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On 5/25/2021 at 9:16 PM, Gazmo said:

Yep... did that on the 190 at AA the whole time I was on that jet. I miss that thing. My record was 23 days with being called. Been out for a while on mil leave, but we shall see if I have the same luck on the 320.

 

While I tip my hat to your 23 days, especially on a NB, but I'm thinking more along the lines of trees post.  I've flown with guys who used to hit the 6-9 months mark.  One said he hit 14 months once, though I think all this was pre-117, which I think made it easier for some reason.

 

1 hour ago, icohftb said:

Hows that possible? Bid reserve but senior enough to get called last?

 

That and some strategery.  

Edited by SocialD
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This was before my time but the most remarkable thing I've heard was from a dude that got lost in the system when the DC-10 went away. Somehow, the company just lost track of him and never scheduled him for training on a new jet so he went about a year and a half before they finally caught up with him. 

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9 hours ago, TreeA10 said:

This was before my time but the most remarkable thing I've heard was from a dude that got lost in the system when the DC-10 went away. Somehow, the company just lost track of him and never scheduled him for training on a new jet so he went about a year and a half before they finally caught up with him. 

Lol The Milton of the airline world.

I'll... Set the building on fire - Milton from Office Space | Make a Meme

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It happens. We’ve had guys float six months earning reserve guarantee. Either the CKA forgets to turn in their qualification paperwork, or they go non-current as a Reserve dude… so they never search legal for trips but also are never actively removed from a sequence. 
 

it’s a good deal when you get it. And unlike the military, you are not expected to do the companies job to notify them when they’ve screwed up. 

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And unlike the military, you are not expected to do the companies job to notify them when they’ve screwed up. 


That’s mind blowing. Quite the opposite of our UDM throwing a shit fit every time someone isn’t green for 1 of 69 deployment requirements
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That’s mind blowing. Quite the opposite of our UDM throwing a shit fit every time someone isn’t green for 1 of 69 deployment requirements

“You expire in four months, you’re not green enough.”
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12 hours ago, SurelySerious said:


“You expire in four months, you’re not green enough.”

 

Uh sir you're going to expire within 2 months of returning from deployment, you have reaccomplish that cbt

Oh really, show me the reg...

Well it's just "guidance."

Copy...not doing it.  

Edited by SocialD
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Kind of a different question, but any thoughts out there about moving from an AD flying position to a non-flying ARC job?

I'm an AD Maj looking to punch and go airlines next year, and I've always assumed I'd take a position flying my current MWS in the ARC. Lately though, I've been talking to a friend of mine who's probably 6-7 years further down the road than me. He took an IMA job and wears a uniform maybe 2-3 weeks a year, and focuses most of his energy on flying for Purple. He swears by that lifestyle, but I'm not sure I'm ready to give up military flying completely just yet. Copy that this is largely a YMMV situation, but I see two major benefits of continued flying in the ARC (an easy, comfortable transition away from AD and the ability to drop mil leave as required to take some of the sting out of airline juniority) and one major disadvantage compared to a traditional, one-weekend-a-month ARC position (the need to chase beans and currency resulting in a significant increase in total days worked). 

FWIW, I'm more concerned with QoL than maximizing total pay and I don't have any dreams of chasing an AD retirement in the ARC. I'd definitely like to continue serving, just wondering how much you ARC flyers have found the juice to be worth the squeeze. 

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16 minutes ago, mcbush said:

Kind of a different question, but any thoughts out there about moving from an AD flying position to a non-flying ARC job?

I'm an AD Maj looking to punch and go airlines next year, and I've always assumed I'd take a position flying my current MWS in the ARC. Lately though, I've been talking to a friend of mine who's probably 6-7 years further down the road than me. He took an IMA job and wears a uniform maybe 2-3 weeks a year, and focuses most of his energy on flying for Purple. He swears by that lifestyle, but I'm not sure I'm ready to give up military flying completely just yet. Copy that this is largely a YMMV situation, but I see two major benefits of continued flying in the ARC (an easy, comfortable transition away from AD and the ability to drop mil leave as required to take some of the sting out of airline juniority) and one major disadvantage compared to a traditional, one-weekend-a-month ARC position (the need to chase beans and currency resulting in a significant increase in total days worked). 

FWIW, I'm more concerned with QoL than maximizing total pay and I don't have any dreams of chasing an AD retirement in the ARC. I'd definitely like to continue serving, just wondering how much you ARC flyers have found the juice to be worth the squeeze. 

Guardsmen at units like Syracuse have an extraordinarily good deal IMO working as AOC augmentation. I know 1-2. I haven't done it myself so my info may be a little misguided but... They generally work part time, can live anywhere, and they drill by working as AOC augmentation during major exercises. These are usually two, 3-week exercises a year that are at Ramstein, Korea or Hickham. No currencies that I know of. You are just augmentation so the AOC can stand up 24 hour shifts when they do their accreditation exercises. 

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4 hours ago, mcbush said:

Kind of a different question, but any thoughts out there about moving from an AD flying position to a non-flying ARC job?

You have to decide for yourself when you’re ready to hang up the wings.  Ask yourself on your next flights if you’d rather be somewhere else.  If the answer is still “Hell no, this is the best gig ever!” then keep flying in the ARC. One of these days your answer will be “I’d really rather be watching Junior’s game or I’d rather be home with Frau.”  Get an IMA job then.  

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7 hours ago, mcbush said:

Kind of a different question, but any thoughts out there about moving from an AD flying position to a non-flying ARC job?

 

You’re right, YMMV. I’m a 100% QOL guy and spent about a year flying in my MWS with the ANG when I started at my airline. Aside from the increased number of days for a flying gig, the unpredictability is what really did me in. I’d carve out a month that let me keep my sweet/high paying airline trips, drop the crap trips for mil leave, and still be home for birthdays and anniversaries, etc. Then as soon as I’d get to the unit and we’d cancel for Wx/Mx/tanker availability/mission slip/whatever then I’d have to scramble to decide whether I should annoy the unit by going non-current or else pick up extra days, which would of course mean giving up more airline pay or annoying the wife. Long story short, I took an ANG staff job 3 years ago and have a very predictable 2 days/month, 2 weeks/year schedule. Boring? Yes. Demanding? No way.

I miss the plane, miss some of the flying (but not all of it), mostly miss hanging out in an ops squadron. But definitely don’t miss the beans, the exercises, the extra days away from home, the checkrides, or any of the standard trappings of AF anti-aircrew culture. All told, I have no regrets and am spending way less time either at or thinking about work now, which was my ultimate goal. Obviously you’ll get a wide range of perspectives, and your own preferences will differ from every else’s, but that’s been this guy’s experience at least!

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On 5/28/2021 at 9:56 AM, TreeA10 said:

This was before my time but the most remarkable thing I've heard was from a dude that got lost in the system when the DC-10 went away. Somehow, the company just lost track of him and never scheduled him for training on a new jet so he went about a year and a half before they finally caught up with him. 

There are several stories of essentially this happening at FedEx, although at purple it had nothing to do with anyone getting lost, it stems from that system bids are (and historically have been) very infrequent compared to nearly every other 121 airline.  Sometimes it is every 9 months, or a year, or every 18 months.  This leads to quite long training cycles.

Thus, when a fleet is being eliminated (like what has happened with the 727 and DC-10), the training cycle for pilots does not flow perfectly with the rate at which airframes are being put into the boneyard.  Thus, after the last airframes were flown into Victorville, the last crew holdouts on those airframes had sometimes quite long waits for their training slots in their new aircraft.  There are stories of guys sitting for a year or more, getting monthly guarantee to sit at home and wait for their training class date.

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What's the latest scuttlebutt? Any prognostications for 2022? Now that were close to 90% of 2019 TSA numbers, I wouldn't be surprised if we'd actually be at 120% if all the international flying were back.

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On 5/29/2021 at 4:56 PM, mcbush said:

Kind of a different question, but any thoughts out there about moving from an AD flying position to a non-flying ARC job?

Don't let COVID fool you. While the airlines took a hit, pretty much everyone saw it as short term. There are bigger issues out there like war and recession/depression. In my experience, the benefit of the ARC flying job is a regular option for full time work when every other pilot is stuck selling insurance.

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On 6/7/2021 at 7:06 AM, Royal said:

Now that were close to 90% of 2019 TSA numbers…

One stat I’d like to see is how much of the high end business travel is back. The provide a disproportionate amount of revenue to AAL, DAL, and UAL. 
 

While TSA numbers are trending upward, the revenue from a person buying a full fare First Class to Singapore on a 777 is different than an Economy Basic ticket from SFO to Vegas. 

Edited by HuggyU2
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Went to FL on vacation a few weeks ago and we traveled to on a Wednesday. Overhearing conversation around us, there were quite a few people sitting near us on business trips. Definitely not an official sign that business travel is coming back, but there are definitely people traveling for work. I'd imagine some business travel may never come back, but I really don't think the technology we have is reliable enough to replace the majority of business travel and will definitely not replace the importance of human interaction/collaboration during business meets.

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1 hour ago, HuggyU2 said:

One stat I’d like to see is how much of the high end business travel is back. The provide a disproportionate amount of revenue to AAL, DAL, and UAL. 
 

While TSA numbers are trending upward, the revenue from a person buying a full fare First Class to Singapore on a 777 is different than an Economy Basic ticket from SFO to Vegas. 

At AA, our international flying is still greatly curtailed. For instance, this month and next, there is no DFW to Asia flying on the 777 and only 1 flight per day to Heathrow vs the normal 3 or 4 and only Buenos Aires on South America. The airline is using the wife body jets to fly a lot of domestic trips like DFW to MIA/JFK/LAX/LAS. I just flew to HNL and we were completely full there and back on a -300 with 310-ish pax. So, domestically, flying is definitely back but not so much internationally. 

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25 minutes ago, Fast_N_Low135 said:

Are we talking 757-200 wife body jets or A380 wife body jets?  There’s a big difference between the two and need to know where your standards lie.

built for speed or comfort?

Are They Built For Speed Or Comfort? What'd You Do With Them? Motorboat?  You Pla... | Gfycat

 

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4 hours ago, Fast_N_Low135 said:

Are we talking 757-200 wife body jets or A380 wife body jets?  There’s a big difference between the two and need to know where your standards lie.

I guess I need to choose the correct wife then, don't I. I'd go with the 757 with the Rolls Royce motors. Long legs, big hooters.  Loved flying that jet. 

Friggin' typos......

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21 hours ago, Gazmo said:

Went to FL on vacation a few weeks ago and we traveled to on a Wednesday. Overhearing conversation around us, there were quite a few people sitting near us on business trips. Definitely not an official sign that business travel is coming back, but there are definitely people traveling for work. I'd imagine some business travel may never come back, but I really don't think the technology we have is reliable enough to replace the majority of business travel and will definitely not replace the importance of human interaction/collaboration during business meets.
 

I work for an automotive supplier, and some recent events have indicated director level management is going to be looking at increasing international travel to get more eyes on things in our plants around the world. Sometimes just having a fresh set of eyes on things makes a world of difference.

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