SWA Steady She Goes

[AF757Pilot]

Press Release Source: Southwest Airlines


Southwest Airlines Adds Nonstop Service to Meet Customer Demand
Thursday February 13, 11:00 am ET


DALLAS, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV - News) will introduce new nonstop service between Baltimore/Washington and San Diego on July 6, 2003, with fares as low as $99 each way. At the same time, the airline also will add its 12th daily nonstop flight between Baltimore/Washington and Providence, creating one-stop service between Providence and San Diego.
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"These new nonstop flights demonstrate how Southwest is meeting the demand for low fares on longer flights without neglecting its niche for frequent flights in the short-haul market," said Joyce Rogge, Southwest's senior vice president marketing.

The new service complements Southwest's existing 11 daily nonstop flights between Baltimore/Washington and Providence and its existing direct or connecting flights between Baltimore/Washington and San Diego.

 

[Indapool]

glad to hear it but my butt hurts just reading it

 

[SentryIP]

Not For Me!

Indapool,

Just a walk in the park for us ex-BUFF and/or ex-AWACS folks!

 

[packdog]

No kiddin, try Bombay to Cologne with a 100 kt headwind in a 767 with no rest quarters.

 

[pegasus]

I can beat that. Try 1.5 seconds on Martin Baker 's finest moving furniture

 

[Snoopy58]

Pegasus --

YOU WIN!

 

[b747dogg]

That's half a leg for me! Try 11:59 block three man crew, watching the sun go down, then rise on one leg. Our crew meals consist of breakfast, lunch, dinner, then breakfast again. Looking forward to the coast to coast cake runs. have fun.

 

[SpeedBird]

23.5 hour duty day

21 hours (flying time, not block) with only one augmented pilot in a B707 (E-8 Joint STARS) flying an endless loop over Macedonia watching the Serbs beat up & kill the natives in Kosovo.

 

[TriStar_drvr]

I've done 12:30 Hong Kong to LA (3 man crew, no relief pilots), but I'd be happy to do that any time rather than take Pegasus's one and a half second ride.

Just a question concerning expansion. From the government list, you guys have 22 -300s pledged for CRAF work. Any word from your management if you guys have been drafted yet? If so, that might put a damper on new routes. Just curious.

 

[SilentDave]

DFW to Billings, MT in a Metro. Blocked at 5 hours (on a good day). No food, drinks, potty, rest bunks, flight attendant, autopilot, or any of that other sissy stuff. Seats are hard as a rock with a bar across the middle of your back, and we loved it. Those familiar with the Metro will understand.

 

[ilinipilot]

BWI-West Coast ?

Anyone flown those new long non-stops that SWA has,
BWI- West Coast. Do they make you fly a leg before and or after that one. What is the day like for you guys who fly those routes is that all you do that day???

 

[SWA/FO]

I have not flown them yet. I have seen some where the first leg is ORF - BWI then onto LAX also PVD - BWI then onto LAX. Sometimes its just one leg BWI-LAX etc..

Hope this helps

 

[Snoopy58]

SWA planes would only be used in a phase 2 or phase 3 callup. They're in the "domestic only" fleet, which makes some sense since they don't have HF radios nor SATCOM, nor overwater survival equipment. If they did get called up for CRAF, the schedule would obviously need some adjusting, although it probably wouldn't hurt revenue, since the jets would still be generating $.

As far as other legs on the long hauls, it depends. Some days are scheduled right up to 7+55 block, so you certainly could do a leg or two in addition to the BWI-LAX. Sometimes, the schedule you see initially isn't the way things shake out. When SWA started running MDW-SEA nonstop, there were some MDW-SEA-MDW two-day trips, one leg one day, return the next & you're done. Didn't pay very well, but you didn't have to work all that hard either. (Flight Attendants could do it as an out & back same day, but it would have been something like 8+10 block time, so pilots had to do it on separate days.) Before long, though, those pairings went away & you ended up doing something else (like CLE-MDW-SEA the first day, or MDW-SEA-GEG, etc). With the rigs in the new contract, I doubt they'd have any 2-days that fly BWI-LAX-BWI... at least not on a permanent basis.

Anybody with the BWI bid lines handy care to comment?

 

[Sierra-Hotel]

Some days are scheduled right up to 7+55 block

I'm gonna ask an idiotic question.....If they have you guys scheduled right up to 7.55,what happens if you guys take an extended delay somewhere? I once took a very extensive delay outta BWI and when I asked the F/O how much longer the crew was legal for, I got the smart ass answer "Until we feel fatigued!". I remember after the AA accident at Little Rock they were talking about reducing crew duty times but I never head what came of it.

 

[packdog]

The key is you can't be "scheduled" for more than 8 hours (domestic). Operational delays don't matter. The only one that really can't be extended is 16 hours of duty. Its a lot more complicated than this but the key in most cases is scheduled time not actual.

 

[chase]

Flight Time

It is rather complicated but due to the accident you mentioned & other comments by pilots up the change there has been a recent change that allows pilots to terminate their flying whenever there becomes an obvious conflict. We received a simple chart that is very useful for on the ground situations prior to push or even after push when delays often occurs which can impact duty day/flight time. Whenever it becomes apparent either one of the restrictions will be exceeded the pilots will return to the gate for a crew change or if at the gate contact scheduling with a drop dead time or that the flight can't be flown & still meet all the FARS.

I've not seen in my experience where the schedulers are forcing pilots to fly fatigued. I believe the pressure to meet "the schedule" comes mostly from the pilots themselves at times but I am realistic enough to know there are obviously times where external pressure is applied. I just haven't seen it but again I'm an FO!!! Will pilots take on more than they should at times? That's another thread for another time.

 

[embdrvr]

I'm gonna ask an idiotic question.....If they have you guys scheduled right up to 7.55,what happens if you guys take an extended delay somewhere? I once took a very extensive delay outta BWI and when I asked the F/O how much longer the crew was legal for, I got the smart ass answer "Until we feel fatigued!". I remember after the AA accident at Little Rock they were talking about reducing crew duty times but I never head what came of it.

I think the only hard limit is the 16 hour duty day and that's only because of the 24 hour lookback. Compensatory rest could cause a later start the following day but they can work you over 8 hours.

 

[intel33]

This may be silly, but besides the sore butts, what does the crew do for an empty stomach? I like peanuts as much as the next guy, but what about real food? With less than 30 minute turns it doesn't leave much time for standing in line at Chili's Express in the terminal either.

 

[BobbyB]

I have done 10.5 hours on an ejection seat with no meal service, no lav, and constantly having to top off my 15000# fuel capacity just to make it to the next divert if something goes wrong. A cup of coffee would have been nice.

 

[SilentDave]

This may be silly, but besides the sore butts, what does the crew do for an empty stomach? I like peanuts as much as the next guy, but what about real food? With less than 30 minute turns it doesn't leave much time for standing in line at Chili's Express in the terminal either.

Just brown bag it. Nothing like a pbj on the fly.