This is what is going on. Most of the pilots on the 737 at Southern are all Captains, so all you have is Captains flying with Captains.
They are doing upgrades on 777 fleet, which is obviously in an attempt to stave off attrition. Of course the company is saying it's for additional airframes, but yet there is no known aircraft being checked out by maintenance.
So then there will be more Captain on Captain pairings (more than we already have) on the 777F, so your opportunity for more PIC time on that fleet is also diminished. Oh, and in the scheduling system log, it will always shows the senior Captain as the PIC.
Originally Posted by
Globemaster2827
If they staff it like they're staffing it on your 767 then you'll do tons of Captain on Captain pairings where as the Junior Captain you'll still be in the right seat.... Logging SIC.
If this doesn't spell it out well enough... On the 767 at Atlas they can't get enough bodies to work there. So... Instead of staffing the 767 FO position with FOs they hire FOs into the 747 where they're willing to work. Then when they're senior enough to hold a 767 upgrade they go to the left seat where (unlike other airlines) 60-65% of the pilots are Captains. This results on a TON of Captain on Captain pairings. Sounds like a great deal to get a 767 upgrade after only 3 years... Correct? Not so fast my friend.
The Senior Captain gets the option of taking the leg in the Left seat. So all of those times that you fly Captain on Captain you'll be in the right seat at the beginning unless the senior Captain is willing to let you take it. So if you fly 300 hours a year (like a 767 Captain told me last week) you'll log 200 hours of PIC... After 3 or 4 years at Atlas...
Bottom line... If your plan is to upgrade at Atlas or Southern and grind out 1000 hours PIC then plan on 8 years to do so if you're logging those hours legally. Since the same managers are attempting to staff an airline they also manage that's having the same problem you can do the math. I'm not saying it's a bad idea if this is your plan but there are probably better options.