Pilot duties.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

What do you people think about pilots who refuse to do any work outside of actually planning, flying and post flight duties?


Was thinking about this after reading some comments in another discussion.


It got me to thinking about the time a new class 4 applied for a job instructing at my school.


During the interview I told him he would be assigned an airplane to do daily inspections on such as keeping it clean and proper fuel and oil for the start of the days flying.


He informed me fueling and adding oil was not a pilots job it was work for mechanics to do.


At that point in the interview I suggested he look for a job somewhere else.

[Strega]

Chuck,


There are a lot of duties that pilots should do.....  BUT... When you go to the DR, would you rather the DR be cleaning the office at the end of the day, or paying someone to do it so he can look through the charts of the day to perhaps come up with solutions to troubling cases..


I think a captain at westjet has better things to do than walk the cabin with a trash bag is what Im saying..

[Chuck Ellsworth]

I can understand a Captain of a large jet not being expected to do such duties.


But what about commercial pilots working for a small charter / training company?


Was I being unreasonable expecting instructors to keep the airplane clean and fueled / oiled?

[Strega]

I think it is perfectly reasonable to keep your aircraft serviced...  to a point..  if you are flying 10 hrs per day, and the ground guys are sitting around picking their asses all day.. is the pilot expected to wash the bugs at the end of his day?  I dont think so...


We all have to help each other out,, I am the first person to say that, however we do all have differing responsibilities and as such "helping" might mean different things...

[Chuck Ellsworth]

There is a big difference between a crew on a large jet and a crew on a light to medium twin flying for a small charter company where most Canadian pilots build flying experience and move up to better paying jobs.


A small charter company is limited in what they can pay a pilot due to the limits they can charge and be competitive with other charter companies.


If performing other duties are below the dignity of a given pilot the answer is quite simple, go fly for a big airline.


Quite frankly I fail to see why pilots think they are special given the fact the job does not require any special skills.


But that is only my personal thoughts on the subject.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

More on my thoughts and my position in the industry.


I retired in October of 2005 after over fifty years of flying for a living.


I wish I had retired sooner but my employers kept encouraging me to keep flying and they went out of their way to keep me in the business with bonuses that were hard to turn down, for instance they paid all my wife's expenses and air fares so she could visit me when I was on extended tours overseas.


As an example she got about ten African Safaris paid for in full over the years and so many trips to Europe for short visits I lost count.


I was fortunate enough to have worked for some of the biggest companies in the world and the pay was very good and I kept flying for them until my wife's health started to become a concern so I quit and spent the last of her years at home where I belonged.


Looking back I have mixed emotions about my choice to be a pilot....would I do it all over...probably.


One more thing I couldn't care less waht other pilots think about me what mattered was what my employers thought.

[cgzro]

Seems to me its a simple matter of stating up front what the job description is. If a person does not wish to perform all the duties in the job description then clearly neither they nor you should proceed with hiring them. Very simple.


So describe the expectations clearly up front and let people decide. Whats the big deal? Even a big airline could say that the Captain and FO may be required to fill in helping with other duties occasionally, heck doing so goes a long way to gaining respect from those that work for you and is often part of being a good leader.