are a lot better over here. Good luck to you.


Bye Bye--General Lee

I don't think I have ever said this, but good post, General.

You didn't need to demean them with your nice hotel in Japan comment, and I don't particularly agree that another crash will mean parked RJs, (I do think that another crash will mean large RJs flown by mainline though. That is coming, the only question is when), but a rare serious post by the General. Nice job.