SMACFUM

What are your flight times, and flying background? Any advice for newbies coming in?

mm1989

I had 1504 hours and my only jobs were survey. The training department here is top notch. My best advise is to not over do it. You have to take a little time off away from the books. Instrument proficiency is huge when it comes to the sim.

bcpilot

I did the comparison between all courses...

ATP is much more expensive & gives the least training.

Go with the couse at Aerosim or Aviator college.

It will save you $1500 dollars, both give more Sim time & better teaching....

FODhopper

if you can afford the extra training it won't hurt...but if you can't...its as simple as: Are you teachable? Are you prepared? Do you have basic airman knowledge and proficient instrument skills?

If so..then the rest will take care of itself.

Jc2016

Guys what are ZW reserve call out times?

FODhopper

If you are assigned to an RAP your call out is 2 hours

nuball5

Just heard from a source that awac might be losing ten planes next year. Just something to think about if you're thinking of going there.

FODhopper

Yep...based on that...might as well cancel your class date....

This rumor is Pants on Fire....

These mystical 10 planes are ones that are on lease...They are shuffling the maintenance schedule so that the planes AWAC does own outright are first for upgrades like paint.

Speaking of paint, mgmt says they may need to acquire another aircraft since up to two at a time will be offline when the paint lines start.

champpilot59

How do you know? You sure seem to have all the info about Awac, don't ya? I know you work here and you are in the training dept with the other 100 other instructors that are swirling around, but you have no idea about what is going to happen to this place going forward. Just like I don't, or anybody that is not in the owner's box. The fact is there are no long term plans here and if I was 22 like I was when I started, there is no way Awac would be my pick. I noticed in all the sweet nothings, you left out the part where our company is the only airline that is forcing pilots to state why they will it accept fdp extensions, under threat of discipline if they don't comply. You are sick, fatigued, or you take the extension. Why don't we expound on that? Give these dudes a real glimpse of what behind the curtain. It's not pretty here, for a lot of reasons...

FODhopper

The FDP issue is an ugly one...I don't like it either, but its not enough to say...don't go here. Same with the plane rumor...the most plausible explanation I heard was in AQP ground school. If they were sending the planes back its just as plausible we are getting different aircraft.

I don't just listen to the ra ra stuff at HQ...there are enough intrinsic signs of a future here for me to go with the positive than the doom and gloom I've heard from longer tenured people since I started at this company.

I traveled a long road in aviation outside of the airlines...had a lot of employment rugs pulled from under me...I don't get that vibe from AWAC.

If a 23 year-old wanted to make AWAC a 30 year career then maybe its a higher risk...but with the movement out there how long is an FO going to stay at any regional before they move on? Why not go to one with some of the best work rules (current FDP extension aside) and the best ALPA representation to fight the crappy ones?