Originally Posted by
DashAviator
This is a true statement. During the last "Pilot Chat", our chief pilot indicated that we were overstaffed on all positions EXCEPT Q400 captains. There's a couple of upgrade classes going through in October, but this is only 8-10 pilots, which may not make much of a dent in the shortage.
I suspect we're short of Q400 captains in most of the bases. A quick look at our crew scheduling software shows about 50 open trips on the Q400 side. About 90% are coded as premium pay (150%). If you want the Portland base, then ask for it. As a reserve, you can expect to spend plenty of time deadheading to other bases to cover trips.
I'm a line holder, so I don't know how long people are spending on reserve in Portland. Best guess? One to two years, with a fair amount of flying.
I wouldn’t mind reserve if there was actually flying to be had on it. When I was a reserve FO I logged about 5 hours in February. It wasn’t a good time.
The speculation from some pilots is that the company is still stockpiling pilots to overcompensate for the pilot staffing shortfall the company had a few years ago. In short, the pilots we do have aren’t being utilized efficiently in either seat.
It’s been said on here that these things have a pendulum effect at QX. I’m just trying to gauge where the staffing/pathways/reserve time pendulum is going to be swinging when I hit 1000 SIC.