Last night my Captain advised crew scheduling that the local station personell could not handle our ferry flight until 8AM due to the morning kickoff revenue flights. Crew scheduling insisted my crew be at the airport at 5:30AM which put us on reduced rest. We arrived at 5:30AM to find our plane still in the hangar and the station personell busy with getting out the morning flights. So here we sit. Just like we told scheduling. We were put on reduced rest unnescisarily. This is ridiculous.
I had plans to go out with my wife tonight. This morning it was looking like I wasn’t going to make it. Then it looked like I would. Then it looked bad again.
I signed in for my flight at 10:45AM. I met the Captain in the crew room. The last time I flew with him was almost a year ago. Really nice guy.
Deciding who flies the first leg of a trip is up to the Captain. Most don’t care. This Captain had an interesting way of deciding. On the PFD in the CRJ there is a little arrow the points to the pilot flying. This arrow is more than just an arrow, but for this discussion…just points to who is flying. The arrow is controlled via a XFR button on the Flight Control Panel. He pushed the button on and off and told me to tell him when to stop. When I did it was pointing my way. My leg. Cool.
The climb out was normal for the first part. Somewhere around FL280 our conversation about Craps was disturbed by a single chime and a flashing yellow light….Master Caution. The ED1 screen had a yellow PROX SYS CHAN caution. Before I could even reach for my checklist, ED2 filled up with 5 status messages covering left and right FADEC computers, left thrust reverser and a calibrated airspeed system problem. Yowzers.
I handed the plane over to the Captain and started with the PROX SYS CHAN caution checklist. After that checklist I ran the others. Thankfully all of the other checklist were “no action required”. With all of these issues I might mis-connect to my overnight and make the party with my wife.
The rest of the flight went normally. We discussed the left thrust reversers system and I would use extra caution during landing. Thankfully they both worked normally.
Once in the gate it started. It being miscommunication. After an hour a contract mechanic (my airline doesn’t have a maintenance base here) showed up. The crew scattered for food. After another hour things were looking okay. During the 3rd hour we were told it would be another 4 hours. My contract states any delays over 5 hours at an outstation means the crew gets a hotel. Off we went.
An hour after arriving at the hotel we were called back to go move the plane. Someone called me earlier and told me they needed the plane moved. When we left the plane we told the mechanic we were leaving. He said he would work on the plane at the hangar. One would think he would tell us he needed the plane moved. He just told us bye and we left. Nice. So the Captain and went back to the airport and taxied the plane to the contract hangar. Once we parked, the personnel who are authorized to move the plane arrived. Nice timing.
As is we are staying overnight and will ferry the plane back in the morning. Once we get back there is nothing else yet assigned to me. Hopefully I will be released. Crazy day.
I am on reserve for the next two days. I then get Sunday off and then work reserve 6 more days. Originally I was to work Sunday. If I had then I would be on for 10 days in a row…illegal. The periods between two months is really hard for my airline. Pilots schedules can conflict with flights, duty days and flight time legalities. Some pilots on reserve purposely bid schedules giving them a 7 day conflict. Why? An extra day off! I get 11 days off per month on reserve. If I am illegal to work one of those days (due to a 7 day conflict or what not), I get a day off with full pay. This month I get 12 days off instead of 11. Nice.
Tomorrow night my wife is going out with some friends on a party barge. She wanted me to go. Being the most junior pilot I figured I would get airport standby again tomorrow. Nope. I got an overnight. So much for going out with my wife.
The trip isn’t two bad. I do three legs tomorrow followed by a reduced rest overnight and an early morning arrival back in base Saturday. Once I get back I will have to be given a flight right away or released. I will likely be released…hopefully.
This morning an email was sent out to all pilots in my domicile concerning next months schedules. Scheduling advised pilots flying the other planes in my domicile should have no issues getting approval for days off and schedule changes. All pilots flying my aircraft…well…too bad. Not good. I was planning on attending my wife’s cousin’s wedding. Not looking likely.
Time to go pound sand about having to work tomorrow. Still better than sitting in a cubicle for 8 hours. Although my cubicle gig was 7AM to 4PM…weekends off…proper lunch breaks…but the view sucked. Eh…..still need to update my logbook.
