Well, I think choose is a very loose word.
I am in a base where I don't really want to be, and would much rather be somewhere else. But while I am here I am making the most of it and commuting.
Arn't the FR guys choosing too?
They could establish their lives in XXX base but choose not to.
They don't HAVE to commute. Which is the same for all of us, but we do.
My company also has a fixed roster pattern, but by the same coin as you mention, it is effectively reduced to less days off.
Having said that, commuting IS tiring but managed properly, it isn't a risk.
I am not saying what they do is right, but if your company says "your home base is XXX". Can you REALLY expect them to say.. OK, have day 1 and day 5 just for getting to and from your home base?!
No, because it just doesn't work like that!
I hate commuting, it is anti-social and depressing sometimes.
But let us put some true context onto what is being said above rather than just doing the old FR hate game.
IF a pilot is positioning for an out of base duty on his days off, then that is a very different and important matter.
If it is to his home base, then that is the life that many of us follow.
Last edited by EcamSurprise; 12th January 2013 at 15:02.