Question about pilot requirement calculations

[knobbygb]

Has the way pilot requirements are calculated changed recently?  I've been playing for over 8 years and have never noticed before but... Why does the system require an increase in pilots when moving routes from smaller to larger aircraft in the 'Large' category?

As an example I have been switching a lot of routes from 737-300F to A321PF in the Cargo Challenge and for each switch, I need to hire between 6 and 8 new pilots (it's hard to tell exactly how many as the system does this in steps of 10).  The same is true in other instances. In GW1 I am replacing A320 with A321neo and each change requires 2 to 4 new pilots.

It just seems an odd way to calculate pilot requirements - surely if an aircraft requires 2 cockpit crew then the same number of pilots would be needed for the 737-300 as for the A321. In fact... since the A320 series is faster than the 737-300 one could argue that slightly fewer pilots would be required overall as the total hours flown by each would be a little less. And why does the A321 require more pilots than the A320? This is simply not the case in the real world.

Am I missing something obvious here?

[Tha_Ape]

The number of pilots required is based on the MTOW or range, thus if there is an increase, there's an increase in pilot need.
Can't remember which one (or both). I asked Sami some time ago, he answered, I looked for the thread but I didn't found it
However it seemingly behaves as planned.

[Sami]

Besides of the aircraft size group, also the aircraft MTOW is a one small factor in the staff calculations. This is because just the four size groups alone are not enough to make it realistic and the MTOW component is used to model the relative size of the aircraft and thus the assumed route/operation length of the aircraft, which in turn affects the crew rotations and to the number they are required. In cases where you switch one aircraft to another of a different model but same size group you may, in some cases, see small differences in the numbers. (one example: in my real-life operations I can tell that if we'd fly A319s alone it would take less crew than flying a fleet of A321s because the 321s do some longer rotations and longer layovers too, but this is of course wildly specific to each airline and operations area)

The whole aim of the staff system is to model the staff costs and crew requirements in a realistic level and produce accurate results in overall company level, but creating actual "crew schedules" on per-plane level is not possible of course. Overall the crew requirements are modelled after real life airlines (= we know from research how many pilots fly for certain fleet group and how many planes they have in total, and so forth - for example: one airline operated 7x B757 and they employed some 120 pilots for that fleet).

[darkmile]

Related to this, what downsides are there to not having enough pilots?

I just started, and have 2 MD-11s flying 3 short routes per day each, with no overnight flights. The pilot requirement is a staggering 36. In reality, In this situation, I can't imagine anyone hiring more than 4-6 flight crews per aircraft. This totals to 2 * 4...6 = 8...12 pilots per aircraft, so at most 24 pilots. Not 36.

I understand that the calculations in this game are based on averages. So, if I were to only hire 24 pilots, what would happen?

[Tha_Ape]

Decrease in morale, more cancellations, more delays, decrease in CI, and eventually a strike.

This is not your question, but I have to say it: flying 3 SH routes with a MD-11 and no overnight is calling for suicide. Very large (class) a/c need high fleet use, and this can only be obtained through LH routes. The long turn-around also means less time flying. And the ~6 wasted hours at night even more.
I get it that it is tempting to grab so many passengers on juicy short routes in the beginning, but soon others will come, with more adapted planes, and they will rip you apart

[darkmile]

It actually was very profitable. Granted, it was the start of game in Beginner's World, but still. I was flying from Tokyo Haneda, and was able to grab lots of cargo both ways. In the end, I ended up having transported the most cargo in the game by the end of my trial (6 days real-world time), opening a second base in Tokyo Narita, and had ordered the first A321s to replace the Haneda routes so MD-11s could fly LH.

It seems that you can't get very many aircraft in the beginning (game limitations), so I guess starting with as big aircraft as possible can give you an edge.

[Tha_Ape]

Any plane works when there's no opposition or only newbies, except if you're completely stupid (which I don't think you are). Every Soviet plane, the Convair 880 or the Dassault Mercure or whatever.

However, while what you did can be successful in a BW, it never will in ANY regular GW. Because your opponent will use planes made for the task and rip you appart.