I’m Mesaba new hire who is a two weeks away from finishing up training and am starting to wonder about schedules. For the past six months some friends and I have been planning a 4-5 day backpacking/ camping trip this fall. With my old instructing job it would have been no problem, but with my low seniority at Mesaba, I’m wondering if I should bother continuing to plan the trip or just put it off for a year. I will be finishing training in approx two of weeks and then waiting for IOE. It is tempting to plan the trip for the gap between sim and IOE, but there are some people who are only getting a gap of 4 days off. On the other hand some have several weeks and unfortunately I won’t find out till the last minute. I’m thinking it might be safer to plan the trip for November.

What I’m wondering is this. What are the odds of a brand new guy getting a string of five days off in a row during any one of the last 3 weeks of November?

Also, anyone know what the average time off is between Sim and IOE these days? It might be kind of a risk to plan it during the time as I may have to cancel last minute.