TheRegalEagle

Thanks for the response! Are you thinking of getting your IPC at Flight Safety or do you think going up in a 172 would suffice?

SFORedwood

I’ve been offered an early February orientation date. I’m on the fence about all of this puzzle. Can someone with some insight about future direct entry captains answer a couple questions? I would like to know how many they are proposing on hiring so I can have some idea of whether i’ll be the last guy, so to speak. Do you know how many classes they run per month or per week and how many people are generally in a class? How many direct entry pilots were in the January classes? Lastly, what is the probability of getting ORD as a base?

It's funny, Envoy talks about quality of life, but there is a huge difference between being based in MIA vs DFW vs ORD, seems they would want to try & give you your preference of bases.....

I get that i'll probably be on reserve at the airport for a long time, but i'd rather be in a base where I know people.

GroundPointNine

Maybe a recruiter will answer the top part but even then I’d be wary of that information just because things change quickly and their main job is to recruit. From the sound of it and looking at the recent classes on our end it looks like they have started to slowly add some true FOs back to the mix but I don’t know if that is just because they can’t fill a whole class full of DECs or if they’re just wanting to get the FO pipeline going again.

There is currently a standing vacancy bid for DCL and OCL so hypothetically you could bid OCL day 1. They of course want to try and give you your base of choice, especially as a DEC, but seniority still rules.

If you do decide to take it welcome to the team, should have a slushee machine in the crew room any day now

Ravenwing

I think an IPC in a C-172 will suffice, that is my plan. I found a video IPC training course at Sporty’s for $60 that is a good review; after you pass the test at the end, you print a certificate that counts towards an hour of ground for the IPC. I have not been able to find an IPC course at Flight Safety or any similar company; if it exists, I would love to know where. If the LCCs and regional airlines are hiring flight instructors with mostly Cessna time, then I see no reason why they wouldn’t count Cessna time towards recent flight experience.

Satoshikitty

Welcome and good luck! 🤞

Satoshikitty

[QUOTE=SFORedwood;3576883]I’ve been offered an early February orientation date. I’m on the fence about all of this puzzle. Can someone with some insight about future direct entry captains answer a couple questions? I would like to know how many they are proposing on hiring so I can have some idea of whether i’ll be the last guy, so to speak. Do you know how many classes they run per month or per week and how many people are generally in a class? How many direct entry pilots were in the January classes? Lastly, what is the probability of getting ORD as a base?

It's funny, Envoy talks about quality of life, but there is a huge difference between being based in MIA vs DFW vs ORD, seems they would want to try & give you your preference of bases.....

I get that i'll probably be on reserve at the airport for a long time, but i'd rather be in a base where I know people.[/QUOTE

Excerpts from Q4 2022 company letter, it may answer some of your questions:

... We hired a little over 600 new pilots, upgraded almost 400 new Captains and advanced 335 pilots to American Airlines – representing 18% of our pilot seniority list in just one years’ time. This brings us to more than 2,600 Envoy pilots now flying for American Airlines....

...As we look ahead to 2023, we plan to continue growing our LRJ fleet, targeting 120+ Embraer 170/175 by years end. We are also excited about the opening of our new PHX crew base, targeted for May. PHX crew base is planned to be included in the next vacancy bid. We anticipate the need for another 600 new pilots and another 400 new Captains for 2023. Crew Planning has provided some estimates as to the number of hard lines expected by base and equipment relative to what we have received from AAG. Again, as always, this forecast can change but hopefully it provides some insight to AAGs planned distribution of our operation for the first part of next year...

As a DEC, I expect to be on reserve for a couple of years, as DECs are junior to all the FOs who will soon hold CA. From what I gather, DFW and ORD are usually granted, no idea about MIA.

pitchattitude

What you get as a base is just like anywhere else in a seniority driven system. Junior captain in MIA was hired in December 2019. You can’t get something as a new hire that someone who’s been with the company three years can’t hold. ORD and DFW are now junior and being offered to DECs.

Sounds like they are still doing orientations once a month, but don’t have firsthand knowledge. Actual classes are every two weeks. Can’t say how long to get an orientation or from orientation to actual class. The emphasis is still very much on hiring DECs. If you read a few months back, someone said the goal was 500 DECs in 2023. I think Envoy is being VERY optimistic if they think they can hire anything close to that for DECs. They were honestly banking on Mesa being crippled and hiring everyone away. That’s not happening. Just how many they can actually hire is anyone’s guess as the pool of available people is obviously dwindling and with so many other companies offering more competitive packages, fewer people will jump ship as well as have more options elsewhere. Either way, you can expect to be on reserve for a couple of years as a DEC. Just a matter of how bad it will be is based on just how many they can actually hire behind you. As I said, they have lofty goals, but just don’t see that coming to fruition.

SFORedwood

Oh, I understand that. My point is that this is a major decision in most people's lives. If there is a union bid out for X number of positions, just share the information. The company must have some idea of the numbers of pilot vacancies and where they envision they will fall. That should be shared.

In a perfect world the job offer should state what base you are initially being assigned. I shouldn't have to quit a current job only to find this out on day one of orientation.

Sasquatched

After the last vacancy bid there was 74 unfilled CA vacancies between ORD and DFW. The company announced a standing vacancy now for both ORD and DFW.

Both DFW and ORD should be offered to DECs in the coming classes until the next vacancy comes out in a few months.

Just because you are awarded ORD in class next month doesn’t mean you won’t get displaced to PHX in May and then DFW in October. I never would have thought DFW would be a junior base, but it’s so large now, it is.

pitchattitude

Pretty certain NO ONE will be displaced to PHX. While they haven’t said how big it will be, don’t expect it to be very big and there are still a LOT of pilots that live in PHX alone, not including all the SoCal people. It will go senior.