tennesseeflyboy

I understand that school house management has told the I.P. group that they were going to cut off 2 days from their R days guarantee, but then in the same vein, they offer up O.T. ??? What is this really all about ??? I would also like to know if what I am hearing about I.P. pay per annum, is really correct .................. Do we have I.P.'s in the school house making $300K to $400K per annum ??? How in hell does this figure in when the rest of us cannot make more than 12 hours past BLG, and we have been taking the pay cuts disproportionately in each airframe ??? If this Company really wanted to save $$$, they would farm out the Schoolhouse activities to VENDORS .................... get rid of those "special deals folks" that are running amuck all over this place and make the F.A.A. do what they are supposed to be doing in the first place.

LivingInMEM

Pretty sure those days were gone before the current downturn. The schoolhouse started feeling the effects of cost-cutting (elimination of most draft opportunities, etc) years ago. They get paid the line they bid plus they get their instructor override (which is less than LCA override).

Was this a flame attempt or was this a real question, because I couldn't tell the way you wrote it? I am not a flex, but if you think it such a good deal, why don't you apply? I don't remember anything about having to be in a special club to get hired there, you just had to show some knowledge of the airplane you fly and have some sort of presentation skills.

MX727

In the past, there were a very few guys that made huge numbers by turning into a second draft event on the same day. They also sold all of their vacations back to the schoolhouse. Those days are long, long gone, and, as I recall, not all of the tracks even allowed an instructor to do a second event. The rumor still persists though. Talk to some flex guys and they can give more details.

flextodaline

First off, as a former flex, let me say.....Your an idiot. Go ahead and take in the rumors, "o' second shot from the grassy knoll" believer. Let's compare a few things:
1. Anyone can apply to be a flex. If you want to be one, then step up to the plate. The usual response to this is, "those guys work too hard". True, they do, but it's usually because they like to teach/evaluate/interact/have a role in making a program tract better......in some cases, unfortunately, worse.
2. They work hard for the "trainee". Usually prep for a two hour brief, conduct a four sim while keeping one eye on the "trainee", one eye on the box, and one eye conveying info to the hands, to take notes for a comprehensive debrief. So a rough guess would be almost 6.5 hours of work, for a current BLG pay of MAYBE 5.0........OK, I can hear it now, "but youre home every night".......yeah, but unfortunately, its in MEMPHIS!! We made the choice.....we live with it. And let me ask you......when was the last time you came out of training, and had a miserable event because of the instructor???
3. Vendors......HAH! Is that what you really want??? Some knucklehead that has NO idea of what our Operation is really like, teaching you how to effectively and safely fly our aircraft on the back side of the clock??? C'mon, all I've heard for years is "credability"......

Granted, there are a few "special deal" folks out there, but even the flex guys know who they are, and we all just pity those heartless souls that feel they need to work 25-30 days a month, so they can live the life. If they want to kill themselves, let them. For me, and most of the flexes I've had the honor of working with over the past few years, we work our min scheduled days, maybe an extra or two IF WE WANT TO, and fly the line as much as possible.......ask any flex when he goes to the line, and they'll ususally say that flying the line, is like a vacation compared to the schoolhouse.

I'll go have some coffee now

Sluggo_63

Let me start off by saying that all the flexes I have ever come in contact with are great. They work hard and put out a great product.
Having said that, I have always wondered about why we have such an inefficient use of flexes in the training environment. I can only speak for the 727 training, since that's all I've done, but I went through two airline's training programs. Back at "Brand X" airlines, four students went through as a team. A captain, first officer, and two second officer together in the sim with two instructors. When I got here, I couldn't believe that we had two 'support' instructors just sitting there flying the sim while I flipped switches in the back. Then when our sim was over, a pilot team got in with a S/O flex.
Is there a reason we do our training this way? It seems like it's either a flex 'welfare' program, or just a 'well, we've always done it that way' type of deal. It just seems we could get more students through more efficiently if we paired front seat students with back seat students in the sim phase.

JetPiedmont

What's wrong with Memphis?

FedExBusBoy

Detroit has us beat by 2 crimes.......darn!!

America's Most Dangerous Cities - Forbes.com

wt9u

It was done that way when I got hired 10 years ago.

av8rmike

Depends upon availability of students. They might have to support the front or the back seat occasionally. I'm sure everyone would enjoy their upgrade syllabus being delayed (and the pay that goes with it at completion) so you wouldn't have to see any 'flex welfare'. YOU go on the road away from your base for 24 hrs and get 6.4 CRs of pay, a Flex working away from his base gets R day value for 24 hrs gone, a Flex can be held in the schoolhouse against his will indefinitely. There are lots more good deals waiting if you only apply...

"Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?"

Overnitefr8

Are you talking about FTD phase or AST phase. I'm not a Flex guy, but I think they split it up sometimes so that the front guys (or back seat guys) don't get slowed down when the other guys are having trouble with a certain phase or need to redo certain maneuvers.

Isn't a whole crew together for the final ASTs?