Pilot bid-pack glossary.

The hours a pairing pays toward your monthly line. Credit can exceed actual flight time because of rigs and guarantees.

A pay-efficiency measure: credit earned per hour of TAFB. A higher trip rig means more pay for the time you are away.

A pairing that begins in the previous month (carry-in) or extends into the next (carry-out), crossing the bid-period boundary.

Flying likely to fall to junior pilots, often trips senior bidders pass over.

Actual flight time, measured brakes-off (push) to brakes-on (park), the block hours a trip flies.

Time Away From Base: total elapsed time from report at your base to release back at base, layovers included.

Flight Duty Period: the working window from report to the end of the last flight of a duty period, bounded by FAR and contract limits.

The time you must be at the airport before the first leg of a duty period.

The time your duty ends after the last leg of a duty period.

The monthly package your airline publishes for your base and fleet. It lists every pairing you can bid, plus the calendar, category parameters, and planner data. AeroSlate reads this PDF.

A multi-day sequence of flights that signs in and releases at your base, identified by a pairing number. Also called a trip.

Used interchangeably with pairing: one bid-able sequence of duty periods and layovers from sign-in to release.

One working day within a pairing, report through release, before the next layover.

The rest period away from base between two duty periods, spent at a layover city.

Repositioning as a passenger rather than as operating crew, to start or finish a pairing away from base.

Being on call to cover open flying instead of holding a fixed line of named trips.

Preferential Bidding System: software that builds your line from prioritized preferences rather than whole-trip picks. AeroSlate can export a PBS-style ordered bid list.

A duty period staffed with extra pilots so the crew can rotate through in-flight rest on long-haul flying.

An open-time flying pickup offered to pilots, subject to your contract's pickup limits.

An overnight flight that crosses the early-morning window of circadian low. AeroSlate flags red-eye legs.

Irregular Operations: schedule disruptions from weather, ATC, or mechanical issues. AeroSlate's IRROPS-upside score estimates exposure to operationally volatile airports.

Window of Circadian Low: the early-morning hours (roughly 0200–0600 body-clock) when alertness is lowest; central to red-eye and fatigue evaluation.