Just over five years ago, on Thanksgiving Day 2019 in the crew room, one of the Grey Matter authors was speaking with a few pilots who had just returned from China. One of the pilots casually remarked that on the return segment, screeners at the airport dressed in biohazard suits had been taking passengers’ and flight crews’ temperatures before allowing admission to the departure gate area. This was met with a light chuckle and a “whatever” kind of group shrug.
We had no idea what was coming.
Thank you for being with us this year and for checking in for our last article of our yearlong “Disaster on the Road” series. We are of course covering pandemics for this last installment—because, dare we say it, there is a strong possibility it will happen again.
Though not much happened in the U.S. from Thanksgiving 2019 through mid-March 2020, parts of Europe, including Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, and Switzerland had already instituted widespread closures and lockdowns. As the U.S. finally moved to do the same, flight schedules and crew pairings quickly deteriorated, literally overnight, into an absolute mess of cancellations, reroutes, deadheads, unscheduled overnights, aircraft swaps, and general confusion. Everything eventually ground to a near complete halt as most airlines drew down to a meager 10% of total flight operations.
By mid-April into early May, flight crews parked thousands of aircraft all over the country on airport taxiways, ramps, and in the desert. Maintenance personnel plugged engines, covered up landing gear and tires, taped up doors, panels, windshields, and pitot-static ports to protect them from the elements for the duration of the mothballing. Crews deadheaded out on the remaining flights or even left by car to get back to base or home. Airports across the world became ghost towns.
Although, to some degree, day-to-day line operations continued at most carriers, it was typically only the top ten or twenty percent of the pilot group who actually flew during this time—except cargo pilots who had more work than they could handle. Everyone else was sitting at home trying to embrace an uncertain future.
For those who were flying, and because cleaning supplies and PPE were in short supply at the beginning of the pandemic, the TSA relaxed liquid and gel restrictions for crewmembers so larger-than-normal quantities of cleaning and sanitizing supplies could be brought in—if they could even be found. Eventually, most airlines were able to secure a stockpile of these supplies and provide them to their crews. As it became available, carriers also began disinfecting cabins by utilizing electrostatic spray mechanisms between flights, coating all interior surfaces with an antimicrobial cleaner and disinfecting agent, installing high-efficiency particulate absorbing (HEPA) air filters, and even using ultraviolet-c (UVC) radiation lights for flight deck sterilization.
Mask wearing was of course required when at the airport, on company property, and in hotel vans and common areas, but for pilots (as supported by FAA policy), once on the flight deck with the door closed, masks typically came off. It is difficult and tiring to talk across the flight deck with a surgical mask on and it makes for muffled communications on frequency. Further, in the event that crew oxygen masks had been needed during a flight, and when seconds count, many pilots did not like the idea of fumbling to remove a face covering before getting their oxygen masks in place.
Pretty much all cabin services were suspended a couple of weeks into the shutdown, and even snacks, water, and coffee disappeared for a while. Other than looking after the basic welfare of the few passengers on board, the flight attendants found themselves without much to do other than hand out alcohol wipes and pick up trash.
As for overnights, not only did local restaurants close down, but hotel restaurants closed as well. Suddenly, crews found it difficult to find food. Some convenience or grocery stores were open, but most were closed. In some locations meal-delivery services were available and take-out options became increasingly common, but early on, crews were packing as much food as possible and calling scheduled overnight hotels in advance of arrival to check on food availability. In addition, most hotels closed fitness rooms and other public areas, thus offering little more than the room itself for overnighting crews, who were often the only hotel occupants anyway. In many cases, hotels themselves closed requiring airlines and union hotel committees scrambling to find suitable crew accommodations.
For many crews, once enjoyable international overnights suddenly became displeasing due to strict requirements to remain in the hotel room for the duration of the stay—sometimes for two or three days at a time. Often, written statements were required to be signed by the flight crew at the arrival airport and at the hotel attesting to understanding that one was not to leave the hotel under any circumstances until the established departure time to return to the airport. Security officers in the lobby often ensured compliance. Some hotels did not allow crew members to have room keys as a measure of preventing them from leaving against host-county statues, insisting under penalty of law that they remain in their rooms. Local authorities were not kidding about this as one FedEx pilot found out in Singapore when he was arrested and imprisoned for a month for leaving his room for a few hours while on an overnight.
In some cases, airlines arranged for catering options for crew because of these restrictions, while some simply arranged for their crews to have access to a snack bar at the hotel with an additional stipend to pay for room service, if available. Some airlines’ policies were akin to just a shrug and a wish for good luck.
Despite late-summer announcements for widespread furloughs, many airline unions were able to work with their management groups into the fall (and in conjunction with support from the federal government) to reduce or eliminate pilot furloughs. By spring of 2021, everything was returning to normal. Thanks in part to the “pent-up effect,” rebound is still occurring, and at this point, most airlines have met or have exceeded pre-2019 enplanement levels.
So, when another pandemic blows our way, what are some takeaways that you should consider and be prepared for?
- Safety – There was, understandably, significant distraction and stress at the time and ASAP reports and FOQA events were off the charts for everyone including ATC; remind yourself and your crew to remain focused. Dedicate five to ten minutes before each flight to talk through issues and frustrations, then stow it until after the flight is complete.
- PPE – Have a basic supply of personal protective equipment: masks, gloves, alcohol wipes.
- Food – This was probably the biggest initial challenge for many crews. Rapid shutdowns, including airport restaurants, left few if any options for crews still out flying. Quickly secure or pack food that does not require refrigeration or heating – you may not have access to either.
- Accommodations – You might have to find your own when the crew-hotel desk melts down. So have a back-up credit card available and be prepared to spend an uncomfortable night or two in the crew room or airport if everything is closed.
- Transportation – Although it is on the company to ultimately figure out how to get you back home, at some point you might need to get creative and suggest to them some reasonable and reimbursable alternatives.
- Toilet paper – Yes, this was a bit of a temporary problem as people inexplicably cleared out store shelves and hotels sent their housekeeping staffs home. So, pack a role just to be safe—and maybe some paper towels.
- Security – Passengers were nervous, cranky, and sometimes defiant. Be ready for confrontation and be prepared for the police and other personnel usually responsible for handling these situations to be overwhelmed and not readily available to assist.
- Awareness – Stay informed of conditions and requirements for the cities, counties, states, and countries to which you will be flying. There was a lot of inconsistency out there. Sometimes flight crews were exempted as “essential workers,” yet sometimes simply treated as a major inconvenience.
- Back-up plan – Yep, what are you going to do if the airline decides to furlough or shut down? This is of course something that does not just apply to pandemics nor is it something to begin thinking about when news outlets are ramping up reporting on widespread outbreaks. Now is the time to start considering now how you could generate alternate streams of income and have a few executable ideas for what you might do when some disruption occurs during the course of your career and you find yourself, either temporarily or perhaps permanently, out of an airline job.
See you in a (hopefully) healthy 2025.
