The Sep bid has Capts as RFO's again. The SIG quoted the company and said it was because of a shortage of F/Os. I can't help but wonder though. How much of this was caused by guys just staying home on their vacation and days off?

 

Yeah they get to do STN and VCP.

 

How is it possible that an airline of FDX's caliber is hurtin' for pilots? Are you not getting enough applications to fill the seats, or just seeing a shortage of qualified applicants?

 

Popa, it has very little to do with being behind on hiring; that being said, one of the problems with bean counters running decisions is that there is a big lag from the request for more pilots and them fiscally approving them. This causes a sin wave in seat manning that I've seen at FDX for nearly 2 decades and for the forseeable future. Our current situation is more based on junior guys being more negotiation enlightened than the whoring Captains!

 

It's common practice for airlines to optimize their manning and schedules during contract talks. Here at UPS the company did an excellent job of slowly turning up the heat for the past three years to where we have negotiated work rules to make our schedule look like they did three years ago! The company doesn't even like to operate at such a minimum coverage level, but that's what all the airlines do at contract talks.

The big question is, how do we dig ourselves out of this staffing hole? Our schedules will continue to be optimized, and the company will EXPECT the pilots to step up to the open time trough if this TA passes.

All of this behavior continues to degrade the pilots life at even the most profitable of airlines. Coupled with the typical "I need to work on my days off" mentality, means slower upgrades and slower hiring.

Wow, what will the company do if the TA doesn't pass? Everyone's already maxed out and all the management pilots are flying FAR max time now for management emergency flying.

By the way, the MD11 staffing will become even more critical now that the training center is spooling up again, and the instructors are not flying the line anymore.

Merry Christmas everyone.

 

So, a 425-hour CFI should or shouldn't submit an application?

 

Don't apply you need more experience. I got hired with 3200hrs.

 

Submit the app, keep it active by constantly updating. Longevity does play a role in who gets interviewed.

 

Just a warning, I'm using everybody in this thread as a reference.

 

Agreed, pay the money, submit the app. Update enought to keep it active. Even though you are not anywhere near competitive, if they ever shut the door at least your stuff is in there.