Burj,

I'm surethat W0X0F will have a fine answer, but since I have spent a fair amount of time in Crashpads, I'll give this one a go (though trust me, 13 years in various flight crew pads is nothing to cheer about).

Crashpads come in all shapes and sizes. I've seen small ones with just 2-4 beds, and I've seen triple decker houses with 50 beds shoved in every nook and cranny. There are 'pilots only' pads and there are mixed F/A-Pilots places. There are pads made up of crew from a single airine and otheres that have a mix of all different airlines. I know guys who actually look forward to going to their crashpad and 'hanging out' with the boys. If you are looking for this type of Frat house atmosphere, there are pads like that as well...in fact, I know of one nicknamed the Animal House.

For me though, every extra minute that I stay at the pad is a waste of my time. If I have an early morning trip, I do my best to show up at the pad just long enough to get 8 hours sleep, get up, shower, and be on my way. I'm all about minimizing my time there and if I could find a place to share with 12 monks who have all taken a vow of silence, I'd gladly do it. I'd say most (though not all) pilots are looking for a similar quiet place. With that in mind, you want to try to find a pad with lots of 'Lineholders' and avoid those with folks on Reserve. A lineholder is someone who is senior enough in his category to hold a set schedule. A commuting lineholder is likely to bid for a few long, high-time trips per month. The fewer times he has to commute per month the better and if he can pull it off, he'll bid commutable trips (i.e. they start late enough and finish early enough to commute same day). With that type of schedule, you might have 3-5 trips in a month and hopefully won't spend more than 4-5 nights in the pad. If you can bid wisely and get a few commutable trips, you might only spend 1-2 nights in the pad. 'Reserves', on the other hand tend to be junior in category. They have no set schedule and depending on the work rules of the particular airline, they may have to spend a number of days per month in the immediate vicinity of the airport in an 'On-Call' status. Reserves tend to live at the crashpad hanging around all day long.

If you are in a Pad with a dozen lineholders who all spend no more than 3-5 nights a month at the place, its very common to only have two or three guys there a night....sometimes you'll luck out an get the place to yourself. You can go months without ever meeting new guys in the place because you have different schedules. If you have Reserves there, they seem to be hanging out on the couch every time you go. In all my years in crashpads, I can only remember a few bathroom conflicts. Generally, when someone walks in the door, the first thing you say to eachother is "What time is your report tomorrow", and then you figure out a schedule. However, I have seen a few large crashpads that actually have Eraseable Marker boards on the bathroom door where you can sign up for 15 minute intervals in the morning.

As far as where you find these pads, word of mouth is very important because all the ads sound the same and knowing someone who lives there can give you a feel for what the atmosphere is like. However, any Crew lounge bulletin board will have a number of flyers posted for Pads. There are lots of Pilots Message Boards that pass on crashpads for various Hub cities and I believe there is even a website called 'Crashpads'. If you want to do some searching of your own, go look at Craigslist for Queens NY and click on ROOMS/SHARES. In the 'Search' function, type in keywords like crashpad, airline, or pilot and I guarantee you'll find dozens of ads for places. Queens has become such a hotspot for crashpads that there are businesses that have sprouted specifically to cater to them. There are car services that shuttle crew to JFK and LGA 24 hours a day. Local hair salons advertise Flight Attendant specials in their windows. There are bars that have Airline Personnel nights. At all hours of the day and night, you see flight crews walking through these neighborhoods trailing Rollaboard bags and its such a common sight that nobody bats an eye.