Hey all. I would strongly encourage anyone out there shopping the regionals right now to take a long look at what Piedmont has to offer. In addition to the Dash being a pretty fun-to-fly pilot's airplane, you will soon have the opportunity to fly the jets if you would rather be hub based and do more of the computer programming type of flying. As previously mentioned the new commuter clause just came out, meaning you may not have to get a crashpad since the company will give you 4 hotel rooms a month in your base. Another nice thing is that, due to the fleet growth and flow, upgrade times are dropping under 3 years at the present time with only 200 first officers on the seniority list. As the 20 E145s come online next year (needing about 10 pilots per plane), 100 of the current FO's will have to be upgraded just to fill the captain slots on the new metal. Additionally, FO's with as little as 1 year seniority are able to apply for training center positions, and many of the current fo's and captains will be leaving the line for training positions on the e145s. This squeeze is resulting in only 1 or 2 months of reserve for new hires before being able to hold a line, and there are lots of training center opportunities for guys looking for that.

While those things are all good news, the real reason people are coming to Piedmont is the Flow to American. I'm happy for this pilot group that, after being wholly owned all these years, we have finally negotiated the payoff with this flow agreement. I'm sure most of you have read about this, but to summarize: The new contract and flow agreement the pilots approved has created a "No Interview" seniority order flow-thru to American. 3 pilots per month have been flowing straight into training classes at American for about the last 7 months. Each pilot on the seniority list has the choice of whether to flow and NO pilot can be excluded from his right to flow. After starting AA training, if a pilot has trouble and cannot complete the training, they may return to their previous position and seniority at Piedmont. Currently there are a total of 390 pilots on the seniority list, and about the top 30 have chosen not to flow since they are near retirement. Also, as the pilot group grows to staff the erjs, the flow will increase to 4 per month. With the flow attrition and other pilots being picked up by other majors and lccs, the anticipated timeline for new hires today is upgrade to captain inside of 2 years with flow to American in the 4 to 5 year time-frame.

Honestly, those of us currently here are surprised that the line of applicants isn't around the block. What other company can a pilot go to with a guaranteed flow to mainline while only being in line behind 350 other pilots? And for anyone who dreads interviews, imagine the interview for Piedmont being the last of your career... that's as good as cash money.. oh and you also get some decent cash with the $5000 signing bonus and pay for the ATP CTP if you need that. I'll admit that the aircraft fleet may not seem exciting to those with an eye for shiny and fast, but when I'm in my right seat at American in 4 years I will have all the shiny and fast I want (and a massive pay raise) for the rest of my career. Anyway, thanks for reading my short essay and give this place a look before you go somewhere else and end up in the back of a 1000 plus pilot seniority list. Anyone with any specific questions and who might want an insider to submit their resume, feel free to PM me. Fly safe.