TFR36,
Do you work at CX?
I dont understand why they don't just put an SO on some of those perth flights, I know plenty of SOs on the 330 who are only scheduled for 40 credit hours plus reserve. Why not just put one on and there will still be no risk in triggering overtime and mitigates fatigue
Here is the reason -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxmCCsMoD0
The Perth flight has been a problem for decades. Rumor was that a while back a lot of Perth based pilots put in ASR-Fs hoping for CX to put on the 3rd pilot (QF used to do this flight 3 crew). Subsequently the company approached the Perth crew and indicated that they might have to close the base due to fatigue reasons and miraculously the ASR-Fs stopped.
The 3rd pilot costs HDP, HOTAC and allowances - unfortunately $$$ is the only thing they care about!!!