A Different Kind of Parking Lot

I've always enjoyed Scott McCartney's weekly column in the Wall Street Journal, but yesterday's was particularly good. His article, the "Parking Lot Where Pilots Sleep," describes a parking lot next to LAX where commuting crews are allowed to live in RVs for a monthly fee (and being able to prove that the RVs can actually move).

The article is a very good overview of the lives of commuting airline crews - one that many travelers might not know about. All airlines have crew bases, and they are quite often hubs or large focus cities. For example, you'll find US Airways bases in Philadelphia, Charlotte, and Phoenix. But that doesn't mean that all crew members live in cities - many commute for one reason or another. In his recent book, Capt. Sullenberger of US Airways Flight 1549 noted that he lived in California but is based in Charlotte. That's because he started out as a PSA pilot, but that airline was merged into US Airways. He didn't want to move, so just commutes to work by flying free on US Airways or other airlines. So many airline crews do what's done in LA or have a "crash pad" at the base that is shared by a few crewmembers to save on cost.

You can read the whole article here. It really is well-done.