Inefficiency
Today was a regular reserve day. My reserve duty window opened at 6 a.m. and at 6:01, my pager went off. Crew scheduling notifiedd me of a whopper of a trip:
Deadhead to Washington DC (DCA) operate 1 leg to Boston and then deadhead back to Cincinnati. The report time was 7:45. So I got up, showered and dressed. On my way out the door, one of my roommates was looking at the scheduling system and noticed that my report time had changed to 11 a.m.
There was no way I could go back to sleep, so I headed to the airport. Before I could get there, scheduling called to inform me of another change. The non-stop flight was canceled. They were going to deadhead me from CVG to ATL, then ATL to DCA. 3.5 hours of deadhead just to get to Washington DC.
I flew the leg from DCA to BOS. It was a nice, clear day. They were using runway 01, which points directly at the US Capitol. Because of restricted area P-56, it is important to start the turn west right when the gear goes up. It was nice and clear all the way to Boston, where we did the visual approach to runway 33L.
There was just enough time to make the deadhead back to CVG, another 2.5 hours. 6 hours total time spent deadheading for 1.5 hours of block time. It's days like this that make me thankful for the duty rigs in the contract.
Our scheduling system operates on obsolete software. I'm talking about stuff that dates back to the days of Wang and Kaypro computers. The obsolete software makes efficient use of flight crews nearly impossible. Add that to a shortage of captains, which means they're getting yanked all over creation, and you get some pretty pissed off crews.
Tomorrow is day one of two ready reserve days. Blech.
5 comments:
when deadheading do you get any accommodation (like first/business class seats or are you stuck in coach)? that seems like it would not be at all conducive to a decent mental state before a flight if not.
Company business travel is always booked in coach class. That being said, most gate agents try their best to put flight crews in the best seats available. Unless a flight is completely full, they will usually put us in emergency exit rows, bulkheads or at least an aisle seat.
Once the boarding doors have been closed, if first class seats are open, flight attendants will usually offer to move crew members up front.
That being said, first class is usually full. Most people are grateful to not be stuck in a middle seat.
Hello, I just found your blog, I look forward to reading it. Im doing my commercial training right now hope to be done a week from tomorrow. I have a blog over at http://desiretofly.blogspot.com I'm trying to do what you done, document my path to a regional!
Tim
Are you still alive? It is march 20th, been over a month since your last post! You must be very busy but still, is this blog going anymore?
Sorry for not posting much lately. There just hasn't been much time. I will try to post a bit more this weekend.
Thanks
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