Why don’t you all quit and become barristers? You’d be pretty damn good!
- that made me chuckle What to do? - I suppose there is a touch of the Perry Mason's about some of our posts!
In answer to your questions, I'll try to keep it brief:
1)How have the working hours got so much worse? Are they not rigidly restricted?
the trouble is, the restrictions allow too much work before they kick in. Lorry drivers are under far more limiting controls. The flight time limitations were meant to be a worse case scenario once in a while. Now we're rostered up to them nearly every time we go to work. Days are much longer, earlier starts and later finishes. Out of bed at 0330-0400 and home with the office workers week after week is not uncommon. Lates a similar length. In some companies constantly away from home. More air traffic. Greater delays. Reduced seperation. Constant ATC chatter. Constant company monitoring of your performance. Unable to safely have a glass of wine with your evening meal before earlies the next day due to new regs. Just about able to have a social drink in the pub on your first day off out of two. Finishing at midnight before two days off, starting on earlies. It's always been a serious job obviously, but we used to have "fun" as well as being responsible. The "fun" has now largely gone. Twenty five minute turnrounds mean you work constantly from beginning to end, locked in that little cockpit. No chats round the coffee machine. No lunch break. No loo apart from the smelly old aeroplane toilet. etc etc........
2)Exactly how have things changed since 9/11? I don’t know anything more than the bolted door and increased pre flight security.
Well, the locked door is a biggy. We used to feel less like battery hens. Nice when the cabin crew could come in for a chat when things were less busy. Nice when you got the odd cup of tea or cofee handed in from crew who were your friends as well as colleagues. The open door fostered a good sense of teamwork, and just made the work much more agreeable. Now it's a major security operation if you want to go to the loo. And with short turnrounds, you can't even nip into the terminal. It might seem petty, but the increased security checks start to drive you nuts on top of everything else. We are going to be at the controls, but we're treated like prime suspects! Family can no longer travel with us or even visit us in the cockpit. (By the way they still had to pay just in case you get the wrong idea). And of course there is the actual increased threat to our lives!!
3)Do you even get to leave the cockpit for a stretch? What about DVT?
Well, things like DVT and fatigue only apply to passengers - nobody ever seems to consider that we are human beings too! And basically, it's very hard to get out for a stretch these days.
4)Am I correct in assuming that given the continuation of terrorist activities and the subsequent 8% drop in BA’s shares last week that this lack of faith will keep things this way? So no jumpseats then?
Yup, no jumpseats. Even for family.
The bottom line is, we are now treated like hamsters on a wheel. Get locked into the cockpit, minimal food and water, work up to the limits, go home, eat, sleep and start all over again. And don't make a mistake. Lots of stress and pressure and very little fun I'm afraid.