“Do you think we will load today?”

Well, it's 1:25am, they just got me loaded so the big orange ball is about 1/2 way between that line over there and the one on the other side over there, however it's not on the half above my head between the 2 aforementioned lines and I just had to walk the new manager to the gate, 150' from me that's 22' wide and partially blocked by tooling and splain him that this BARELY fits when the big orange ball is up there as I'm pointing over my head so I'm not risking my job, my career, my reputation or your $8 million dollar part till I see that orange ball above that line over there.

He left, I'm going to bed!

 

Well as some of you may recall, I started a pilot car service last year for my son, he wanted to escort on my loads.

No problem, then the work we were doing got so cheap, I refused to do it. As of 2 months ago, I’ve come out of the big truck & done some pilot work, but mainly been doing behind the scenes drudgery to give the PCS a boost.

I’ve witnessed my share of bad pilots, there’s been a few good ones mixed in too. But there’s also been about the same ratio of bad/good truck drivers we’ve dealt with.

The boy is good at his job, gets better every day, nothing but good reviews from customers, but is getting a bit jaded from dealing with less than stellar pilots & truck drivers.

Not sure if I’ll go back to the big truck, not sure if I’ll continue doing pilot work other than behind the scenes unless needed on a load, coming up on retirement anyway. But I can say this, I don’t do the pilot work with the attitude that I’ve driven the big truck, most of the truck drivers never know that I’ve ever driven a big truck or done OD work, though I do use the experience to help the load move smoothly.

It’s the other guy’s load, truck & reputation on the line. If he wants to be a cowboy & tear stuff up, depending on the severity of his stupid, he might be looking for another pilot to lead him on his path to destruction. At the very least, it will be a one & done with him.

We are there early, stay (quietly) until the driver releases us & have been known to not get to the hotel until after midnight if the driver needs us to help with anything.

The last trip I made, they needed jumper cables, got them. They needed a circuit tester, got it. They needed some spray lube for a corroded spare tire lock, got it. They even needed a flashlight, got it, though I don’t know why they don’t carry one along with other basic essential items. Both my pilot trucks carry this, some hand tools & anything else I might think could be handy. They finally asked if I’d ever driven a truck, told them yep & left it at that.

Got to the hotel at 1 am, was back on site at 7:30 am as instructed, didn’t roll until 11 am. Never uttered a word, never asked when we were leaving, just made sure we weren’t the reason they weren’t moving.

The other pilots were nowhere to be seen after they hit the truck stop the night before at 5:00 pm until 7:30 am.

So when you find a good pilot, treat them well. Don’t assume all are brainless twits who think their job is just to tag along with the load, they’ll identify themselves soon enough. Some are really good & may actually have good experience, as well as work ethics, comparable to your own.

 

The important question is - do I think this load will ever load ......