OpNote 026

Greetings Gentlemen.  There are a lot of exiting developments taking place at UALR!  I’m please to be able to share with you that our company has achieved a certain level of respect and success at BVA that has allowed for some interesting new upgrades to take place.

New call sign – First and foremost if you’ve been following the Skype chat rooms, you’ll know that BVA operations has come to agree that a separate callsign and identifier for United Regional flights would be useful.   There have been enough incidents of confusion as to whether a United flight is operated by a professional Regional pilot vs. a standard BVA pilot that at long last we are able to stand out from the masses on a daily basis.  We will now have a unique callsign that should go a long way towards eliminating any question as to whom that aircraft is operated by.  Which also of course raises the responsibility level each United Regional pilot has to ensure that their flight is operated professionally. 

Therefore, with this in mind and effective Labor Day MONDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2011 United Regional pilots who have either earned officer's wings, or have the approval of their instructor should use the identifier UARxxx, and the verbal callsign “FENWAY.” for United Regional flights.   (Yes, we are aware that UAR is actually a little known middle-eastern airline, but that is the identifier that was recommended by Evan).  Candidates and line pilots who feel they are ready for UAR/FENWAY status should petition their instructor or an officer for approval. 

New pilots/candidates who have not completed their orientation flight or do not have the sanctioning of their instructor should continue to fly the United Express CRJ and use the UAL identifier rather than the UAR one.  If you have any questions regarding the new call sign or identifier, or proper usage, please don’t hesitate to ask. 

STC Contract – As you may know UAR has a contract with the STC (Share the Cockpit) office at BVA where we function as a training and orientation division of BVA.  Many of you have even come to UAR via this pipeline.  Occasionally we see that the STC office is unable to handle their requests for assistance in a timely manner.  When that happens, BVA operations will redirect the majority of requests for STC attention to us.  Now is apparently one of those times.  We have recently seen our pipeline of new STC requests pick up dramatically, which is obviously good news for the company in the long run. 

In the short run it adds an additional challenge that more instructors are needed.  FO’s interested in serving as an instructor should please alert the chief pilot or the XO to begin the certification process.

Farm Team – Many STC requests are for something simple such as assistance with com usage, or perhaps help with an ILS intercept.  Many requests come from pilots who fly primarily props.  Those requests will be allocated to the UAR Farm Team where prop aircraft such as the Mooney or even the King Air are authorized as training aircraft.  These flights should operate with a traditional “N” number rather than a UAR callsign.  This also obviously represents an opportunity to recruit those pilots who show promise and interest into the main body of UAR as a jet candidate.  Instructors who are working with a pilot referred by STC may use Farm Team prop aircraft or jet aircraft at their discretion.  Remember UAR candidates must have at least 20 hours in TProp or jet aircraft to join UAR.  These hours can be from single player flying.

In addition, we are finding that a number of past and current STC requests are coming from people operating in a time zone outside the continental United States.  That makes it very difficult for those folks to participate in our regularly dispatched flights, or to connect with instructors for training.  With that in mind, United Regional is once again taking leadership and forming a new division - - The UAR Eurozone!

New Eurozone contingent – Over the last few weeks CA Stark and I have been quietly working with Claudio (Cpais) and Josh (TheNavyReapers) to form the core of a European division of United Regional.  This group will function under the exact same SOP and procedures that the US division does.  However the the Eurozone group is 4-6 hours ahead of US time zone and will operate during what would be daytime or early evening for residents of the US.  For the moment, they will fly routes that are within ZBW or ZNY, which simply means that our dispatch will now generate several more hours of traffic on Thursdays than just the 2 hours on Thursday nights we currently generate.  It also means that we can now provide assistance and training for pilots during a much wider range of times. 

The Eurozone will operate autonomously, will generate their own assignments on dispatch, communicate with their own people, and truly function as a connected but separate branch of the United States UAR.  In the long run the hope is that they will become SO SUCCESSFUL that they can completely carve themselves off of the US operation, and truly operate as a European branch of United Regional and fly regional routes all over Europe!  That would be hot.  It would also then make it possible for US pilots to fly the long hop over the pond and have ATC coverage at both ends… which would indeed be pretty sick.

                                                                                                                                                    

Pilots interested in the Eurozone should contact Team Leader Claudio directly via Skype user ID Claudp2.  Claudio is also in the FO and Candidates chats on Skype and can be contacted there as well.

Paging Captain Stark, UAR Executive Officer: – Gents, please join me in congratulating Captain Robert Stark on an immediate promotion to Executive Officer for United Regional.  In this new role CA Stark will be responsible in part for the daily operations of UAR, and also development of the company in general via recruiting, training, and special projects.  CA Stark will also be a go-to officer for any and all opportunities or issues that arise in the company.  Please communicate with CA Stark as you would with the Chief.  The XO’s role and duties are spelled out more fully in the SOP, but the short version is that in all respects the XO is a clone of the Chief Pilot and carries all the according responsibilities, respects, and privileges therein.  Having the XO position filled is a critical piece for the long term growth and perpetuity of the company, and I’m pleased that CA Stark has chosen to step up to that role.  This is good news.

NEW WINGS!!!!! – commensurate with all of these developments, United Regional is issuing a new set of wings to all officers to reflect our status and achievements.  No longer will the wings say “BVA” in the center.  As you can see from the illustration they now show our appropriately earned globe logo.  All active officers are eligible to receive and sport these wings in the signature section of the BVA forums. 

In the past pilots would be issued their wings via Skype, they would then have to find a hosting service to publish their wings, and then link their BVA forum signature to that site.  That was a pain in the rear.  Going forward, wings will be hosted on the BVA server and each pilot will be provided a direct link to their own personal wingset.  That link can then be copied into their BVA forums signature.  This process will make it far easier for each pilot to set up their signature to reflect their wings.   It will also go a long way towards helping UAR pilots stand out from the BVA masses in the forums.  Our “go-live” date for new wings is Labor Day as well and we will use the weekend to upload wings, link them, and provide officers with the links by Sept 5.

Furloughs – Related to these developments, it is time to clear house again of pilots who are not actively participating.  As you may know, furloughs are not intended to kick pilots out of UAR.  It is intended to keep the dispatch ticket freshly stocked with only active pilots.  A furloughed pilot in good standing may come back onto dispatch at any time. 

This week we will then start to furlough all pilots who have not requested their new wingsets and have shown they are no longer interested in participating.  Again, furloughed pilots in good standing may return to the company at any time – even after an extended absence.

Instructor status and recertification – You may be aware that all UAR instructors were asked to recertify if they intend to continue as an instructor.  Several officers completed that process, part of which involved a recommitment to a certain minimum amount of time to be spent serving as an instructor.  In particular, instructors must commit to making time to train at least 1 night per week.  This is the MINIMUM requirement to be listed as an instructor on dispatch. 

Recently there have been some revocations of instructor status for instructors who recertified, but were unable to live up to the one-night-per-week commitment.  Instructors will definitely be held to that standard.  It is simply unfair to new candidates, and to the rest of the instructors to be listed as an instructor on dispatch, but to not be able to live up to the minimum standard. 

Instructors who have been de-certified are welcome to re-certify again when they feel they are able to live up to the one-night-per week standard.  Please contact the Chief or the XO for recertification.

Some additional minor reminders – There have been a handful of incidents regarding SOP violations, or just plain rudeness that below are listed some reminders of SOP and professionalism standards:  

• Language in forums – there is to be no foul language on coms, or in public forums such as Skype chat rooms or BVA forums.  Remember that many of our pilots are minors.  Incidents of foul language or in-appropriate topics will generate an investigation by the Chief or XO and may lead to possible suspensions or dismissal.

• Page before calling on Skype – remember to page your party first before calling them on Skype.  Calling without paging first is considered a rude interruption.

• Participation levels – UAR pilots are encouraged to fly when they can, and will certainly have the most fun if they participate often.  But there is no requirement that they must fly any certain amount of hours or fly any certain number of events.  The furlough rule does apply that after a period 30 days with no activity the pilot may be furloughed, and after 60 days of no activity may be dropped from dispatch.  Again, a furloughed pilot in good standing may return at any time – even after an extended absence.

• Instructors – remember to log your flights in the UAR training forums and with your candidate.  Remember also to update dispatch with your latest activity.  Credit for training pips can only be given for training flights that are logged in the forums.  No log entry?  No pip and no promotion. 

• Guidelines re: flying direct – UAR flights are encouraged to fly using official routes as expressed on RouteFinder.  UAR pilots must accept a re-route if requested by ATC.  Flying direct is discouraged, but not prohibited.  Cases where flying direct would be reasonable would be for a super newbie who is just getting accustomed to UAR operations, or where training on a specific procedures – such as ILS intercepts – would make flying an official route more complicated than need be.

• Guidelines re: shared cockpits – any UAR pilot may share a cockpit with another pilot at any time.  This is not only unrestricted, but encouraged.  However, only certified instructors may conduct an official training flight, orientation flight, or ride along.

• Guidelines re: prime directive – Remember the Prime Directive states that the vast majority of  UAR flights must take place within ARTCC controlled airspace.  Officers may however depart or arrive from an uncontrolled airport providing that the flight either terminates or originates within a controlled airspace.  Candidates, newbies, and farm team pilots must all operate within ARTCC from start to finish.  All training flights as well must take place within ARTCC from start to finish.  Exceptions to the Prime Directive may be granted only by the Chief Pilot or XO, and would only be done sparingly, and for bona fide training purposes.

UALR OpNote 025

18 June 2011

It has been some time since the last OpNote, and it may possibly be some time again before the next one.  OpNotes were originally created to make operational updates and SOP changes as the company was being formed.   After having been in existence for over a year now United Regional has moved on from the “being formed” stage, to the “move to the next level” phase.  Aside from minor updates to the company SOP, it’s likely that we won’t see a need for major operational updates, and therefore a reduced need for OpNotes. 

That being said, there is enough in the pipeline at the moment that this is a good time for an OpNote.  First, some quick reminders and announcements:

Yellow Lines are for Taxiing – It should go without saying that all pilots are expected to move and park their aircraft via the yellow taxi lines only.  But there have been enough observed instances of pilots taxing their aircraft straight across the tarmac, wherever they please, out to pick up their laundry, downtown for a sandwich, back to the airport with a date, and then parking wherever they please that a reminder is due.  Reminder- All pilots must move and park their aircraft via the yellow lines.  If you cant see them, that means you are not taxiing on them.  They are there.  They start at the runway, veer off on the taxiway, and lead all the way up to the gate.  Follow them please. 

Fuel Planner – A new fuel planner tool is available on the UALR webpage resource center.  UALR pilots should seek to manage their fuel load wherever possible to arrive at minimum landing weight.  When used in conjunction with FlightAware.com for route and altitude planning, the fuel planner is an astonishly effective, accurate, and interesting tool.  Thank you to United Virtual for the original design and functionality of this tool.

Prime Directive Modification – Many of you may remember the hooda hada that transpired a few months ago regarding UALR flights operating outside of ARTCC.  Some negotiations at the time with Mother has allowed us to loosen the rulings regarding the PD going forward.  There was a Skype announcement at the time regarding the change, but I would like to just reiterate it here officially and in print. 

The prime directive still exists, and is expected to be followed by all company pilots.  Failure to follow the Prime Directive will lead to suspension and/or dismissal from the airline.  If you are not comfortable with the PD, go fly with another airline.  The PD exists to focus the vast majority of operations within a controller’s airspace.  Remember what’s good for BVA MUST be good for both pilots and controllers alike, and flights operating everywhere except within a controller’s jurisdiction leads to bored controllers, a lack of controller enthusiasm, a poor attitude towards UALR, and a poor example by the company. 

Therefore going forward the Prime Directive will be interpreted as follows:

• UALR flights are expected to take place within ARTCC controlled airspace.  A UALR flight is defined as a known UALR pilot operating a UALR type aircraft with a UAL callsign.
• Flight Officers and Captains only may operate a flight outside of ARTCC on a conditional basis providing that the flight will either depart from or arrive at an ARTCC controlled airspace, and providing that officer isn’t found to be abusing the privilege.
• Under no circumstances may a shared cockpit training flight take place outside of ARTCC controlled space.  An instructor who does so will be immediately suspended.
• Under no circumstances may a candidate fly a UALR flight outside of ARTCC controlled airspace.  A candidate who does so will undergo an inquiry and possible suspension or dismissal.
• Modifications to the Prime Directive for the purposes of special company events MAY ONLY BE DONE WITH APPROVAL FROM THE CHIEF PILOT OR EXECUTIVE OFFICER. 

 

Captains Corner

United Regional has come a long way from it’s inception as the Fast Track program at STC.  We now have more Flight Officers than ever before, and I’m please to see those FO’s flying regularly.  You have become the hard core of the company and I want to take a moment to recognize those pilots who have done an outstanding job of being active and leading by example.

Jim - Capt                    Mark -Capt                  Mariano – FO              Jason - FO

Eric – FO                     Chris - FO                   Bill – FO                      Robert S. - FO

Robert M. – FO           Thomas – FO               Peter – FO                   Javier - FO

Nolan – FO                  Bill R. – FO

It’s time for the company to move to its next phase of growth, and that needs to be done by people other than me in order for the company to move to the next level.  Other officers need to rise up and take command.  In this next phase I envision all of the above pilots having Captain’s wings, an equal number of new FO’s behind that, and at least as many if not 2X number of candidates behind them.  The question is, what is needed in order to make that happen? 

Two things.  True Leadership, and Recruiting.

First, the easy part – Recruiting. 

Recruiting at UALR happens in two ways.  One is via the share the cockpit program where new members to BVA who request assistance are sorted by Operations to determine their interests, and which department at BVA (Cape Air, STC, UALR) is best suited to meet that new member’s needs.  That request for assistance is forwarded to the Chief Pilot at the appropriate department who then handles that request in whatever  manner is established by that department.  At UALR, those requests come to me, I welcome them, make sure they have the CRJ paint kit and the UALR welcome kit and SOP.  I make sure they can connect to BVA properly, that any technical glitches are resolved, and may do a short orientation flight as well as add them to the candidates chat room.  I then hand them off to the instructor cadre for additional training.  Going forward it’s unlikely that process will change, however more and more I would like to have the confidence that I can send that new member DIRECTLY to an instructor and that the instructor will do all of the welcoming and file sharing and tech troubleshooting I just described above.

The second method for recruiting is where pilots actively seek out people who may benefit from UALR.  Just this week alone I recruited one new member who is a friend of someone I know in RW.  I also saw an opportunity at KBDL where there was a CRJ sitting on the ramp that loaded an “N” number instead of an airline callsign in flight desk, but hadn’t called or moved in over an hour.  The whole scenario just screamed “newbie!”  CA Mark was available and it was a good training opportunity so I invited Mark to contact that person on FD.  Sure enough, it was a newbie who was petrified to call on coms and was waiting for traffic to die down before attempting it.  Mark was able to make a new contact, provide guidance and support that benefited not only the pilot but also BVA as a whole, and may have found a new UALR recruit.

The moral of the story is that UALR officers can and should be alert for opportunities such as that to be of assistance.  Opportunities will come in many shapes and sizes and we should be alert for ways to be of service to pilots and the community.  Remember UALR pilots and officers in particular are ambassadors of BVA and we should always be seeking to represent BVA and the company well and be of service wherever and whenever we can. 

Other activities you may want to employ that can lead to new recruits include:

1.      After terminating a flight, leave your aircraft up and just monitor coms and watch inbounders. Look for pilots that may be new.  Send them a friendly page on FD if it seems they could benefit from a mentor

2.      Watch BVA live and watch for aircraft with odd flight numbers or gamespy ID’s you don’t recognize that show signs of difficulty or new-ness.

3.      Monitor and post in the BVA forums often.  Watch the forums for pilots that may be interested in jets, or that show signs of new-ness.

4.      Fly on Gamespy or other servers occasionally.  Look for pilots operating UAL flights or RJ’s who show a level of professionalism and may be good candidates to fly with us on BVA.

5.      Surf YouTube videos for posts from people flying UAL jets, or regional jets, or other indications they may have an interest in flying with a community.

6.      Be alert for friend you may already know who may have an interest in joinig BVA.  Nothing is better than flying with a good friend.

True Leadership:

This one is harder.  Some philosophy… are leaders born or are they made?  Both.  Some people are genetically programmed to lead, others need to study leadership philosophy and apply it.  Both can benefit from leadership training at any level.

One of UALR’s stated missions is to be a leadership laboratory.  It is a place for people to work with others, participate in a group towards a common goal, test out organizational and leadership techniques, fall flat on their face sometimes, but overall to grow and learn and become more effective over time. 

Leadership is the art of influencing others towards a common goal.  The three main components of that definition are “art”, “influencing” and “common goal”.  It is an art in that there is no science that can tell you want strategy to employ in any leadership scenario, it is influencing since true leadership isn’t about telling its about showing, and without a common goal there is no direction.

I believe quite strongly and my experience has shown me that True Leaders will always rise up from the masses to take their place.  I believe that if we provide an environment that is conducive to leaders being able to rise up, they will.  I want to make sure to foster that environment at UALR.  United Regional needs True Leaders to rise up.  A True Leader isn’t defined by their rank, they are defined by what they can accomplish.  If you believe yourself to be a True Leader and you see something that needs to be done at UALR – rise up and do it.  This is also the concept of a champion.  Not a champion at sports, but someone who champions an idea…. Meaning that if you have an idea that you feel strongly about that can benefit the group towards that common goal, then champion that idea through to its logical conclusion. 

CaptQual – This is also the definining philosophy behind CaptQual.  Many pilots are under the misconception that CaptQual is a series of flights demonstrating airmanship.  This is not untrue, and airmanship is certainly a part of CaptQual.  But CaptQual is much more than that.  CaptQual is about True Leadership.  No officer at UALR will be promoted to Captain until they can demonstrate that they can lead. This is most easily recognized by the fact that a training pip must be earned before a promotion to Captain will go through.  Training cannot happen without leadership.  But more so, Captains are the backbone of UALR and the force that would guide and grow the company into the future.  It’s important that Captains have that leadership ability, and that they are setting the proper professional example for the rest of the company.  As go the Captains, so goes the company. 

Pilots should not expect to advance to Captain until they understand and live by the Captains Doctrine – which is reposted from the SOP below.  Officers seeking a promotion to Captain should first set their operating quality standard to maximum, and then seek out opportunities to rise up and lead, and last but not least seek out leadership reading, leadership training, leadership philosophy, and apply it in the leadership laboratory that is United Regional.  There will be more on this to follow both in OpNotes and in Officer’s conferences.  Those of you who missed the last Officer’s Conference and are seeking a Captains position may request the audio recording of the meeting and will thus have a good foundation to what we are talking about. 

Important concepts and or resources to start with regarding leadership include:

Concepts:  Esprit de Corps, Attraction based Leadership, Leadership by example

Resource books:  The One Minute Manager, In Search of Excellence

Officers seeking this path of study, feel free to contact me for additional guidance and direction.  Finally, a repost of the Captain’s Doctrine as described in the UALR SOP follows below.

So, why am I taking the time to write a 6 page OpNote this month?  Why am I going through all this mumbo jumbo about leadership and philosophy and such? 

Because it’s time for the company to grow.  It’s time for True Leaders to rise up.  It’s time for the next for United Regional to commence.  And I’m watching to see who are the True Leaders that rise up to the challenge.

That is all.

Captain:

The Captain’s Qualification isn’t so much of a checkride as it is a series of checkrides and a course of study related to leadership.  Nor is promotion to Captain an assured event.  Since Captains form the backbone of UALR leadership, and also in no small way serve as ambassadors of BVA, a promotion to Captain is based on what we refer to as the Captain’s Doctrine. 

Captain’s Doctrine:

1.       Know your aircraft, fly your aircraft. 

The Captain will be expected to be able to handle their aircraft smoothly and error free in spite of complex and/or stressful situations being thrown at them.  In particular a Captain should demonstrate:

o        Efficient, smooth, and error free gate to gate operation of the aircraft via preferred routes. 

o        Knowledge and proficiency in navigation concepts including VOR’s, waypoints, victor and joliet airways, departures and arrivals, and cross country navigation.

o        Proper gate usage and ground operations

o        The candidate should be able to demonstrate glass smooth and confident hands on flying – SANS autopilot.   

o        As always, landings are by hand.  However APPRHOLD intercept will be tested.

o        Safe and smooth operation of the aircraft in poor weather, zero visibility, and high crosswind.

o        GPS use in the CRJ700 and FMC use in the ERJ145

o        Go arounds, holding patterns

o        Emergency handling of the aircraft in various equipment failure scenarios.

o        Emergency re-routing to the nearest airport.

 

2.       Talk like a Captain, Fly like a Captain, Behave like a Captain, Lead like a Captain.

o        Remember Captains are leaders and the backbone of UALR operations.  Regardless of whether a Captain actually wants or is granted a particular command, ALL captains will show leadership by example and by their behaviour, and via the principals of attraction.  In other words, Captains should seek to inspire others to participate, to attract others to participate, NOT to compel others to participate

o        The primary interaction Captains will have with the broad community is through their com traffic while in flight.  Therefore, captains are expected to make their com traffic, smooth, accurate, and professional at all times.  A captain’s com traffic should reek of confidence.

o        Some degree of leadership training may also be part of the Captains curriculum – in particular the principles of attraction based leadership, and the principles of esprit de corps.

3.  Show leadership – The growth and perpetuity of the airline is dependent on attracting and training new pilots.  Therefore there will never be a time that training isn’t an integral part of what we do.  With that in mind, a Flight Officer cannot be promoted to Captain until they have earned at least one ruby training pip (trained at least one candidate who subsequently passes their FO checkride).  All Flight Officers seeking Captaincy must earn at least one ruby pip before a promotion to Captain will go through.  This is non-negotiable.

Lastly, Captains should also have a minimum of 100 hours flying in the BVA system, however this will not be the primary consideration, nor will it be the guaranteed level of hours for promotion to captain.  Hours are verified via the FSX logbook function.