Pilots at Air Wisconsin are paid for block time (scheduled flight time) or actual flight time, whichever is greater.  At Air Wisconsin, we also get paid certain minimums depending upon our total duty time, trip time, and the total amount of flying that is scheduled or actually occurs on a given day. These work rules are the duty rig, the trip rig and minimum day pay.

Duty Rig

A pilot is on duty from 45 minutes prior to his first flight until 15 minutes after his last flight of the day.  Our duty periods vary in length from just a couple of hours up to the regulatory maximum of 16 hours.  The Duty Rig specifies that we must be compensated with one hour of pay for every two hours of duty (1:2).  Stated another way, the pilot must be paid for at least 50% of the time that he is on duty.

Example:
On Duty: 14 hours.  Block Time: 6.5 hours.
Total Pay: Will be the greater of 1:2 Duty Time or Block Time
Total Pay: 14 hours divided by 2 equals 7 hours of pay based on the Duty Rig.

Trip Rig

The Trip Rig is similar to the Duty Rig but applies to an entire trip.  This is the time period from 45 minutes prior to his first flight of the trip to 15 minutes after his last flight of the trip.  Trips vary in length from one day to four days.  The Trip Rig specifies that we must be compensated with one hour of pay for every four hours of the total trip (1:4).    Stated another way, the pilot must be paid for at least 25% of the time that he is away from his home base.  One of the goals of our strategic initiative is to regain the previous Trip Rig, which was set at 1:3.5, which was in effect prior to the Restructuring Agreement.
 
Under the concessionary Trip Rig of 1:4,  the airline is only required to compensate us with 15 minutes of pay for every hour away from home base.  We are asking the airline to respect our time and to enhance the trip rig back to 1:3.5 which will pay the pilots 17 minutes for every hour away from home base.

Example: 1:4 Trip Rig
Time Away From Base (TAFB): 72:56  Block Time: 15:34
Total Pay: Greater of 1:4 TAFB or Block Time
Total Pay: 72:56 divided by 4 equals 18:14 hours of pay

Example: 1:3.5 Trip Rig
Time Away From Base (TAFB): 72:56  Block Time: 15:34
Total Pay: Greater of 1:3.5 TAFB or Block Time
Total Pay: 72:56 divided by 3.5 equals 20:50 hours of pay

Minimum Day Pay

Minimum Day Pay is a much simpler concept than the Duty and Trip Rigs.  The Minimum Day provision simply requires that the Company pay us at least 3 hours for any day that we are schedule to work.  There is an exception that we negotiated as part of the Restructuring Agreement, which eliminates the application of the minimum day pay on the first OR last day of a 3 or 4 day trip, provided that the trip does not start or end before or after certain times.