Originally Posted by
Boeing Aviator
Have a friend with a 1000 hours and lives an hour from Lancaster. Does Southern hire higher time FO’s who can upgrade relatively quickly? How much attrition was Southern had recently and what are the junior and larger bases of late?
Thanks in advance.
Southern Airways does hire high time FO’s who will be able to upgrade. The company benefits by having them fly as captains sooner. There is moderately high turnover, but only because pilots are getting their hours and moving on to the regionals fast.
The bases lately are
Northern- Franklin, PA/Hagerstown, MD/Dubois, PA/Altoona, PA/Bradford, PA/Lancaster,PA/Morgantown,WV
Southern- Nashville, TN/Memphis, TN/Hot Springs, AR/El Dorado, AR/Harrison,AR/West Palm Beach, FL
Newer hires generally go up north. Although some people have gotten lucky and been in the right place at the right time and received a Southern base after training. For example, as an FO, I was offered a southern base about eight months into working for the company. I had already moved from a northern base to another northern base two months prior and didn’t want to break another rental contract. I declined and they gave the Arkansas base to a newer guy.
In closing, I’ll say when looking for a place to stay, try and get the shortest rental contract you can. When upgrading from FO to CA, you’re not guaranteed to stay at the base that you’re already at.