Hello!
Originally Posted by
Professor Plum
It would be handy if I could keep the family in Lincolnshire.
AFAIK they do not care where you actually live as long as you do the proceeding between your assigned/chosen gateway and your home in your off time. Netjets have a fixed roster which makes that very easy. I know at least two pilots from NJ whose family homes are quite far away from their gateway.
That can be totally different with other corporate or bizjet employers, especially when standby duties at your home base (or gateway) are required. In that case you must guarantee to be at the airport within an hour (or 30 minutes with some ambulance flyers I know of) which would require some kind of "crash pad" as you call it. Which of course is usually not cheap so close to major airports and therefore often not possible on an FOs pay...