The cold beer test can show whether an airliner company has a "prospective rest" policy.
The FAA has once again issued a legal interpretation explaining that an “on call” pilot can’t count as rest all of the time that a call never came.
The agency has been restating this principle periodically for years, and each time, many in the FAR Part 135 on-demand charter world angrily reply that this policy cannot function in the real world. Their position: If a pilot hasn’t flown or worked in any way for a week, why can’t that same, well-rested pilot fly on 2-hr. notice?
a flight-crew member’s rest period must be “(1) continuous, (2) determined prospectively (i.e., known in advance) and (3) free from all restraint by the certificate holder, including freedom from work or the present responsibility for work should the occasion arise.”
http://m.aviationweek.com/bca/faa-call-pilots-are-duty
David wrote to tell me what the related rules are for railroad crews:
It's not that way with the railroads, when you work in "train service," as either an engineer or conductor, when you're on call.
If you have enough seniority, you can "mark up" for a specific train. Otherwise you're on the "extra board" and on call. You can work as much as a 16 hour shift (at that point you are officially off duty and the railroad has to send a "cab" to replace your crew and pick you up to bring you to a hotel.). The clock starts running on your 10 hours of rest the second that you clock out (it used to be only 8 hours, but some railroads are finding that with the shorter time off, crews were experiencing "micro-sleep events, nodding off for a second and missing a signal that would tell them to stop and they would have a collision with another train, usually involving the death of the train crew. So, it's much better now, than it was.). Your drive home, clean up time and sleep are all counted into your rest time. And they can call you again after 10 hours if you are up next in the rotation for train crew. Then you have between 90 and 120 minutes to report after the call, which includes getting up, getting dressed, getting your spare set of clothes packed (in case you're sent out "on the road"), and the drive back into your terminal. There is a ZERO TOLERANCE policy for Alcoholism or Drug Use. Any positive test means IMMEDIATE TERMINATION.
It's a dangerous job that pays damn good, for a job that only requires a high school education (plus passing the safety rules exam, and doing all of the physical work in all seasons of weather 24x7x365.25) at about $67,000/year for Conductor before overtime (with overtime starting after the 8th hour each day) and about $83,000/year for Engineer. AND employees with 5 years are no longer part of Social Security, but are included in Railroad Retirement (employees have contributed into RRE since day one, but become vested at 5 years of service and your SSI is rolled into RRE - which unlike SSI is solvent and totally funded). In addition to that, if you have a spouse, she gets her own account funded at 50% of your contributions to RRE!
As a train enthusiast, it's something that I've always wanted to do and have recently applied for. And I believe that IF I ever get selected, I'd be just fine, living on the road (although I'd be in my own bed every other night), even with the funky, on-call schedule, because I'd be doing something that I've always wanted to do and that I love.
The FAA has once again issued a legal interpretation explaining that an “on call” pilot can’t count as rest all of the time that a call never came.
The agency has been restating this principle periodically for years, and each time, many in the FAR Part 135 on-demand charter world angrily reply that this policy cannot function in the real world. Their position: If a pilot hasn’t flown or worked in any way for a week, why can’t that same, well-rested pilot fly on 2-hr. notice?
a flight-crew member’s rest period must be “(1) continuous, (2) determined prospectively (i.e., known in advance) and (3) free from all restraint by the certificate holder, including freedom from work or the present responsibility for work should the occasion arise.”
http://m.aviationweek.com/bca/faa-call-pilots-are-duty
David wrote to tell me what the related rules are for railroad crews:
It's not that way with the railroads, when you work in "train service," as either an engineer or conductor, when you're on call.
If you have enough seniority, you can "mark up" for a specific train. Otherwise you're on the "extra board" and on call. You can work as much as a 16 hour shift (at that point you are officially off duty and the railroad has to send a "cab" to replace your crew and pick you up to bring you to a hotel.). The clock starts running on your 10 hours of rest the second that you clock out (it used to be only 8 hours, but some railroads are finding that with the shorter time off, crews were experiencing "micro-sleep events, nodding off for a second and missing a signal that would tell them to stop and they would have a collision with another train, usually involving the death of the train crew. So, it's much better now, than it was.). Your drive home, clean up time and sleep are all counted into your rest time. And they can call you again after 10 hours if you are up next in the rotation for train crew. Then you have between 90 and 120 minutes to report after the call, which includes getting up, getting dressed, getting your spare set of clothes packed (in case you're sent out "on the road"), and the drive back into your terminal. There is a ZERO TOLERANCE policy for Alcoholism or Drug Use. Any positive test means IMMEDIATE TERMINATION.
It's a dangerous job that pays damn good, for a job that only requires a high school education (plus passing the safety rules exam, and doing all of the physical work in all seasons of weather 24x7x365.25) at about $67,000/year for Conductor before overtime (with overtime starting after the 8th hour each day) and about $83,000/year for Engineer. AND employees with 5 years are no longer part of Social Security, but are included in Railroad Retirement (employees have contributed into RRE since day one, but become vested at 5 years of service and your SSI is rolled into RRE - which unlike SSI is solvent and totally funded). In addition to that, if you have a spouse, she gets her own account funded at 50% of your contributions to RRE!
As a train enthusiast, it's something that I've always wanted to do and have recently applied for. And I believe that IF I ever get selected, I'd be just fine, living on the road (although I'd be in my own bed every other night), even with the funky, on-call schedule, because I'd be doing something that I've always wanted to do and that I love.
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