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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/12/2022 in all areas

  1. With commuting likely in your future, I strongly suggest you consider FedEx. It's got one of the most commuter friendly systems in the industry. Some specifics: First, for trips that actually leave from your domicile, there are few if any "non-commutable trips". There's an AM launch and a PM launch and with very few exceptions, the inbound flights you would be jump seating on are timed to arrive for the sort to put the rubber dogshit on those outbound flights. If you're actually commuting to domicile on one of our own jump seats to an AM launch (for example) it doesn't matter where you're coming from. As long as your city is served by a FedEx flight, there will be a jump seat flight you can ride in that will match up with the outbound that's the first flight of your trip. By "match", I mean your arrival in domicile on the jump seat will be within 2-3 hours of your trip's scheduled show time. Jump seats are reservable up to 3-weeks in advance on a first come, first served basis. Once you have a reservation, it's yours. Unless you're trying to commute out of DEN, ORF or some other high density, high demand cities, getting a jump seat reserved is a non event. But, the nice thing is that a huge percentage of the trips start with a deadhead, so a jump seat reservation is unnecessary. The company buys you a ticket to city X for a certain price. If you already live in city X (best scenario) then you have no need for the ticket. You cancel the deadhead and show up for the revenue flight out of that city after getting paid all day to stay at home. If you don't want to leave your car at the airport all week, you can use some of the ticket money you didn't spend to get an uber or limo to take you to work from your house. Many trips also end with a deadhead which allows the pilot to do the same in reverse if he lives in city X. The more common scenario is that a pilot will use the deadhead money to buy a ticket from his home airport to the city from which the first revenue flight leaves. Possibly the same at the back end of the trip as well. It's very common that a pilot who can hold front and back deadhead trips (called "double deadheads") rarely sets foot in his actual domicile. This is not a unicorn scenario only for the very senior. I helped another Eagle bud get hired 18 months ago. He lives in Vegas and went to the 757 for QOL and seniority. After 6-months, he was able to avoid reserve and regularly get front deadhead trips to the west coast. Now when he goes to work, it's usually via a front-end deadhead to Vegas, Reno, Oakland or some other west coast city. He's in one of the spots in the crash pad I run in MEM and I don't think I've seen him there for more than one night in the last 9-months (aside from his recurrent month). Just like the front end, the back of trips that require you to arrive in domicile will almost always have an outbound flight back to your home city. Some of the rubber dogshit you (or someone else) brought in on the last flight of your trip has to go to your home city. After a couple hours or less of sort time, you jump on a jump seat back to your home town and call it a trip. With a little seniority, the number of commutes each month is usually a max of two. The gold standard for a domestic schedule is week-on, week-off. International flyers can reduce that commute frequency to once a month if they're willing to work a single 12-14 day trip. With the deadhead tickets and deviation options, most, if not all commutes are on a positive space ticket paid for by the company with full pay for your time spent getting to work. I realize the cargo dark side is not for everyone but make sure you're getting an accurate perspective on what it's really like and not what you assume or what someone in the pax biz has decided it is. I've done both types of flying and I can say without a doubt that the schedules at FedEx are easier and way more commuter friendly than anything I did at UAL. I'm an international junkie and I'm in a 5-star hotel in Singapore as I type this. My last duty day today was a one hour flight from Penang, Malyasia to Singapore. Tomorrow I will deviate and forgo the scheduled deadhead on UAL from here back to SFO (my current base). Instead I will take my airline of choice (AA) back to the US via Tokyo and Dallas. It's a long day but some decent food, premium booze and a lay flat bed in business class will make it tolerable. I went to work on 29 Aug on another commercial deadhead to Singapore and will be home on 13 Sep. In those 2-weeks, I flew 12 revenue flights for a total of 32.5 block hours. Aside from the deadhead duty from/to the US, my longest duty day was 8 hours. That's my month. I have the rest of the month off and if I choose to bid a schedule that starts mid-October will have more than a month off without any vacation. I have not broken through 50% in my current seat (767 Captain) and have spent most of my career at about 60% in my seats where I am now. It's not difficult to get these schedules, especially if you're willing to fly internationally and spend bigger chunks of time on the road. Or you can stay domestic and seek QOL in the junior equipment like my Vegas bud. There are pros and cons, but I'm flying with 30-year old new hires who will be 777 Captains before they hit 40 if they want. We have 5 year 767 Captains. There's something to be said for a pilot being able to spend the last 20-25 years of their career in the left seat of the top earning aircraft. Worth considering. If you want more info, let me know.
    4 points
  2. I mean..... Just to be clear.... Even if that's legal, you're still a fuckhead if you're in you're early 40s sleeping around with teenagers.
    4 points
  3. Sorry brother but I 1000% disagree. One of the most careerist people I have ever met. As an O-6 she made the Grp/CC list but no one bid her, not a single bid for a command in the entire Air Force...the community knew she was toxic so they purposely didn't bid her. At that point she had weaseled her way to be Dempsey's Speech writer. One of the three stars in the SOCOM chain showed me the email from Dempsey ordering USAF/SOCOM/AFSOC to bid her to a position. The circumstances of the toxic claims at ABQ may be around someone with an axe to grind, but the claim about falsifying flight records for pay was substantiated. Hard to fire someone who was just on the cover of AF Magazine with her wife just as Don't ask Don't tell ends.
    3 points
  4. For some, it makes sense, and they seem to be making the ideal decision. I was fortunate to have a formative commuting experience during my first foray into 121, and it was about as bad a commuting situation as I could imagine, two legs to uncommutable pairings...wife was on board to do whatever we needed to in order to avoid commuting. "OMG you're going to uproot the kids? How awful, they will be so upset!!!" was the chorus from extended family and friends. 🤣 Kids were way more excited to move than we were (probably has something to do with not having to do any of the moving work). My worthless advice, have the discussion, don't cherry pick the data, look at all of the pros and cons of living in base. I can do things living in base that commuters have a difficult time following: In base reserve (the biggest benefit, imo)(eta: coincidentally also topping the list of reasons I left the ACMI sector. I spent six nights away from my own bed last month, and blocked > my best month at my last gig 🤘) Schoolhouse or other HQ staff gigs (if you choose to live near the mothership for your carrier) I can sit around and cherry pick premium/pickup/trade trips at my leisure, without the added tax of looking at loads/wx/connections of a commute, just suit up and drive. My wife's favorite phrase while sitting reserve: "Honey, I got put on a turn tomorrow" I bid a line long before I had the seniority to specifically hold commutable lines. By the same token, if your family is rooted near the extended support network of family/friends/spouse's lucrative job, then that might tilt the equation the other way. My wife's job (home office) was portable in our case.
    2 points
  5. Real sad thing was there were several empty seats.
    2 points
  6. Sounds like things worked out pretty well for him lol.
    1 point
  7. I also strongly suggest I consider FedEx.... Rumor is they have 10,000 profiles and 2,000+ with internal recs. Hard to get a call from Purple unless you have someone who can walk into the chief pilot's office. Just keep hitting Submit!
    1 point
  8. As brabus mentioned, hopefully this will be incorporated into future contracts for the majors, etc. which as a first hand user of this benefit I can attest to the stress free/no responsibility to get to work if flights are full, canceled, maintenance canceled, delayed, you’re unable to secure a flight deck seat due to company crew priority or some other seniority/first come first serve/bumped by Capt Crusader, etc. Not all cargo is created equal. Those at Purple/Brown can be more specific/correct me, but FedEx/UPS have trips that include commute on the front, back or both but not all trips are covered. Seniority drives the ability to guarantee this commuting for the most part is what great friends at both places tell me. Both have a travel bank type deal as well, but some of it seems restrictive due to company rules, etc. You can watch the turmoil on APC if bored. I just remember a Delta Capt friend decades ago telling me that getting to work was half the pressure of the job. Easier with current tech today, but still shenanigans/pressure involved and overbooking is back like Godzilla. Main reason I went to Atlas as I could care less about maneuvering for work or where I lived. Not selling it, decent contract and it has its merits depending on your priorities, but nothing like Purple/Brown, Big 3, etc. in other areas no doubt. If your dream home/area happens to be in/near base for an airline that is an amazing opportunity/consideration for ease of life. I do like racking up the miles, although it hasn’t been as good with current conditions. Easier to pickup extra $ trips living in domicile if that’s your gig as well.
    1 point
  9. Aka economic depression, -10% GDP...already 10% there and jobless rate hasn't even taken a significant hit yet, there is a reason billionaires are buying farmland
    1 point
  10. Air Force colonel who called suicide a ‘chickensh-t way to go’ has been nominated to become a 1-star The Air Force has given nothing but lip service to removing toxic leaders. Nothing but fake interest in the well being of Airmen. Funny how they quickly rolled out testimony from others who said he is a great guy and not toxic. His statement revealed his true character and I am glad I am no longer in a service that promotes sycophants like this clown.
    1 point
  11. In addition to buying votes through debt cancellation, Uncle Joe has continued to drain the SPR in order to lower gas prices and improve his approval rating. This is of course not the purpose of the SPR and unfortunately it was not full when he started. This use of the SPR exceeds the previous three use cases (Gulf War, Katrina, Libya conflict), COMBINED! The SPR was established in 1977 and it took seven years of filling to equal what we have drained in just six months, with another 64 Million barrels scheduled to be released we will soon be at 50% of capacity. I can't wait for the liberals on here explain to explain how this is a good thing.
    1 point
  12. Well, back to the 90s where I’m writing checks all the time.
    1 point
  13. Trust me…I volunteer my time on the support side of base to make sure they actually support ops. I walk into offices daily and wonder why we pay 5 people to do the job that one ops capt could do. I actually told the base commander he should cut 30%….he laughed. It’s pretty much welfare disguised as govt employment
    1 point
  14. Check out BogiDope. The 185 SOS out of Oklahoma City just posted a UPT board hiring window. Bright future for that unit!
    1 point
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