EK - Fatigue in Numbers

[InnocentBystander]

To put the rise in fatigue ASR's and other indications of an enormous rise in work load on the pilots into a perspective I've looked at the seniority list again. Since the beginning of February of 2009 to now, almost exactly one year, we had a net gain of, wait for it, nine pilots. Nine. 2230 vs. 2239.

While he have received about 16 more airplanes in the same time frame, we have hired net NINE more pilots. Furthermore, included in that figure are ~54 cadets, who need for a significant amount of time a safety pilot, which further reduces the number of pilots available for revenue trips.

No wonder we are all walking corpses.

Of course, these numbers were derived from the seniority list, so it's not an exact science...

[SOPS]

Be it 230 pilots or 54 pilots...the most interesting fact is 9 pilots crewed 16 aircraft. It is obvious why the wheels are falling off !!!!

[InnocentBystander]

Therefore, the number of pilots who left EK in the last year is 54.

Well, I've gained almost 100 positions in one year when I looked at my anniversarey date during late last summer. But then there were also a lot of cadets inserted.

But still, the most important point of my post was the addition of only nine pilots for 16 additional airplanes... I'll edit my post accordingly.

[CAVnotOK]

I've moved up 130 in the past 18 months.

[fatbus]

So all that says is the flying is being covered off with less pilots. What are we going to do about it? Sweet .... all

[SOPS]

Not to mention the effective paycut we have all taken by flying 92 hours for free. The procuctivity gains must be enormous. Someones bonus ( and I dont mean ours) will be huge.

[flaphandlemover]

... and this "someone" already gets a pension by BA....:ugh:

Some people just don't get enough...

[kingpost]

Can you just imagine what the SVP's and DSVP's performance bonus will be, absolute millions!!

Nice one

[mini cooper]

Back to the thread - fatigue in numbers:
EK 523, 513, 525, 532 etc etc say no more!

[Wiley]

Perhaps it's time for a little levity...

Way 'back when', when controlled rest on the flight deck was totally unheard of (and would have been met with gasps of utter horror from the 'old sweats' who then made up the majority of EK captains, and when, if an FO had asked if he could take one, he would have had a note appear on his ‘secret file’ saying something along the lines of ‘not command material’), as a bright-eyed (not!!), bushy-tailed FO, I did a Bombay night horror with the Fleet Captain. (It was still called ‘Bombay’ back then.) (It was the one with the awful 2200 ETD from Dubai, [which never departed on time], when it’s almost impossible to get any meaningful rest before pickup.)

His in-laws were out visiting and he’d been playing tour guide during the day, so hadn’t even got what little rest he should have had before the flight. At TOPC he said to me: “Wiley, I just have to take fifteen minutes rest.” He set the egg timer (remember the A300’s wonderful high tech. egg timer?) to fifteen minutes, put his seat back and was out to the world almost immediately.

I called the L1 and told her not to come in to the cockpit, (not that she needed much prompting for that on that particular leg, where the CC are run off their feet), and just kept winding the egg timer on every ten minutes of so all the way to TOPD, meanwhile setting everything up for the approach. (It was his leg.)

Approaching the TOPD, the egg timer went off and the boss sat up, took control and flew the descent and approach, saying “It’s amazing what 15 minutes rest will do for you.”

He never once acknowledged that his 15 minutes rest was closer to an hour fifteen, but I suspect I might possibly have avoided a few calls to the office for the many infractions I committed over the next year or so.

[White Knight]

Great story Wiley - not unlike a skipper I flew back from JNB with who slept for 6:30:) Not a fleet manager though so couldn't call in any favours:}

[disconnected]

Don't worry White Knight, one day you will get advantage for your understanding.

[White Knight]

Disconnected - you're sounding a little 'disconnected':rolleyes: I have no idea what your last sentence actually meant:ugh::ugh: