Ask The Pilot

[jb747]

How does an airline handle crew rest on a once a week rotation, such as the new route that Maldvian Airlines have just commenced between Male and Melbourne? Do the crew do the return flight, stay in Melbourne for nearly a week or pax back on the flight they just flew in on?

Routes like this are unlikely to be cost effective.

You could leave the crew in Melbourne, but the accommodation cost alone would add up. You could pax them back on the aircraft they arrived on, but your issue then is where do you then get the crew for the return journey. Slip time isn’t long enough to use the crew that brought the aircraft in, or even to pax a crew in on the arrival flight. So, where else in Oz, or elsewhere, might they have a crew?

 

[Cynicor]

Routes like this are unlikely to be cost effective.

You could leave the crew in Melbourne, but the accommodation cost alone would add up. You could pax them back on the aircraft they arrived on, but your issue then is where do you then get the crew for the return journey. Slip time isn’t long enough to use the crew that brought the aircraft in, or even to pax a crew in on the arrival flight. So, where else in Oz, or elsewhere, might they have a crew?

I guess what might make it cost effective is it’s the Maldives, so you can charge what you want. Plus the appeal of direct flights means you can charge even more!

 

[Saab34]

My last couple of 737 flights we have been a tad late, pilots on the PA advised us on all that they will do their best to ‘make up time’

What sort of things do you actually do to pull back time?

 

[jb747]

My last couple of 737 flights we have been a tad late, pilots on the PA advised us on all that they will do their best to ‘make up time’

What sort of things do you actually do to pull back time?

In reality there is very little that you can do, other than change time zone. Bumping the cruising mach number up a bit, is a very small percentage, and won't save anything worthwhile unless you're on a long leg. And then you're likely to be constrained by the fuel burn. A high speed descent can find a few minutes, but that's completely at the whim of ATC.

I never told people that I'd try to make up time, simply because I wasn't going to.....

 

[Saab34]

Thanks JB. Another one I had recently was some turbulence expected low level into Sydney. The PIC told us
‘We will do our best to make it as smooth as possible’. Got me thinking on what they had planned.

Do some pilots simply say too much to passengers some times? A few recent flights I had some that told us likely more than we needed to know.

 

[Quickstatus]

Are turbulence predicting apps worth considering?