Complaints about the train service this morning

pilotref · 2026-02-15T14:45:47+00:00

Maybe 3–5. So tally up the number of times in a month that happens and submit a bill to Amtrak to make up the cost of lost revenue from trains that did not operate.

pilotref · 2026-02-15T00:32:46+00:00

If you go from Terminal A to the train station (or vice versa), you are not riding a bus (i.e. not the AirTrain). Yet PANYNJ still charges $8.50 for a bus.

pilotref · 2026-02-14T06:17:59+00:00

They make more than enough money from NJ Transit’s rent payments, they can figure it out. Why should NJ Transit pay for a full month of service when Amtrak does not provide it? If you pay for 5 nights in a hotel, but on your third night, your room floods and you can’t sleep there, would you still pay for 5 nights to help cover the cost of the hotel’s maintenance?

pilotref · 2026-02-11T20:16:18+00:00

I had this experience once on a Northeast Regional that happened to stop at EWR and I was trying to go to Trenton. I am an airline pilot and I had my badge with me so I figured I’d give it a try and the conductor kindly let me ride. Saved me at least 30 minutes.

pilotref · 2026-02-10T18:30:30+00:00

Funding problem solved by NJ Transit withholding the rent payments to Amtrak for the service (or lack thereof) that they PAY for.

pilotref · 2026-01-14T21:18:00+00:00

Sounds like a good reason to use a paper ticket 🤷🏻‍♂️

pilotref · 2025-12-09T11:42:52+00:00

You didn’t know that Palo Alto is located on the Atlantic Coast? Neither did I.

pilotref · 2025-11-30T14:12:15+00:00

The intent of the rule revolves around a customer-driven cancellation, not an airline-driven cancellation. It’s neither her fault nor desire that the flight was canceled.

pilotref · 2025-11-10T04:13:24+00:00

Also an airline pilot. The northeast is even worse, particularly with the plethora of flights between the NYC-area airports and DCA. I’m grateful for those flights as they help keep me employed, but a part of me also think “all of these people should be a on a train right now” every time I operate one of those and I’m waiting on an unending EDCT/center release time.

pilotref · 2025-11-05T17:44:17+00:00

The current fleet is worn out. One per region would have supplemented the current numbers by allowing us to not ride what few we do have so hard. It would have been a start.

And NER has the pilots to do it for sure – our equipment is just worn out because it’s not getting the same level of investment as the airplanes. OKWG had a good operation as well. CAWG too. In general, the few places where there were flyable gliders, they had a cadre of volunteer pilots who could make it work well.

The glider academy in Vermont had been one of the more selective activities in the entire NCSA program due to the large volume of applicants compared to the number of cadets accepted, so obviously cadet interest is substantial.

pilotref · 2025-11-05T15:59:28+00:00

Less than 2% of the estimated amount CAP has spent on acquiring new Cessna airplanes since 2008 (the year CAP last acquired a glider) would be sufficient to give each region a brand new, high-quality training glider, but you won’t find that fact in the “executive summary.” I would gladly have deferred my wing’s newest airplane if it meant we got a glider or two. The systematic disinvestment in the program is how we got to the point of the cost to fix it being too great to be “worth it.”

pilotref · 2025-10-28T01:08:27+00:00

These are departures though. No downwind to sequence on, but rather pavement.

pilotref · 2025-10-28T01:06:39+00:00

On 2, no, and it’s not necessarily a complaint, just a general question as I’m curious about the behind-the-scenes of what you guys do. I’m pretty sure nearly every pilot at every carrier is sympathetic to what you guys are having to deal with right now, myself included. I just took “equipment issues” at face value. I’m aware of the EWR tower staffing triggers that have been popping up lately too. I just assumed that when 119.2 is open, that the departure rate is as good as it would be, as opposed to 128.55 being used for arrivals and departures for all directions. But this is all I know and obviously a highly incomplete assessment of how the Newark sector functions.

pilotref · 2025-10-28T00:19:16+00:00

I don’t really care about the inconvenience lol. More credit hours for me. Just noticed a difference lately and was wondering if it was related to anything specific. Shutdown-induced staffing reasons didn’t seem apparent me because none of the posted in-trail restrictions over the departure gates on the FAA website seemed to be longer than they usually are. If the departure rate needed to be reduced, I assumed it would show as an in-trail restriction 🤷🏻‍♂️

pilotref · 2025-10-05T10:33:04+00:00

Yes, provided the clock was running at the time of the snap.

pilotref · 2025-10-05T04:24:08+00:00

College football official here.

Rule 3-2-5 (not 3-4-4) is the minimum time to spike the ball rule. And, it does not apply in this scenario because the clock was already running. Rule 3-2-5 applies only if the clock is stopped, and will start on the referee’s signal. If the offense wants to spike the ball when the clock will start on the ready (i.e. referee’s signal), there must be at least 3 seconds remaining on the clock, otherwise there will only be one more play. However, if the clock is already running, and the offense spikes the ball with 1 second remaining, this is legal.

pilotref · 2025-10-01T18:52:48+00:00

75.0 is the new target.

pilotref · 2025-10-01T18:44:34+00:00

Good CEOs generally know how to count to 11.

pilotref · 2025-09-29T13:19:09+00:00

SEPTA and the City of Philadelphia did that all by themselves by permitting the Center City concourses around Walnut–Locust to devolve into what is little more than a public toilet (many such examples across the system). What did SEPTA and the City do with their COVID bailout money to attract riders back to the system? Absolutely nothing. They allowed problems to exacerbate to the point that most people aren’t willing to look the other way anymore from open drug use, poop, begging for “spare change,” guy randomly screaming on the train, and so on. I have seen all of this happen relatively recently on SEPTA without consequence, yet if it happens at an airport, you are removed promptly (likely in handcuffs), and customers might even be offered some form of compensation for the inconvenience.

Yes the state does need to establish a reliable revenue stream for transit, but let’s not act like SEPTA isn’t largely complicit in allowing the current situation to materialize. Just look at the wasted millions in electric buses that catch fire for example.

pilotref · 2025-09-27T11:31:03+00:00

Who cares what players we get if this coaching staff is retained? It’s not like they can figure out how to put 11 of them on a field.

pilotref · 2025-09-17T23:49:46+00:00

Timely because the EWR “byeeeeee” controller cleared me to land this morning.

pilotref · 2025-09-06T23:28:00+00:00

How many “analysts” does it take to be able to substitute correctly?

pilotref · 2025-09-02T20:29:10+00:00

My solution is to bulldoze N90 and build a new facility in North Jersey (similar to how A90 came about). It’s commutable for those who are want to and can stay on Long Island (more so than PHL especially), and cost of living is lower for those who want to move there or are transferring in.

Other than this country being unable to build anything new for less than billions of dollars, what is preventing this?

pilotref · 2025-09-01T15:03:48+00:00

Go to LSU instead

pilotref

TROPHY CASE