Seeking input on pilot scheduling

[voetsak]

Our department is moving from a constant "on-call" type schedule to one that includes 1 weekend a month off and possibly some days during the week.

For you guys with hard days off schedules.....how does your operation address this?

Thanks for the ideas in advance.

 

[Launchpad]

Subscribing.....

 

[AA717driver]

Can you cover the trips for however many airplanes you have during the weekend off?

If you only have enough guys to cover the flying anyway, you're hosed.

Previous company gave everyone a 4-day weekend off (Thurs. thru Sun.) with several "blank" days grouped at some other time of the month. It worked--unless you needed a day other than Thursday, Friday, Saturday...

Some months, someone wouldn't get any guaranteed days off. BUT--it only happened once a year and often didn't happen at all.

Our staffing problems came into play because there were quite a few senior guys who had a LOT of vacation. Good luck. TC

 

[Launchpad]

AA...

How did they dish out the days off, through a bidding system? And how many guys per plane are we talking in that particular example?

Thanks-

 

[AA717driver]

Launch--Normally, the days off were just randomly assigned by the two guys who do the scheduling.

Three times a year, you could request to have your days off on a certain weekend. I don't believe the "three times a year" was strictly enforced. They would work with you to get those days off. Sometimes, someone else would have requested them off before you did but they would try to make it work.

We had 10 pilots for 3 airplanes, one of which didn't fly that much. Everyone was a Capt. and you just rotated trip capt. status based on seniority and when the trip left during the month. (First half of the month, the senior guy was trip capt.)

The only beef I had with the scheduling was that the trips weren't assigned on a "first-in-first-out" basis. You could be on a ten-day stretch of availability and be flying all 10 days (passing through the base a couple of times) while others sat around and didn't fly. You never knew when you were the one to be assigned next and you didn't dare ask (ie: stick your head out of the foxhole and get noticed. ).

I'm a logical kind of guy and I couldn't figure out the logic of the system so it kind of nagged at me.

Hope that answers your questions. Let me know if there's anything else. TC

 

[Launchpad]

Thanks great info AA, thanks. Did your department have a policy on contract flying on days off, or vacation, or was it even allowed?

Thanks-

 

[AA717driver]

Thanks great info AA, thanks. Did your department have a policy on contract flying on days off, or vacation, or was it even allowed?

Thanks-

You COULD do it on vacation or days off but no one did.

Check your PM's. TC