In the world of aviation, we define our flight crew as personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. Typically, our flight crew is comprised of a captain, first officer, and 1-2 flight attendants. When you join the ExpressJet family, you will hear some crew life terms that you will need to familiarize yourself with. Below are a few of the terms you’ll hear at an aviation career:
Reserve: New-hire pilots typically begin on reserve, which means they do not have a set schedule for the month and instead fulfill an on-call role for the airline. Even though the pilot may not know exactly where he or she is flying, they know which days they are on-call and which days they are off. Our reserve pilots are guaranteed 75 hours of pay each month at $37-40/hr. regardless if they hold a line or not.
Junior Man: In a seniority based system, the most junior pilots are called first to cover trips. Crew Scheduling will call junior pilots and assign them trips to cover if they are available. ExpressJet also offers voluntary “call me first” options for pilots who wish to pick up additional trips.
Crew Scheduling: The Crew Scheduling or Crew Support department is responsible for creating and revising schedules of pilots and flight attendants. They schedule the flight crew based on FAA regulations, labor work rules and company policy.
Operation Support Center (OSC): Commonly referred to as Operation Control Center (OCC) at other airlines, the OSC is a central coordination hub that supports our 1,800 flights each day through pre-planning, flight monitoring, crew scheduling and other essential tasks.
Overnight: The term used when our flight crew has to spend the night away from their home because of their flight obligations. ExpressJet has attractive overnight stays in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
We want to help you make the smart choice for your future by providing you with the information you need to know. If you have any questions about our crew life or work rules, visit flysmartchoice.com. In the upcoming weeks, we will be bringing you more aviation vocab terms.
Check out the other articles in our Aviation Vocab 101 Series: