New ACP's
12-02-2007, 06:51 PM
#41
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2005
Position: 777 FO
Posts: 931
ACP is a corporate req. position, not an faa mandated position. Chief pilot, D.O. I think are the faa positions that require a pilot.
If an ACP has the seniority to hold a Capt. position he should checkout. If he does not it shows lack of leadership and a lack of credibility.
All ACPs should have to fly a disputed pairing if they have them in their airplane.
ACP should fly trips that they can hold rather than the cream puff trips. (same with alpa leadership)
ACPs, flexs and all non-line type pilots need to have a 5 year limit on office duty before doing another 5 years on the line.
(same with alpa leadership)
If an ACP has the seniority to hold a Capt. position he should checkout. If he does not it shows lack of leadership and a lack of credibility.
All ACPs should have to fly a disputed pairing if they have them in their airplane.
ACP should fly trips that they can hold rather than the cream puff trips. (same with alpa leadership)
ACPs, flexs and all non-line type pilots need to have a 5 year limit on office duty before doing another 5 years on the line.
(same with alpa leadership)
12-03-2007, 07:07 AM
#43
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2006
Posts: 356
Our schedules are being optimized and our QOL has taken a significant hit since they cranked up the sodomizer. For the approx 250K per year the special projects pilot will make(base salary plus bonus) I sincerely hope that he will do something to add value to the crew force instead of act simply as consigliari or discipline advisor for "O".
An excellent special project I would appreciate them spending some time on is taking a good hard look at the 3 following items. 1. Optimization of schedules for non-passenger carrying/cargo pilots who work typically on the wrong side of the clock or both sides of the clock. 2. Mid-trip deadheads for both domestic and int'l flights and their long term impact on quality of service and resultant service failures. 3. Thoroughly research DPs. Fly the entire trip, not just the disputed flight of a trip and/or complete an entire month of flying with said DPs included in the schedule.
Since we on the line are understandably being asked to squeeze pennies, I would hope this approx 250K personnel cost will truly add value to the company bottom line and the lives of the crew force.
An excellent special project I would appreciate them spending some time on is taking a good hard look at the 3 following items. 1. Optimization of schedules for non-passenger carrying/cargo pilots who work typically on the wrong side of the clock or both sides of the clock. 2. Mid-trip deadheads for both domestic and int'l flights and their long term impact on quality of service and resultant service failures. 3. Thoroughly research DPs. Fly the entire trip, not just the disputed flight of a trip and/or complete an entire month of flying with said DPs included in the schedule.
Since we on the line are understandably being asked to squeeze pennies, I would hope this approx 250K personnel cost will truly add value to the company bottom line and the lives of the crew force.
12-03-2007, 07:11 PM
#44
Line Holder
Joined APC: Aug 2006
Position: Between a rock and a hard place
Posts: 92
12-03-2007, 08:45 PM
#45
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2006
Posts: 675
If there's a fireable type offense pending, I don't think the decision to give a guy his walking papers is made at the mid-level ACP position. SCP, lawyers, and personnel get involved. So the guy handing out the discipline is just a hatchet man. Apologies to fecav8r, but: makes me wonder why anyone would want to be the remote controlled bearer of bad news.
In the end, the place needs a manager interface. I, for one, am GLAD that at least we have a pilot, vice a suit, doing the job. As for the cross-qualified ACP (727 qual-ed ACP reviewing an A300 Captain): if the call on the carpet was aircraft specific, standards has enough input with the enhanced oversight program to address this. I could care less if my ACP is qual-ed on my A/C. Sure, it might take a couple of minutes to explain how things came about. Org diagrams, and reporting funcions aren't my thing, I'm a line dog. When they decide to put a non-pilot suit in the ACP job (call it what you will), THEN I'll worry.
In the end, the place needs a manager interface. I, for one, am GLAD that at least we have a pilot, vice a suit, doing the job. As for the cross-qualified ACP (727 qual-ed ACP reviewing an A300 Captain): if the call on the carpet was aircraft specific, standards has enough input with the enhanced oversight program to address this. I could care less if my ACP is qual-ed on my A/C. Sure, it might take a couple of minutes to explain how things came about. Org diagrams, and reporting funcions aren't my thing, I'm a line dog. When they decide to put a non-pilot suit in the ACP job (call it what you will), THEN I'll worry.
12-03-2007, 08:53 PM
#46
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2006
Posts: 675
A quick review of the current ACPs will result in the finding that EVERY new ACP hired since OR and SJ assumed their respective positions came from "non-line-flying" jobs. OR came from the schoolhouse after being there for a long time. SJ came from the schoolhouse after being there for a long time. BH used to be in charge of Bus training in the schoolhouse, went back to being a flex and then migrated to an ACP position. LK came from the position as Grievance Committee Chairman for the Union. PD has been an ACP for over 5 years.
No personal attacks on any of them. How familiar are they with what it's like to fly the kind of "optimized" schedules we are flying now?
"Put yourself in SJ's shoes and decide for yourself who you'd hire...a guy you had worked with who had an established reputation; who had been endorsed by guys you knew and respected, or an unknown line pilot whom you had never heard anything about."
I personally would make sure a got a cross-section of the pilots I am supposed to be managing and dealing with. That would require me to go outside the group of people I was comfortable with and actually take a chance on an "unknown line pilot" whom I had never heard about. He obviously had been doing his job earning his paycheck doing what the vast majority of us do here. Fly the freight full time. I'll take my chances with him if I call in sick or fatigued.
No personal attacks on any of them. How familiar are they with what it's like to fly the kind of "optimized" schedules we are flying now?
"Put yourself in SJ's shoes and decide for yourself who you'd hire...a guy you had worked with who had an established reputation; who had been endorsed by guys you knew and respected, or an unknown line pilot whom you had never heard anything about."
I personally would make sure a got a cross-section of the pilots I am supposed to be managing and dealing with. That would require me to go outside the group of people I was comfortable with and actually take a chance on an "unknown line pilot" whom I had never heard about. He obviously had been doing his job earning his paycheck doing what the vast majority of us do here. Fly the freight full time. I'll take my chances with him if I call in sick or fatigued.
12-03-2007, 09:09 PM
#47
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Position: 767 Cap
Posts: 1,306
From Sep 02 thru May 05 there were, to my knowledge, 7 ACP's hired in Central Region. Of the 7, 4 came straight from the line, JS, JP, SM and RT. 3 came from training, DM, CS and SB. I think you can say the same thing about them as I do about civilian/military pilots. Some are the best I've ever met and some are the worst. I'll let you decipher who is who......
12-03-2007, 11:41 PM
#49
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2006
Position: A300 CAP FDX
Posts: 287
No apologies needed, but I still say you're wrong. I was in that office for almost 5 years and never, repeat never, had anyone tell me what discipline would or should not be metered out. It was left up to me. That was the first thing you got asked in the arbitration, "who decided this punishment?"
If an individual ACP chooses termination (I said "fireable offense"), that's up to him? I never would have thought you had that much clout.
Cheers.
12-04-2007, 03:21 AM
#50
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2007
Position: A300CAP
Posts: 479
From Sep 02 thru May 05 there were, to my knowledge, 7 ACP's hired in Central Region. Of the 7, 4 came straight from the line, JS, JP, SM and RT. 3 came from training, DM, CS and SB. I think you can say the same thing about them as I do about civilian/military pilots. Some are the best I've ever met and some are the worst. I'll let you decipher who is who......
