Swift Air - The truth
 

Well just like most trying to go to the next step. Obviously if you’re not a navy top gun or Air Force astronaut your path is not as easy and I’m very proactive in the app process. I don’t really have interest in ULCCs or doing long haul at Omni or atlas. At this point I think I have every box checked that can be checked for most places if not all.

So while I’m here if I can help make somethings better for us then even better. Not all of us are supplemental lifers. This place has helped me build a lot of good experience and done some very unique kind of flying that your average Canadian space shuttle driver will never do.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iaero-groups-swift-air-partners-with-southwest-airlines-destination-225-pilot-development-program-300895077.html

Quote from the article:

"We're excited and privileged to be partnering with Southwest and this innovative career development program," said iAero Group Chief Executive Officer, Robert Caputo. "The iAero Group team that was focused on making this happen, led by Swift Air President Jeff Conry and COO Boris Van Lier, looks forward to helping solve the increasing pilot shortage problem in our industry."

Anyone have any more info on this?

Even in the southwest page it’s vague, no info or requirements yet.

Is there a fee to apply to the Destination 225° pathways?
There is no cost to apply; however, candidates advancing through the selection process will be responsible for all costs incurred, including but not limited to:
Obtaining a USA DOT/FAA First-Class Medical Certificate
Completing an aptitude assessment
Travel & accommodations to and from the testing center
Costs associates with the testing and interview process (including travel accommodations)
Once selected, participants will be responsible for all associated costs of the program.

Things have been slowing down at my regional and I think about just grinding it out at Swift. I have nothing anchoring me down like a wife or mortgage.

Where do pilots tend to go after Swift? Would it be at least a little smart to grind it out at Swift for the 737 type, SIC and PIC time, and then go to work in China when the economy finally tanks here?

I’m pretty sure this southwest thing is 💯 gimmick.

Seems like lately spirit a lot.

Also Jet Blue all depends I personally haven’t seen anyone leave to just anywhere to get away

Swift won’t help for southwest unless you’re part of their pathway program at Swift. What it will help on your resume is with the type rating though. Also the more type ratings you have, the better

I don't think so. I have five. Exactly nobody is impressed.

Southwest wouldn’t give me the time of day when I was at Swift.....
I think that LOA isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

Swift Air - The truth
 

They’ve hired quite a bit of our guys so can’t be the company in that regard without the program.

But until we know more about it who knows. Still in the dark.

Negative.

Also Negative... The stand out type rating, although not required, is the 737. At the end of the day, its all about the verifiable alpha numerical data on that 8 1/2 X 11 CV is that will cause your phone to ring, or that email to be delivered to your inbox for the interview.

I know of 3 in the 5 years I've been here

We did have the rare one go to AA. That’s a diamond in the rough

What was his background?

Believe his dad worked there

I think he was originally from the regionals too

It's time for the pilot group to take a stance and refuse to fly A WIDE BODY when even the 737 rates are wayyyyyyy below industry average. YOU are a professional pilot, YOU deserve better.

Ha refuse...

The airplanes will not move without the pilots!!
I hope you don't work there because that exact attitude is what needs to change.

You interfere with your neighor’s marriage too?:rolleyes:

Considering we have no wide body rates or information, I’m not sure what you want the pilots to refuse? Can’t refuse a plane that’s not here or even an idea of when it’ll be here.

Our current 737 rates are being addressed. We’re all eager to see what comes down from the top this fall.

No but I protested with my feet.

You’re not a real pilot if you haven’t flown for Swift.

Working at a company that provides absolutely no support or help to get the job done safely, does not make you a better aviator. You sound like you’re trying to justify letting your crews battle out there to get the job done with no support from Flight Ops. Whoever said they think you’re the CP or DO, I think they were right.

Slinkydinkpilot... you are part of the problem, rather than part of the solution.

No operation’s SOC, be it CFR 135, 121, 125, should send then crews on a trip without preparation for any trip... domestic or otherwise. Signed confirmation by the airlines’ ground handling and OCC departments should be provided to crews. Accountability, yes accountability is required when a trip starts going TU. Document, photograph, and video.


I know... it’s a rhetorical questions, but I ask anyway... Who owns OCC??? C/P up the ladder to the D/O. Let them earn their paychecks and resolve issues amongst the office personnel who which are responsible for sending crews on trips with proper working tools in their trip envelopes to make it work.

On occasions, crews must have their bag of tricks to sort out unforeseen issues that arise. This comes from training... from experienced crews who are, of course, objective.

Most contracted flying there’s ground handling information in our avdocs for NHL, HAP, ICE and Casino flying. The exception is adhoc which is published by ground services via email. So 90% of the info is there.

If it’s adhoc sometimes they forget to email you the stuff. Usually a quick email solves that. The biggest challenge is ensuring corporate security has sent in APIS and manifests correctly. Most of the time I’ve had no issues with it. Once in a while you might be waiting on a stamped gendec, especially when leaving the US.

For a 121 airline and i tell new guys is we are a lot like a 135 on steroids, as PIC you carry a lot of the power to operate and ensure everything is taken care of. Once in a while I have something that needs to be addressed, usually the only places I have issues is MIA, everyone there just moves or does things at the speed of smell. Basically don’t leave till you have what you need. That’s all there is to it.

We have departmental issues because we’ve exploded in size and the infrastructure has not kept up with what goes on on the line. That goes for OCC, crew scheduling, training etc. You find yourself being creative and solving problems yourself. Definitely not like a regional and mainline where you show up and you just fly and everything is done for you. Definitely not there yet and probably will never be there. Change happens way too fast around here.

This speaks volumes of whoever is in the driver seat of that "airline", and pretend to buy wide-bodies on top of that? Ask yourself this question, do I want to work for an employer that treat the company as a cash cow, yet, does not pay me what I am worth, and does not provide the tools I need to do my job?
I'd digress with your statement about Part 121 operations. Attention to detail is what makes the difference, not only in the operation but in the product offered. Do you think the Swift air product is good? I can tell you why they get business.... because it's probably cheap. How is it cheap? It's controllable expenses are low(YOU).
"Creative in solving problems", should not be a characteristic of a professional airline pilot, we are highly trained, with procedures and safety oriented practices. Maybe if pilots didn't have to be so creative in doing other people jobs, they won't be stalling 737s on take off.
You're a good guy and a recruiter, but man, don't put your hands in the fire for an employer that won't think twice about putting you on the street, if budget gets tight....and you have no union.

By the sound of it things have drastically improved since my time there........not.

Day in the life
 

I’m very curious to know what the experience of a new FO is like here.

Where are new hires currently getting based? (FL and AZ are both appealing states to me)

Are the trips more AM or PM?

How many changes, positive or negative, have you seen the new management make?

What was the training pipeline like for you?

Washout rate in training?

What are the travel benefits and jumpseat agreements like?

My background:
About 3200TT
about 800 multi engine turbine SIC (135 and 121)
One failed CQ at my current regional (only failed checkride ever)
Cessna 180 crash in Alaska, 2015
No degree
No DUI or criminal record


I’ve been following this forum for about a year and read the good and bad and still find myself drawn to swift. I’m at a pretty good regional right now but the cost of living in the Pacific Northwest is too high and the Q400 is a rewarding airplane to fly but it’s very difficult to build time in when half our legs are only 35 minutes long. Upgrading on either of our aircraft means being on reserve for at least 1.5 years. Some new captains are flying about 5 to 20 hours a month! My background isn’t great and I have a difficult time believing I could make it to a LCC because of my record and having only 121 turboprop time.

On paper it seems as though going to swift is more win/win than a lateral move to another regional. Would I be wrong in thinking that?

Any feedback is appreciated!

Can anyone share what home-basing schedules look like? I saw it’s 12 days off. Can you get more days off or is it set? Also I saw in other posts there’s rumors of more diversified flying even wide bodies?? I was interested because of possible day trips as well as home basing. But yea the pay looks really bad at least as an FO, they said 45k first year.

Swift Air - The truth
 

Alright and now for realistic info,

MIA and IWA for new hires.

Changes are here and there with management. It’s a small company, so things dont come down the pipe as they should sometimes. Communication sometimes can be lacking. Your experiences will vary. The small company mentality shows sometimes especially as we keep growing they need to think big. On the other spectrum I can call managers directly and get things fixed.

Trips are both AM or PM. This applies to all bases. 12 days off minimum. MIA days off vary from 15-12 off.

Training is fast, 45-50 days. Swift sim instructors using panam sims. Study with your partner, there’s a lot of self study. Cooperate and graduate. It’s improved a lot over the years.

Washout rate varies. Guys that can’t self study or decide to hit the bar up and not study usually end up washing out. Bad attitudes and fighting with instructors instead of listening and taking constructive criticism will get you walked out the door.


No travel bennies, we don’t have a ticketing system. You get miles from plane tickets when the company travels you. CASS, with most airlines except delta. No zed or ID90 no ticketing system to reciprocate.


Swift is what you make of it, you’re going hear so many different versions of the company whether it was good to you or not. This company requires a lot of flexibility and thinking outside of the box as you don’t have the same resources you have at a regional or LCC etc. It’s a very unique operation, you will do things you’ll never see at a regional with challenging airports, missions etc. We lack soft pay like most big airlines have, so no travel pay or pay protection for cancels etc.

Day off pay varies from 150% and above depending on their desperation.

For myself I am home based I can hold what I want and I don’t have to commute. I bid for trips that can make me money year round. Sometimes they get changed around but it is what it is, welcome to the charter world. As long as my off days are untouched I don’t care what flying I get. Summers are crazy busy and winters have their own challenges as it slows down for hockey and NCAA.

12 hard days off as of now. It’s set to 12 only right now. Management says they want to do 14on 14off in the future. MIA gets 15-12 off days.

They’re supposedly purchasing a330s not sure on timeline. Until they’re sitting on the ramp and bids are out who knows.

They do all kinds of flying. ICE NHL NCAA casino MLS MLB on occasion. Cuba charters, cargo etc. So it’s a diverse portfolio.

Day trips only exist in MIA IWA. Which is where new hires will go. Home basing at this point will probably be a bit of a while to hold unless they expand it again.

The pay as it stands is low, it’s from 2 years ago and it’s already behind. New hires for now still have the 25K bonus paid out in increments over 2 years. So first year with bonus and basic MMG you’re looking at about 60K or so. With the pay package they say they’re proposing the bonus will go away in lieu of higher pay rates.

What about the European flying? Can you bid that as a new hire?

The company hired contract pilots to fly in Europe because they didn't want to pay the pilots in property the same as last year. Contract pilots make an average of $4000 a month more than a full time pilot over there. Does that say something about management?
Schedules in Miami 4-5on 3-4off.......senior guys like the pm stuff for obvious reasons. That means you will get stuck with a schedule that will push you to a fatigue level you can't fathom. You can have only 3 straight days before 5:59am so guess what? Day 4 you are on at 6am! You're good to go and can do another couples days of 5am stuff. I heard the maintenance in Miami is really really bad, and the airplanes are pretty old!

How are they making more? Our FOs even in first year making on average 10,700 with per diem. A first year CA is making about 16,800.
Those guys make less per diem and pay the broker for their fees too. So theyre not making 4K more than our guys. They get $50 a day per diem. I think last I recall if they want to sell their days off to swift if they sit standby they don’t get paid. Even if they had more pilots go to Europe like last year they weren’t going to staff it. Can’t staff 60 pilots when you have less than 180 pilots and still have to staff 25 airplanes stateside. Basically 2.5crews per plane is what we’re at.

They wanted us to have 200 pilots by March 2019, of course that never happened. We were short 26 pilots which in turn is where upper management elected to go thru a broker and created this hiring of 26 contractors. The model was unsustainable even at 168 pilots at the time. Impossible task.


Aerotech in MIA has been a thorn in our side lately since the purchase, they’re costing us money and not getting the aircraft to speck in a maintenance base. They hired all these line mechanics who look like they just came out of A&P school. If I know how to fix and troubleshoot a problem more than the mechanic we have a problem. The level of maintenance experience is just not there. “How many MIA mechanics does it take to change a lightbulb?” “One more”

European flying is seasonal, anyone can bid it. It’s a 3-6 month tour. Runs from April (march this year) to October. So even if you started September it’ll be over by the time you come online until April of next year. This year we had a lot of new hires do OE in Europe which I thought was a bit overkill for someone new on the plane.

They’ll just put him on the ICE plane when it comes by next week.

The contractor pay is based on European flying at a 120MMG. They don’t fly in the US.

Actually, between the base pay, selling back their 2 weeks off, and getting $180/hr for everything over 80hrs, they are making considerably more than a 5th year captain