Originally Posted by
Aerotrinamic
Hey so I've been reading through this thread because I got into the pilot development program and already got the money. If everything goes right I will have my hours by summer this year. But I read so many bad things about how the pilots are treated so I'm also considering applying at SKW.
One thing I read was that there are 200-250 lifer captains there. Doesn't seem like much room for upgrades with 500-600 pilots. But they are saying that upgrade time is 2.5 years. So are that many senior FOs leaving?
Another thing I read is that if you got hired onto the 175, you would upgrade into the Q400, which doesn't seem to make sense training wise, do you guys really think there will be that many senior captains going to the E-jet?
During one of the Horizon hiring presentations LaMar mentioned that QX will probably be doing the feed for Virgin, how likely do you see that happening?
I somehow really want to go work for QX but I'm tired of being treated badly as an employee, and I also don't want fall into a trap again where I believe great sounding promises that never become reality...
What exactly are the terms of the money that they provided for your training? Do you just have to pay it back if you don't come to Horizon?
There are certainly a LOT of senior CAs here at Horizon. Many of them are Portland based. The jets are going to Seattle, so a number of the senior CAs will likely not want to commute there just to fly the jet, as that short little commute can be brutal due to the very high flight loads and number of commuters. That being said, the jet will likely be very senior. The speculation around here among the rank and file is that they will bring new hire FOs into the jet, however they are still talking about keeping the Q400s as the jets come, so they'll have to staff that too.
At the moment, we have a 4 year seat lock which would prevent a lot of FOs from switching to the jet. The ones that could would likely just upgrade in the Q400. Upgrade around here at the moment is at 2.5 years, however I think that also involves a commute to Anchorage if you want the left seat at 2.5 years.
I'm sure there are some FOs leaving, along with CA retirements and people leaving for the majors. I know there have been some recent cases of canceled upgrade classes and people getting bypassed for upgrade due to lack of FOs. We have canceled dozens of flights over the holidays due to lack of flight crews to staff them.
As far as upgrading in the jet, anybody that gives you an answer will be guessing, it's just WAAAY too soon to know how they will handle the jet yet. The general thought however is that most of the CAs here in the Q400, given the opportunity, would jump on the chance to fly the jet. So, the thought is that will make the jet pretty senior in the left seat, so if you wanted to upgrade in a reasonable amount of time, you would have to go to the Q.
Upgrading directly into the left seat of the Q400 from the E175 seems like a recipe trouble to me. As others have said, the Q400 is a complicated, challenging aircraft with many "gotchas," and we fly it into some pretty small airports with short runways and
crap weather. If you went to the Q after being used to making sure things are in AUTO in the E175, you will have trouble with the Q. Not a whole lot of AUTO in the Q.
Bottom line, nobody really knows what's going to happen, with jets, or with feed for Virgin. We are really starting to feel the crunch here, so I really hope that the company will see the light and sweeten the deal here a bit to make us competitive. Something has to give, and soon. Hopefully it has a positive outcome, but only time will tell.
Horizon has been good to me so far, and I do actually like flying the Q400, it requires you to be a pilot rather than just a button masher. Most of the people here are great, and if you want to fly in the Northwest, that's pretty much all we do. It made sense for me and my family, and I have no regrets. Do what's best for you and don't look back.