PilotJ3

If they merge all the Seniority List, imagine yourself in the bottom of a big list of FOs. Is like being new at eagle in the last class of 2008. =S

drummerguy

hey, it's just an opinion and like many i very well could be wrong. When you stand back and look at the number of Q400's coming and the number of Saabs going away, I can't see how there is going any true growth for this company when the dusts settles. Right now we have a combined total of about 3000 pilots for about 300 airplanes. If we end up with 45 Q400's as advertised but park 65 Saabs (speculation, the Saabs with Delta paint are parking and I think the Colgan Saabs will park also in the next 2-3 years as the next cycle of eas bids comes up)then that is a loss of at least 20 airplanes which means we don't need 200 pilots. The CRJ 200 deal with Delta is only good for 5 years which means after that we could park a bunch of airplanes. It's really a guessing game as to what is actually going to happen but my money is on shrinking over the next 2-5 years which could mean downgrades and pilots on the street. Everyone has to pick their career path based on whats best for them. That being said, if there is something about Colgan or the combined company that makes your quality of life better then that's great. Come on over. If you are coming here because you think you will be upgrading real soon, well, that's probably not the best bet. Soon there will be no more Colgan, no more quick upgrade, no more outstation basing etc. If you are looking for a place to get the fast tpic there are still a few other tprop operators out there like perhaps Commutair. They are working on improving their work rules. They are an ALPA carrier. They do appear to have some movement going on. At the end of the day, I don't want to see people make decisons based on bad info.

Crawl

A lot of good info. I really appreciate the responses.

Those DynCorp pilots make a ton of money, but fly (and live) in some pretty rough conditions. I am under the impression that a lot of them have the idea to get in, make some good money to put in the bank, pay off loans/debt, and get out (alive). To go from 30,000-40,000 a year as a captain at CommutAir to over 200,000 a year for DynCorp... depends on what you value in life, I suppose. I don't think it'd be for me :-)

As far as the people at CommutAir... everyone I met there and had correspondence with was very nice, easy to get along with, and seemed like good people. The lady I talked to on the phone at Colgan.. not so much.. Not that I should base my entire opinion of a company on one person's personality, but the interview experience should help paint a better picture!

Diver Driver

It is what it is; you go to the desert and fly for $200k/yr. Commutair isn't the only airline supplying Dash pilots for DynCorp. I see it as a win-win; guys are leaving and making some money and at the same time creating seniority list movement.

usmc-sgt

I have looked into the sandbox jobs and I have a few issues with making that move for me personally.

While 200K/year would be nice I have to look at it as 140k for one year minus what I would make normally. On top of that, if my company will not give me a leave (they wouldnt) where am I going to work when I get back? It would be great to make that kind of money but if when I find I get back the only job I can find is first year FO at the bottom of a seniority list for 20K/year it really didnt benefit me much at all. After the lost income from starting at the bottom again I would be looking at not much money to be away from my family for a year (again).


As for Colgan Vs. commutair...they are both pretty close. If you live in CLE go with Commute, if you live in IAH, go with Colgan. If you live nowhere near either...pick which one hires you.

Crawl

Well that sucks.

I live in neither CLE or IAH, haha. I actually want the s-hole of Newark...

usmc-sgt

Sounds like its personal preference as others have said. If you dont care whether you fly a -200 or -400 then it doesnt much matter. I believe JetBlue likes to see some glass and FMS time but I cant imagine I would base a job decision on that.

Colgan has a glimmer of hope for better pay in the near future although Commute is in contract talks as well.

Crawl

Well, looks like I won't have the luxury of choosing... CommutAir it is!

Diver Driver

Lol, that sounded like an easy decision. Welcome! See ya when ya hit the line.

N927EV

I'm assuming you interviewed on this past week, where everyone got sent home without a job offer.