PSA and Mesa, that I know of. Also a 777 CA just quit to go to one of the ULCC airbus operators...$80,000 paycut...take that for what it is.

The only people coming here are the optimistic hopefuls who will leave as bitter and broken as the rest of us, or people with severe SJS.



As far as MX goes...they can't even figure out how to make the printers work on our 767's. I think we have some top notch mechanics, but they literally stay on the plane for days straight (LITERALLY) without real rest. I don't even get how its legal for them to touch an airplane. And that department is also limited by the resources it is given.

 

Also sent in a resume in May when the company I am working for looked like it might go under; again. Got a call yesterday. Not sure its worth leaving and going through 2-3 months of training to get called by another airline soon after. At least it felt good to get called by someone.

 

Everyone's situation is different. I would be glad to go to Omni and do some international long haul flying. I've been at a regional for 10 years and would like to expand my horizons and get some different type of experience. The pay and benefits are not an issue but again, everyone's situation is different.

 

I can say this about Omni...It's not the best and it's far from the worst supplemental airline...It's the owners airline and they do things that don't make sense and will make you mad as hell, but the paycheck has never been late...We lost and gained when the IBT contract was signed and with negotiations opening soon, the next several years will be tough...Expect the unexpected, you can expect to be away from home 18 straight days, and if your bid was bad can turn into 36 days, BUT I've been home the last 3 weeks, and can expect to be OFF another month because of an airplane being down hard, plus some OE training going on...The training is tough for weak pilots...There is a lot to learn, so be ready. The training department is more of a checking department, but I have NEVER had a problem with any of the instructors...You will get extra training if necessary, but the CBA is specific on how much extra training you will get..I don't think it will help coming to Omni if your already a PIC on a Regional type though...The grass is always greener over the fence regardless where you are...Good luck...

 

I just like to post these disclaimers so when I see you newbies *****ing later I at least know I did my part to try and save you.

Another thing to keep in mind, most airlines don't consider 10-20 hours a month as a "current" 121 pilot on your application, so if you get the 777....well......you'll be one of the fortunate few if you get your 3 landings every 90 days.

If you're at a job logging TPIC time and have some control of your schedule, you're crazy to think things will be better here, especially with all the stuff currently going on and the fact we're about to go into nightmare mode negotiations...(and this is before considering paycut/benefits/nobody-knowing-who-the-****-you-are-when-you-try-to-jumpseat-or-go-through-security-problems)

 

Lucky person if you get to sit at home. Can only speak for myself, but that has not happened. I leave day one or two lucky to get a landing, then on call in the hotel for ten days. This has happened no matter how many planes are operational. Operations defy logic on a lot of occasions and any logic we had is leaving. My two cents, everything else looked to be dead on.

 

I will add my .02 on the subject of Omni; I came here in May 2014, and my class was almost exclusively age 50+ refugees from North American, Evergreen, World etc. I can assure you none of us are leaving to go back in time 20 years and be an FO at a commuter. Also probably not too many of my peer group going to Delta. There is such a thing as a career ACMI pilot, and if that's you Omni will be a reasonable choice. You will go to the same usual places (RMS, KWI, DNA, etc), and the scheduling, travel, maintenance, etc will be similar to what you are used to. I won't claim to speak for everyone, but for some this is a decent place to be (although I am hopeful of some contract improvements).

 

Thanks bushpilot.

A couple questions.

1) how is the gateway travel being home based? I would be out of NE Florida.

2) if you have an 18 day stretch of days, but you are on call during those days, is it possible to be at home waiting for the call? If you leave on day 1 of 18 but they only fly you for the first 5 days, can you go home and wait out the rest of your 13 if you're in the states?

3) I know that 36 days can be a worst case scenario. What would a typical junior new hire pilot schedule look like on most months?

 

1. They buy you a ticket to wherever you need to meet the plane. We have a 22 hour deadhead limit, but that excludes "gateway travel." Any domestic travel to/from your gateway (homebase) is considered gateway travel and is not counted towards the 22hr deadhead limit.

I will say this, and maybe someone will try to say I'm full of it, but I've only been traveled in excess of 20 hours 3 times in the last 2 years. True story.

2. When we're busy, plan to leave day 1 and come home day 18. 36 consecutive days are possible in theory, but I've never seen it on a 2 month bid before. So what I'm saying is that it's unlikely. At the rate we've been hiring you'd probably be senior enough within a few months to have to worry about this too much. It's possible to go home if you're stateside and on reserve, but it's risky business. We're generally on a 12 hour call out when on the road, so that leaves little time to jumpseat back into position.

When we're slow it's realistic to get several "free" days at home on 12 hour call out. I was on the road 4 days in January, 9 in February, 8 in March, and 6 in April. Also a true story. And that includes travel days.

3. It's hard to say. We're busy now and you'll probably work a lot. Sometimes there's no rhyme or reason as to how the bids go. A couple months ago, a split 1-month line went to the most junior captain.. Which is strange because they usually go super senior. Basically it's a tough question to answer, as I've been here 5 years and I still can't figure out why people bid what.

Hope that helps out some.

 

Also IMO, the 767 guys have a way better quality of life than the 777 guys. 777 guys are known to chase planes around the world and fly them rarely.