Originally Posted by
Aero1900
For the record, there are only a few FO's that will not make 1500 by August. The company increased the minimums to get hired every month to prevent this, but a few slipped through the cracks and flew less on RSV than the company predicted. I know Great Lakes isn't the only airline that has FO's in the same boat.
Upgrade time at Lakes is currently very fast. We have about 12 going through upgrade this month, and most of them have been here less than one year. We are not short staffed at this time, although as many of our FO's upgrade in the next few months we likely will end up being short on FO's. I am honestly surprised that we haven't gotten more applicants looking for the quick upgrade time. 6 month upgrade at lakes or 6 year upgrade at Eagle. Obviously Lakes is not for everyone, but we have had a lot of Lakers move on the the majors recently.
See this is why I don't like to post on forums.
Lets say out of 300 Pilots that only 10% won't have 1500 hours. Yes, that is a grand total of 30 pilots and that seems like just a handful will have a real problem and cause for concern. From the company perspective (since they claim to be shrinking) this is a GOOD thing. They get rid of an extra 10% of the pilot group and claim their $7500 training contract to pocket for profit. Well I'm sorry but I can't be so cavalier about this. Some FOs are faced with RSV until Aug because of the shrinking lines and are not getting 60 hours a month. In fact, some are getting 6 (read SIX) hours of RSV making it impossible to reach 1500. And as for picking up extra flying outside Lakes....well that is a breach of contract unless you get written authorization from the company. And I can tell you they are not giving that in written form.
Yes, this is more of a per person problem that should be addressed on an individual basis. I just feel that tossing this under the rug is not a attitude fellow Lakers should have toward low-time FOs.