Airlines: Some Costs They Can't - And Shouldn't - Cut

Really great article on pilot pay. I've had it forced into my head that pilot pay is directly tied to a huge portion of operating cost. Turns out it's all smoke and mirrors.

Today, like most every day, just over 44,000 of the world's most experienced airline pilots employed by the 9 largest airlines in the United States will accept full responsibility for over 1.5 million lives sitting on the other side of their locked cockpit doors. Over the next 24 hours, these pilots will make over 13,500 take-offs literally around the world. Through every imaginable type of weather, they will be in command of over 36,000 hours of flight time. And, if today is like most days, you will never hear or read about even one of those flights.

Read the rest of the article

After 29 hours....a happy ending.

Right now I am cruising at 31,000 feet. Worry not I am not using my laptop while in the cockpit. I am back in the passenger compartment.

I've been on vacation for a little over a week. The benefit of (nearly) unlimited travel is quite possibly the best perk in the world. My wife and I have visited over 20 cities and 4 countries in the last two years I have been at my airline. This has all been directly tied to my travel benefits. Without them we would likely have only flown on two to four flights during that time frame. on average we have taken at least one trip a month since I started. That's a lot of flying.

Our most recent trip started in Asia 27 hours ago. We left our hotel room and made our way to the airport. We've been moving ever since. Between the two of us we have had MAYBE 3 hours sleep.

The first flight was 14 hours long. Once we landed we went home, showered, washed clothes, then headed back to the airport for the current flight.

My latest niece was born three weeks ago. We are taking a quick trip to visit her. I am flying back on Saturday as I go back on reserve on Sunday. I have a little over 48 hours to get rid of the jet lag.

Once I get back I have quite a few manuals to update as well as study up for my recurrent ground school starting on the 4th.

Last year around this time I had my probationary check ride. This year my simulator event is only flight training. Next year it will be another check ride.

The ground school is setup to make sure my knowledge is current as well as introduce new procedures. After the three days of ground I have two weeks until my simulator training.

Today is my second anniversary at my airline. I almost forgot about it (tired doesn't even begin to describe how I feel) until my wife literally just reminded me. I get another pay raise and that's about it. I got a pin last year. I think my next pin is at 5 years.

This post is ending on my brother in laws couch next to my 4 year old niece and my 3 week old niece.

I love my job.

Why I'm not flying

Vacation! Loving the benefit of worldwide travel. Here are a few photos:

[nggallery id=30]

Heated Discussion or deep sleep?

Seems that a Northwest crew overflew the airport by....150 miles. Investigation to follow:
http://ntsb.gov/Pressrel/2009/091022.html

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N...135Z/KSAN/KMSP


National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594

October 22, 2009

************************************************** **********
NTSB INVESTIGATING FLIGHT THAT OVERFLEW INTENDED MINNEAPOLIS AIRPORT

************************************************** **********

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an
incident where an Airbus A320 overflew the Minneapolis-St Paul
International/Wold-Chamberlain Airport (MSP).

On Wednesday, October 21, 2009, at 5:56 pm mountain daylight time,
an Airbus A320, N03274, operating as Northwest Airlines (NWA) flight
188, became a NORDO (no radio communications) flight at 37,000 feet.
The flight was operating as a Part 121 flight from San Diego
International Airport, San Diego, California (SAN) to MSP with 147
passengers and unknown number of crew.

At 7:58 pm central daylight time (CDT), the aircraft flew over the
destination airport and continued northeast for approximately 150
miles. The MSP center controller reestablished communications with
the crew at 8:14 pm and reportedly stated that the crew had become
distracted and had overflown MSP, and requested to return to MSP.

According to the Federal Administration (FAA) the crew was
interviewed by the FBI and airport police. The crew stated they
were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost
situational awareness. The Safety Board is scheduling an interview
with the crew.

The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) have
been secured and are being sent to the NTSB laboratory in
Washington, DC.

David Lawrence, the Investigator-in-Charge, is leading the team of 3
in investigating the incident.

Parties to the investigation are the FAA and Northwest Airlines.

Schedule from H - E - Hockey Stick - Hockey Stick

Below was my schedule from last week. Rough.

Thursday October 15

14:00-  Sign in for airport standby

17:30 - Assigned ferry flight to another airport

22:32 - Ferry flight finally leaves my base

23:15 - Arrive at maintenance airport

00:10 - Arrive at the hotel - set alarm for 8AM for breakfast before scheduled 10AM deadhead to base

Friday

07:10 - Wake up without alarm. Tired. Head down for breakfast

8:05 - Phone rings. "Unknown". I don't answer

8:06 - Phone rings again. "Unknown". I still don't answer

8:10 - Hotel phone rings. I answer. It's the Captain I'm flying with. Tells me deadhead cancelled. Now we are doing a test flight at  13:00

8:11 - I pound sand. Long day ahead.

12:00 - Walk across the street to convenience store for water and snacks. No food at the airport.

12:15 - We ride to the airport in a brand new Lincoln Town Car. Nice ride.

12:45 - The plane is ready for the test flight. I go out for the preflight

13:30 - We taxi out for the test flight. The test fails. Random vibrations at random speeds. Hard to reproduce

14:29 - We park back at the hangar. We then spend 2 hours waiting on what we need to do next. Last flight to base laves at 17:50.

16:00 - I get upset with scheduling making a decision on what our assignment is. Finally assign us the 17:50 deadhead

17:49 - The deadhead flight leaves.

18:41 - Arrive in base. Tired. Call to get released. Scheduling gives me the run around. I ask for a Chief Pilot to be conference in. Placed on hold. They give me an assignment. A deadhead BACK to the airport I just left leaving in 30 minutes. I refuse stating I need dinner. Assigned a later deadhead.

20:55 - Deadhead leaves. A new Captain and a company maintenance pilot also deadheading.

21:43 - Arrive at the outstation. I'm very tired.

22:54 - We taxi out for ANOTHER test flight. It again fails. Random vibrations.

00:04 - Park back at the hangar

01:05  - Arrive at the hotel. The primary and secondary hotels are full. Convention in town. Sent to the backup, backup hotel. So tired I never turned on the lights.

Saturday

08:00 - Alarm goes off for 8:30 van. Tired.

09:05  - Arrive at airport for 9:35  deadhead.

09:49 - Deadhead flight leaves. Another pilot is also deadheading. We went to ATP together. I discuss how crappy my trip has gone.

10:37 - Deadhead flight arrives in base after a go around on short final. Captain reported plane on the runway. I had a 3 hour break between flights.

11:00 - In my car driving home to relax a bit. Very tired. Clearly fatigued.

11:15 - Arrive at home. Call Chief Pilot to discuss what happens if I call in fatigued. Result would be I would lose a days pay (roughly $140). I make coffee.

12:50 - Wife arrives home

13:00 - Leave back for the airport

13:45 - In the back of another plane. Another deadhead for an overnight. Very tired. If I was flying the flight I would have called in fatigued.

14:54 - Arrived at the outstation. Called hotel van while still on the plane. Because the rest of the crew arrived hours ago, the hotel would not be expecting me

15:20 - Hotel van arrives

20:30 - After dinner and a cocktail I go to bed. 8AM flight scheduled.

Sunday

06:15 - Alarm goes off for 7:00 van. Well rested.

06:30 - Check schedule. Another deadhead. Flight downgraded to a smaller plane

07:00 - In hotel van. Wondering if I will ever actually fly a plane.

07:56 - Deadhead flight leaves outstation

09:08  - Flight arrives in base. Another 3 hour break

09:20 - Wife picks me up to relax at home

11:00 - Checked my  schedule. My next flight downgraded. Another deadhead

11:30 - Wife drops me off at the airport for the next deadhead. Due to it being flown by a smaller plane, 20+ passengers are denied boarding. Gate agent asked if I would mind taking the jump seat. I checked to see if any other pilots were listed. There were none. I agree. One extra passenger is boarded.

12:25 - Deadhead flight leaves the gate. I have second thoughts about taking the jump seat. Too late.

13:34 - Flight arrives in next out station. I unfolded myself from the jump seat.

13:55 - Hotel van arrives. Off we go.

17:00 - Nice dinner at an Irish Pub. Interesting fish and chips.

19:00 - Hit the treadmill for exercise. Two miles later I'm done.

21:30 - Shower, pack and go to bed. Early morning van.

Monday

04:15 - Alarm goes off. Get dressed and head down stairs

04:30 - Pile into hotel van. We were all still asleep

04:50- Arrive at the gate. Find Starbucks.

05:40 - Amazed I'm in the cockpit behind the controls. My leg. Normal flight

06:38 - Pull into the gate. Tired.

07:19 - Push out of the gate for the next turn. Captain gives me the leg.

08:27 - After making an amazing landing we pull into the gate 7 minutes late

09:02 - We turn out of the gate. Headed back to base.

10:07 - Captain lands and pulls into the gate. Scheduled for a 3 hour break before last turn

10:40 - I get lunch and head to the crew room. A senior pilot FO who also went to ATP sees me and joins me at a table. I discuss my crappy trip. He is amazed. He was hired years ago. Only was on reserve for 1 month. Nice. Also in the crew room were representatives from crew scheduling. I bite my tongue from lashing out.

11:40 - I notice that my last turn downgraded. I bolt. Done.

-----

This was my first 5 day trip in months. It was rough. I was ridiculously tired. Weeks ago during the hearings at Congress concerning regional pilot training, schedules and such the topic of fatigue was brought up. Many airline reps stated there is no punishment if a pilot calls in fatigued. Not true. Calling in fatigued at my airline results in pay loss (if I flew more than my daily guarantee I lose no money) At other regional’s (thru direct discussion with a friend) the pilot loses pay and faces a meeting to explain why they called in fatigued with a Chief Pilot. The extra scrutiny pressures many not to call in.

Tomorrow starts my vacation. Wife and I are headed out of the country for a while. Not sure how updates will go.

I couldn't have made it through the day

I went to bed at 9:30PM Sunday night. Way earlier than normal...didn't work. My body clock is used to going to bed around 10:30PM and waking up at 6AM. Hard to change it.

At 4:15AM Monday my alarm went off. I learned long ago to maximize sleep when I have an early show. To do this I shower the night before, pack up everything but my laptop, and go to bed. My eye's were blurry. At first I thought I slept in my contacts again. My reminders that I took them out were on my laptop. I started putting my old contacts on my palm rest before I go to bed.

At 4:25AM I left the hotel room. When I have loud neighbors I make sure my door slams. They were quiet last night. I slowly let the door close and made my way to the elevator.

Rounding the corner I must have looked tired. The front desk clerk pointed and said "Coffee is over there, if you want there is a breakfast box for you here." Nice.

This hotel is not very crew friendly. Most hotels allow crews to schedule the van time for whenever. Not this hotel. The hotel van runs at the top of the hour and every 30 minutes. If we had a choice we would have picked a 4:45 AM van time. Fifteen minutes means a lot when you're tired.

By 4:30AM we were all in the hotel van. Tired. No one talked much. I was half asleep. We were all waiting at the gate by 4:50 AM. Departure was at 5:40AM. I was off in search of coffee. I prefer Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds then Starbucks. This airport only has Starbucks and some unknown crap.

I was excited to actually be flying a plane. Again I had 6 deadheads prior to this. Enough was enough.

All 58 passengers were seated 10 minutes prior to departure. The front flight attendant asked if I needed anything. I have flown with her a few times, she has a great sense of humor. I asked if I could have the "salmon" breakfast with eggs. She laughed. Five minutes early we pushed out.

This airport has been under construction lately. One of the two main runways has been closed for a while. The good thing is the runway closest to the gate is still open. My leg.

At VR I smoothly rotated the nose into the air. The adrenaline that I build up during takeoff quickly faded during the climb out. I called for the autopilot and reached for my coffee. The ETA on my MFD looked good...a few minutes early. With that I used standard climb and cruise speeds.

The coffee was helping me stay alert. I looked down at the stream of white lights along a major highway. I'm glad I don't have to commute in a car. I hate sitting in traffic.

Descending into the terminal area we were assigned the runway closest to the gate. Nice. On final tower advised to use caution due to a departing 747 from a parallel runway.

The winds were right down the runway at 19 knots. Just 2000 AGL the winds were still 40 knots. Really strong for that low. With that strong of wind I wasn't too concerned with the wake of the 747.

I made a decent landing. Especially for having not landed in a while.

The Captain decided to not start the APU in order to save fuel and wear on the APU. We are one part of the team. The other members are gate agents and rampers.

We pulled into the gate 7 minutes early...right at 6:38AM. There was no gate agent. The rampers normally wait for the jet bridge to be attached to the plane, then attach external power. With no gate agent, they left to get bags off the plane. A minute later the gate agent arrived.

There we sat for 10 minutes with the right engine running. Finally we gave in and started the APU and shut the plane down. So much for teamwork.

We were lucky to keep the same plane for the next turn. The Captain offered me the leg. With a sip of my coffee I agreed.

A full 70 passengers were on board as we pushed out at 7:20AM. Due to morning congestion in the ramp area we didn't reach the runway until 7:45AM.

Normal takeoff. On climb out, I was feeling especially lazy and called for the autopilot before 1000 feet AGL.

Since we were running late I setup the plane to climb at 300 knots once above 10,000 feet. Instead of cruising at .78 as planned I cruised at .81. The MFD showed an ETA just one minute late. Not bad.

Winds were blowing 220 @ 10 knots. We were coming in from the east. The tower assigned us straight in runway 26. Nice.

A few miles directly east of runway 26 were two crop dusters. The tower advised us of him. They tried calling them...they never responded. Sure enough the popped up on TCAS. One with a mode C. One was only a target.

I stayed a little high until the Captain could find both of them. He did. I then started getting the plane dirty. Just 2000 AGL I realized I needed more than flaps 20 and gear to slow down. Out went the flight spoilers. Finally by 1000 AGL the spoilers were stowed and flaps at 45. Looking good.

The ILS was loaded up as a backup, but I was looking outside for guidance. The runway is just over 8000 feet long. Plenty as the performance charts stated that we only needed 3500 feet. Of course that number assumes landing on the 1000 foot markings and literally slamming on the brakes and maximum thrust reverse.

Just short of the runway I dipped slightly below the glideslope. While correcting for the crosswind I eased the plane down to the runway. I idled the thrust levers at ten feet and kissed the runway. Nice.

I deployed the maximum reverse thrust and slowly began braking. Done.

After parking at the gate the front flight attendant told me we had a few celebrities on board. A few members of a famous musical were coming along although most of them were on the next flight.

The station has no GPU or belt loader. We left the APU burning during the turn. Because they had no belt loader it took much longer than normal for the bags to be taken off and reloaded.

We pushed out 15 minutes late. Captains leg.

On the way back I discussed how nice it would be for the next turn to downgrade to a smaller plane. He stated that last week (this is his line, he does the same sequence of flying each week) that the last turn was two hours late, he didn't finish the day until 7PM. VERY long day.

After parking at the gate (5 minutes late) I stored my bags in the crew room and went out to find lunch. I had 3 hours till the next turn.

Stomach full of Mexican food (guilty pleasure) I waited in the crew room. A friend of mine (who helped me get a job at ATP teaching the RJ course) walked in. He just commuted in from seeing his girlfriend (one of my former students...small world eh?). He sat down and we discussed the latest rumors and theories.

While waiting I kept an eye on my schedule. At 11:40AM I noticed the last turn dropped off my schedule. I instantly called scheduling. Released. Awesome.

In hindsight I'm glad this happened. At 4PM I was so tired I couldn't think straight. I don't think I would have been safe completing that flight.

Still working on a write up on the 4 days prior to this.

Serenity Now!

This is my first 5 day trip all year. Tired. Of my last 8 flights, 5 have been dead heads including one on the jump seat of an ERJ. I haven't actually flown a plane, the other three flights I was the non flying pilot.

First overnight was long, second was  8 hours long with only 7 hours in a hotel and I got maybe 5 hours sleep. Third night was long. Tonight is long but with a crazy early start tomorrow.

Tonight is my last night away from home. I did get too see my wife for 10 minutes yesterday and about an hour today.

Tomorrow is a 5 leg day. Van time is 4:30AM for a 5:40AM flight to base. Once there I do a quick two hour turn before sitting for 3 hours for a 4 hour turn finishing my day (I hope) at 5:25PM. Long day to say the least.

I will have a longer post about this trip sometime Tuesday. Mentally tired right now.