Making money

Living in base and being a line holder gives me the ability to (almost) write my own pay check.

My line for December was initially valued at 83 hours. Of that 83 hours 22 hours involved a 4 day trip that starts on December 31st. I traded around and ended up with 65 hours before any overtime to be flown in THIS calendar month.

I picked up a lot of extra flying. I’m very picky on extra flying in that I won’t do overnights as it takes away from my time at home. My wife works Monday-Friday. We pay for daycare 3 days a week whether we go or not.

Thru careful scanning I was able to add on overtime flying to the front or back of a few trips. Over the next 3 days however I was able to pick up a lot of extra flying.

My 4 day that starts on December 31st was changed as my mainline carrier changed the schedules for January. Every flight from January 1st on is different. Because I was already awarded a line based on certain flight times I get that pay, but will not have to do most of the flying. How much less? Well 18 hours less. All I do is one leg to the overnight on the 31st and one leg back the next day. I will fly 2.4 hours and get paid for 22 hours.

Over the next 3 days I picked up overtime day trips each day. Tomorrow is worth 4 hours, Thursday is worth 5 hours and Friday is worth 7 hours.

Now for math. I’ve mentioned in the past I failed College Algebra. My professor gave a me a “C’ since I was a Journalism major….and literally went everyday. In 5 years of college I missed just 11 days. Not too bad.

Anyway as of today I will be paid for 128 hours of flying but only fly 92 hours. The difference is the 4 day trip on the 31st that was chopped up as well as a few flights that cancelled. This could be my best month ever.

Back of the napkin math shows I will be paid $5,120 before taxes and excluding per diem. I should have another $500 or so in per diem. If I can keep this going I could make a lot of money next year. I think it’s a special case though. I DO hope to get paid for 85-95 hours a month though.

Note to self…take more photos while flying. I carry a camera every trip…I need to start taking it out.