livetofly2123

Not worried about self study. I like to consider myself a grownup with a very realistic understanding on what I need to do to excel.

Believe me you will not hear anything about my previous company. I wasn't impressed by them at all so here we are now with you guys. I live by the saying shut up and color unless I really have to speak up.

salhnl

So we Watch who did you go with in the end? XJT or C5? ...or neither?

watch

Expressjet.

Time will tell what was the correct choice. I think they are both good options. But I read that commutair new FOs were not flying as much as before. Are things looking better or worse there in the past 3 months?

corporategypsy

Reserve time is currently back to a month in Newark.

njd1

I only missed a line in my second month by a couple of seniority numbers. I should have a line in my third month. So reserve in EWR is still very short. Won't call it a month for everyone -- more like 2-3, depending on whether you have any delays getting through training or IOE. I had to wait a month after my checkride to get scheduled for IOE so had I started right after the checkride I would have had 3 months reserve.

Still, 2-3 months on reserve is a joke, particularly historically speaking, so it's really a non-issue.

FrstgenAv8tr

6 months at C5, 102 hours in the airplane. Consolidated with 3 days to spare. Most anyone in my class (FO’s) has as is 130.

Anotherusername

Fratgen..... So what's your plan? Stick it out or go elsewhere? Not sure what your post is.... A complaint or just factual. Eitherway....c5 isnt hiring ppl to sit on reserve..... So what is thier plan?

FrstgenAv8tr

Just passing along current factual information, as things currently are not what they were even 6 months ago for FO’s. When you do get a line, it’s not uncommon for you to lose your trip and sit reserve for the purpose of a new guys IOE. They are hiring, but the airplanes are not coming, and people are sitting. Just the current state of affairs. As for my plan, I made my bed, and I’ll lay in it. Company’s plan, well above my pay grade, thus I have no idea. There was a grand plan to grow to 60 airplanes. When I signed on I was told we were adding one every three weeks. Since then, we have added two and wrecked one. 32 I believe is the current number of flying planes. Could be 33.

njd1

I posted a few messages up that I assumed I would get a line for June as I was two slots away from one last month. That turned out not to be the case. I set some very reasonable preferences in the last bid, but the most significant were that I bid avoided all the line check airmen. This was recommended by a LCA, simply to avoid getting a "line" only to have most of it pulled for IOE and be back on so-called "conditional reserve". This is, of course, only a problem because of what is probably the single biggest deficiency in the contract aside from pay.

The end result of my bid for June was "impossible to meet minimum credit window"...of 70 hours. Which means that after all of the LCA related pairings were eliminated the system didn't have enough flying. There is little in open time as well for FOs. On the other hand, CAs are still rocking 200% on a regular basis.

I asked crew planning for an explanation and they told me we've hired a cr@pload of FOs and minted a lot more LCAs recently so they had to take more flying for IOE in June than expected. They said that the IOE flying should drop in July.

Looking at the data it's clear that one root cause is we're barely increasing our CA numbers. CAs are leaving almost as fast as we can mint them. And until that problem is solved we'll be limited on the number of aircraft and flying we can accept, and ultimately how quickly we get a "real" line. I will be lucky to get a "real" line for July. If that is the case I'll have been on reserve for three months excluding IOE.

That's still a drop in the bucket, both historically speaking and as compared to other carriers at the moment, but it's still disappointing given all the hype (some of which I admittedly echoed) that we had 1-2 month reserve times here. If that was the case at some point, it isn't any longer. On the upside, even the junior lines are 15-16 days off so when I get a line it should be a bit more tolerable than an 11 day off reserve bid.

If you're a CA and you want to come here, come on in -- the water's warm. FOs, be prepared for at least 3-4 months of reserve while you wait for a "real" line, and don't be suckered into thinking that you've been awarded a line in two months if you haven't bid-avoided the check airmen, because that's just a mirage.

corporategypsy

Its all about timing. I sat 4.5 months of reserve but averaged 60 hrs of flying each month. I have a line with commutable trips now. There are enough street captains hired after me that I'll have a capt line as soon as I upgrade.