JohnBurke

It's not a script. A vote showing a willingness to strike is just that, and reflects the sincerity of the pilot body to take such action as necessary to improve a downward trajectory.

A strike vote is not to be taken lightly, nor has it zero impact. It's a warning sign that management may ignore at it's peril.

Flyler

how many credit hours are most folks getting at ATI? I know theres lots of cons here right now, does anyone have any positives?

Sky Dog

As a new FO, count on 60 hours per bid unit (28 days) plus per diem. There’s no open time available at the moment, but that’s always subject to change. Two months ago there was plenty, and I suspect it will change again in a few months.

On the other hand, CAs have more flying available than they could possibly want.

The biggest positives at ATI are home basing and a great pilot group. Bonus points if you live near one of the main bases (CVG, SBD/ONT, SEA, LAL, etc.). The schedule is great for some (14 days on, 12 days off, 2 travel days that are effectively days off if you live where your trip starts/ends). Other people don’t like to be away from home that long, or get restless being home that much, but the schedule lends itself well to a side gig. Plus you can go on vacation without using vacation days, which is nice.

Flyler

Due to some medical issues I left my gig at a regional for some time. Im without a degree, right now its between Direct entry captain here or at a regional. Goal is legacies some day but at this point im just looking for employment. What would you do internet stranger? 76 CA sounds nice on a resume, getting away from the rat race of 15 legs in 3 days also sounds wonderful. But the pay is better at a regional for sure. Is RFD/ORD a common starting base? Ive previously done 121 AQP training so the non-AQP stuff does make me a little nervous when the "good instructors" are supposedly jumping ship. Im confident in my self study ability, but you know the back part of your brain always likes to let self-doubt creep in.

Sky Dog

DEC at ATI is a big hurdle. Results are mixed. Yes, pay is better at a regional, but as you said, the flying isn’t so great. We have hope for a new contract soon (company is trying to hold off until next year when the Amazon contract is renewed). Personally I think it would be better to come on as an FO and get a few months under your belt until you’re comfortable with the operation, then upgrade. Especially if you’ve been out of the cockpit for a while.

As for the training, I haven’t heard anything about the good instructors jumping ship (although some of the LCA are). The ground and sim instructors are mostly retired airline guys and they’re not going anywhere. If you work hard, they’ll see it and they’ll help you as much as they can. I only met one instructor who was hard-ass and he was new. If he’s still there, he’s probably been schooled to tone it down. They want you to pass. Recently they’ve added extra sim sessions to the standard training footprint, so with prior 121 experience, you should be fine. The biggest hurdle for most new hires seems to be programming the box. They provide you with an FMS simulator on your company iPad that works fairly well. Spend some time doing the sample exercises and you should be good to go. There has been an unusually high failure rate, but a lot of that is due to the company hiring a lot of people with no prior jet experience and not having a training program designed for that. People with prior jet experience generally do well.

The training footprint is pretty simple: ten days of Indoc, home for a couple of weeks to learn systems (with several Teams meetings with a ground instructor to go over all the systems), then to the training center for your oral, five FTD sessions to make sure you have your flows and procedures down, then on to the sims. Total time from your oral to your checkride is around three weeks, give or take. Time to between systems and sims is dependent on how backed up they are, but right now it seems like it’s a week or two, so not long. I had six weeks between systems and sims and I still started OE just over three months from my hire date.

We do have some long days with three legs, but most days are two legs, occasionally a one leg day. I don’t think I’ve ever seen four legs though. During your 14 days on you’ll have a few layovers that are over 24 hours. Sometimes you get a min rest day, but I haven’t seen a lot of that.

All-in-all it’s a pretty chill gig. Once we get a new contract, it should be a pretty good place to work. A lot of the senior guys tell me it was great 6 or 7 years ago and they expect it to be that way again.

That said, everybody has their own pain points and some people are triggered by things I couldn’t care less about (like not getting hotel points at every hotel). Other things are universal and are being dealt with in contract negotiations. My biggest frustration right now is not being able to pick up extra flying to make up for the “low” pay (it’s still higher than what the regionals were paying just three years ago; it’s only low compared to the new contracts that have come out in the last couple of years).

That’s my $0.03. Let me know if you have any other questions.

OnThePath

Atlas says cargo demand is up this year.

https://atlas-network.com/air-cargo-...-4-in-january/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-checkout=true

tallpilot

Amazon loves having an airline when cargo rates are high. When they are low, like right now, Amazon can buy lift cheaper than their own airplanes. There is excess capacity right now putting pressure on rates.

C17B74

No doubt as Amazon retains a lower profit margin comparatively speaking against the much more lucrative international route/contract demands for large freighter capacity. If true, those articles referenced worldwide increases and/or sustainability which dominate as a whole outside our borders. Hopefully it trickles down in a beneficial manner to all of us.

MadGoose727

A disaster waiting to happen at ATI....
first officers don't want to or can not upgrade to captain, the direct entry captain hiring not going well, now company assigned upgrades in reverse seniority being mandated. This can not be anything but a disaster in the making.

CaptainJay

Wait What! ATI is junior manning upgrades....?