Originally Posted by FDX8891

It's interesting to hear all of the perspectives on here.

As someone who made the lateral move a couple of years ago and is currently on the inside, here's my take:

There isn't anybody in or around the situation that feels as frustrated by the operational difficulties C5 is experiencing than the flight crews themselves. That being said, it is true that "heads are rolling" at the director level, with changes being made to turn the ship around.

Changes like:

- Appointing a new director of Scheduling
- Appointing a new director of Training

(The above are the two areas where we need all the help we can get)

As for scheduling - They can only do so much with the amount of pilots that we have. A lot of their issues would be solved by having a few more pilots to work with and, lets face it, a little more organizational "know how". The training pipeline is currently being flushed and worked through - The hiring of a ton of instructors is finally starting to pay off. That should alleviate CS's issues, as long as we can keep pumping out pilots.

On the training side - I can personally attest that our on-line instructors consistently outdo themselves when it comes to their jobs. While I'm not in every cockpit, and certainly don't possess an omnipotent vantage point, I know there is not one pilot that is signed off to fly the line that hasn't received proper training, and been properly signed off to operate our aircraft safely. Any perceived lack of training, or understanding, I would imagine is just a snapshot of an overall picture. Yes, organizationally, we are inexperienced with this airplane. Inexperienced, but not unsafe - I see the ASAPS, and I have a unique perspective of having seen them at my former carrier as well - and trust me, some pretty interesting occurrences happened there as well, even with all the experience they have. If it makes anyone feel any better, almost half of the instructor group, Line Check Pilots included, are former XJT, and trust me, we do everything we can to balance the old C5 culture with a fresh take on how to do things in this airplane safely.

As for the CPP - It's a free shot at a job down the road. Of course not everybody is going to be accepted. Unfortunately, those that frequent these forums aren't going to come across many pilots that are participating in the CPP online, since those that are in it don't complain. It's much easier to bash the program than it is to accept not being accepted. We have plenty of people on our seniority list that have gone to UAL with under 5 years on property. I know of several myself that, if things continue as they are now, will have gone from 0 C5 hours to upgrade to UAL in around 2 years. That's pretty astonishing if you ask me.

As for Mr. Commuter that is clearly upset about our weight and balance program - Trust me sir, you are not alone. Our pilots do the best with what they have, and the "glitch" with our stone-age program is being fixed. It takes time.

As said before, things are frustrating here, definitely. C5 is trying to build the house while the foundation is not set in stone. I guess that's partly the price to pay for the quick upgrade and career progression. I tell you what though, there are good people here, and that's what makes the difference.

And let's be honest, and take a real hard look - C5 "took" absolutely nobody's flying. Regional airlines do not own any flying. I'm not just saying that to make myself feel better either. SKYWEST INC. is to blame for XJT's demise - They negotiated a purchase of XJT that included sub-par, money-losing rates, and tried to have labor absorb their losses. When they were able to get in the L-CAL market, they sent all the profitable flying to their non-union side of the house, and left scraps for XJT. It's a crappy situation - I lived it myself.

Hope that sheds some light on the situation. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but sometimes a few more facts need to be injected into all the good stories we see on the internet.

Good night, and good luck to all. Godspeed.