Crashpads
As most people do, you can realize rather quickly after
researching the typical life of an airline pilot that there are often times
where an Airline Pilot will find him or herself “stranded” at a pilot base. This
results from ending a trip too late to catch the last flight home or having to
fly in a day early because the pairing, or trip, starts too early to commute in
the day of. Most pilots who have schedules that are not “commutable” will sleep
in the lavish quarters affectionately named the “crashpad”.
A crashpad is typically an apartment or house with as little
as one room or as many as 6 or more. Each room will typically have two bunk beds
allowing room for four pilots to sleep. The two typical arrangements are hot
beds or reserved beds. In an example of hotbeds let’s first assume that the
crashpad has 6 bunkbeds, beds for 12 pilots, which the crashpad owner will rent
out to 20 or so pilots for a monthly fee. Typically the fee for a crashpad is
between $125-$300/mo. In this case the 20 pilots are going to share the 12
spots; it is unlikely that all 20 pilots will be there at the same time,
therefore upon arrival a pilot will take any bed not in use. This means it may
still be warm from the last crew member, hence the hot bed name. The second more
preferred option is a reserved bed. This means that only an equal amount of
pilots are accepted as there are beds. The fee for these crashpads works the
same way, monthly payment but in this case you have a sure spot to lay you head.
Amenities
You might wonder what sort of amenities these crashpads provide; in most
cases it’s not so bad. Wireless internet is almost always provided, full
kitchen, baths, Cable TV, sometimes even a game table or video game system.
Getting to the crashpad may pose a problem for those that have no local car and
since the reason a pilot would have a crashpad in the first place is because
they are from out of town a simple solution is free or low-cost transportation.
Most crashpads are located next to or within walking distance to a train or bus
station where a cheap ride directly to the airport is provided or a free
“community” car is provided where crashpad residents shuttle each other to and
from the airport.
Typically pilots on reserve and pilots who are unable to bid for and hold lines,
or schedules, that allow them to commute in and out on the day of a trip inhabit
these crashpads. Flight attendants have the same sort of system in place and in
some cases share the same crashpad as pilots.