Originally Posted by
hammerhead
I don't think they look at the aircraft preferences at all. In my class no one got their top preference. Statistically you are most likely to get the Latitude. So far I haven't met a pilot who enjoyed flying Latitude but perhaps you will be one.
If you really want to fly Challengers you can ask 350 in the Indoc but it really doesn't matter because even if you don't get it initially you can always bid it via the standing bid sheet and recently people with only 1-2 months on the property have been able to get Challenger 650.
Another consideration is FDP. On average you can expect to make a lot more money in a Phenom or a Latitude than a Challenger. Don't bid Challenger 650 if money is important for you.
This is true ONLY if there is an open bid for SIC in the 650 that goes unfilled by "unlocked" bidders and the company elects to waive new-hire seat locks in order to fill it. Otherwise, all new-hires have a 39 month seat lock that must be served before being able to open bid anything else. If their first PIC opportunity is reached before that 39 months expires, whatever remains is ADDED to a new 39 month seat lock in their first PIC award aircraft (unless it was in-fleet upgrade). If awarded an "unlocked" GLC bid, a new 24 month seat lock must be served in the GLC aircraft regardless of when a new-hire's number becomes eligible for their first PIC position.
Finally, a new-hire must be wary of open bidding a GLC airplane during their probabtion year in hopes of having their new-hire lock waived and getting to fly the "big iron." CL-605 training is notoriously difficult and a probie can only have two COMPANY or FAA failures during training (including failure to recommend for the type ride or IOE) before possible termination and has NO retreat rights to their previous aircraft. A tenured pilot can have FOUR training failures during any one training event AND can retreat to their previous aircraft. There have been some training related terminations and more are expected among those that fail to heed union advice on this issue.