TiredSoul

mexipilot84

Every day is the first time we’ve ever done it!

PICsf340

So, I was told there was going to be a “big announcement with exciting news in the next week or two.” That was said about 3 weeks ago. I was wondering if it might be that pay raise that has been talked about? Has anyone heard anything new lately?

mexipilot84

Nothing yet, they’ve been dealing with Europe and the grounding of the MAX acft, our European customer wanted us to do flying with our planes for them since they have their fleet of maxes grounded.

Doubt they’ll say anything till after March madness, it’s been a madhouse this month with everything. Can’t wait for March to be over!

mexipilot84

It’s the calm before the storm. Starting tomorrow the brackets will be built and the madness begins.

There’s only one DEC and he’s a January hire. 2 in dec where upgrade in class one in January was during the end of training.

Toby Flenderson

It is with regret, I inform you the information you’re providing here or have received is inaccurate.

mexipilot84

Considering I do the hiring, check your info.

mexipilot84

One is also a captain rehire who came back after years away, he has new hire seniority now.

SoFloFlyer

Does Swift have any “flows” for people at different companies? Just curious

mexipilot84

I don’t agree with them upgrading people right away, the problem again and again is they’re always short handed and it’s easier for them to upgrade a qualified candidate with aircraft experience or similar Boeing acft. They won’t stick an new qualified RJ guy in the left seat because this is a higher leap in acft type and do not want to risk the unknown especially with the VIP customers. They can’t afford to pull a stack of FOs offline to upgrade. When they get into the mode of they need to cover left seat flying they seek those with previous experience. Of course one used to be a swift captain years ago and that was an easy choice for them for someone who already knows the operation. Obviously there is no regain in seniority they’re at the bottom.

This last upgrade class of FOs was a mess a lot of captain on captain flying and even the chief pilot flying to keep trips covered. If they pulled everyone that was eligible to upgrade offline they would have to park planes which in all becomes a nasty chain reaction. In that regard they see it as keeping the business afloat, if the business stays afloat then we can all afford to pay our mortgages and feed the family. It doesn’t look ideal and it’s not right, but it’s the nature of the beast.

The unfortunate trend is you think the airline is finally staffed and all of a sudden you’re behind about 50 pilots because they’ve added a new contract. Especially in this hot charter market demand is high. Just a good example was the early Prague flying to help our customer in Europe cover their max flying, they’re pulling pilots from one of the busiest months to cover Europe. It’s going to be ugly.

They are trying to upgrade within, FOs that have been here less than a year are upgrading, so good pilots that have done really well here are moving up. I call them the gojet group, those guys were on property 7 months and upgraded quick, they are all sharp and got the chance! I hear we might be losing some to big airlines soon from the looks of it.

You have to take it with a grain of salt and worry about you, do good, get recognized. If you’re that guy fighting the system the whole time you’re going to tire yourself out quick. Especially if you’re just getting out of consolidation, you’re still considered green here. Get the experience in the different flying we do. Be that guy!

This place has grown aggressively in the last 4 years. We’re at almost 30 acft. When I started they were getting #8. So the airline has almost quadrupled in size. I would like them to take a break and stabilize but they just keep shooting forward. We have 165 pilots and they want to hire 35 more by summer. The word from up top is we will probably not slow down hiring even reaching 200. Not sure what they have coming down the pipe but it will require more FOs and CAs.

I hear ya and I see you get impatient, but don’t try to fight the system. You’ll drive yourself nuts. It’s easy to get upset and make b@tchfest about it, but you’re not helping yourself. You will have your chance. Don’t worry about some dudes you’re going to have more seniority over anyway and push down anyway. We’ve lost 2 CAs this month to bigger and better so already you’ve moved up. The deck here will always be shuffling, just be the guy holding the ace in the hole.