B727DRVR

Hey Packrat,

Unfortunately, there was a huge difference in the way Alaska pilots were treated and the way XOJET pilots were treated. As unfortunate as their furlough was, the Alaska pilots were FURLOUGHED by seniority and were given contractually protected recall by seniority order. They got to keep their date of hire company longevity for pay and bidding purposes. And when recall time came, they were recalled in seniority order. Again, getting furloughed sucks, but it is nothing in comparison to a TERMINATION.

XOJET pilots, on the other hand, were TERMINATED with NO NOTICE. Pilots lucky enough to be off were called by the D.O. and read a form letter spelling out their summary “executions”. Other pilots never got a call, and found out that they were fired when their Company email and Company phones quit working. Pilots unfortunate enough to be working that day were greeted upon landing with a letter handed to them by security, and their ID’s and Company property was confiscated. Other pilots were diverted in flight to airports where security was standing by for them, too. When word of the blood bath got out, some pilots who were flying trips called in to make sure that their jobs were OK. Several were lied to, and were fired as soon as they landed. This heartless and cowardly act was repeated with 23 pilots, or roughly 20 percent of the pilot group 2 weeks before Christmas. From that day forward, those pilots will have to check TERMINATED on online applications that can filter you out for Accident, Incident, Violation, TERMINATION, DWI, Felony, No 4 year degree, etc. In this day of online applications, these pilots may never get a chance to explain to a real person as to WHY they were terminated rather than furloughed.

Defenders of this atrocity quipped that there were some “bad apples” in that bunch, but do you really believe that 23 pilots deserved to be fired in one afternoon? Did they all screw up at the same time?

While this did not affect me personally, or my several friends there, it did affect 23 fellow pilots, and when even 1 pilot is furloughed or wrongly terminated, it hurts and weakens us all. That is why I repeat this story whenever something similar comes up, but especially at XOJET.. So whenever I hear the euphemism of “let go”, or “force reduction”, it angers me that something much more sinister has happened (at least in XOJET’s case).

I do realize that they have a new management team, now, and the perpetrators of this atrocity have moved on, but it is important to remember that this happened in recent history. Unless a company has a written Reduction in Force (Furlough Policy), this can happen again. Pilots should push hard for this at their individual companies in order to avoid a termination on their record simply because the market turned South. Avoiding having to check that box is something that all pilots should strive for.

pixelflying

Oh I misread. I thought they were looking for someone with 3000 pic time to be hired as an sic. 1000 minimum total hours to be an sic might actually be attractive to a pilot starting out to do some time building but that 500 turbine time requirement is a head scratcher.

Smooth at FL450

As someone who was unwittingly part of keeping one of these 23 pilots on their flight west followed by termination, thank you for the detailed explanation of what happened. Even I wasn't aware of the security guards. History forgotten is history repeated.

JohnBurke

Are you suggesting that someone with 3,000 hours is too experienced to be hired into a SIC position???

What's such a "head-scratcher" about requiring 500 hours of turbine experience?

Again, there are pilots with 20,000 hours hiring into 17 day schedules...and they hire on as SIC, not necessarily as a direct entry captain.

Have pilot opinions become so inflated that they really think that at 3,000 hours they're experienced and a hot commodity?

Just another warm body.

Fredturbo

3K hours, you ought to be hiring into the majors and not charter outfits.

USMCFLYR

So everyone with 3,000 hrs needs to be an airline pilot?

I know it is hard to believe, especially on APC, but not everyone WANTS TO BE OR CAN BE a major airline pilot.

Smooth at FL450

3K will only get you looked at at the majors if its all military time...otherwise, odds are slim. (I'm talking about the big players)

JohnBurke

That's a rather presumptuous and arrogant assumption.

727C47

These boards abound with these : )

Packrat

Does anyone know what the story is with the Challenger 350 jobs they're advertising?