Originally Posted by Excargodog

See the thread on warehousing pilots. A number of regionals - especially Horizon - seem more than happy to hire pilots to sit reserve not building hours. If you are someone with considerable time who just needs currency and a new type rating, that might be OK. But if you have a bare 1500 TT (or less as an RATP) and you wind up being stuck on reserve flying minimal hours you are really screwing yourself. Do the math.

The Horizon APC profile currently lists 850 pilots. Alaska lists 2800. If the projected 2% growth in Alaska comes to fruition that’s an additional 56 pilots. Alaska mandatory retirements will be averaging about 55 pilots a year in the near future. Assuming no military or OTS hires (and we know that’s not going to happen) that’s about seven and a half years to flow to Alaska. More realistically, it’s twice that.

The only way for a newbie to get to a major much faster than that is to go to some place OTHER than Alaska. But to do that they are going to have to be competitive and the retirement wave at the other legacies and SWA will pretty much peak in anywhere from three to five years. It’ll still be decent after that, at least for a few years, but the peak will have passed.

If you have only 1500 hours (or less) and spend a year or two flying only three or four hundred hours a year you are NOT going to be remotely competitive with your peers at other regionals who are flying 75 hrs a month those two years. You may be getting paid as much (or more) than they are, but four years from now when they have 4500+ hours and you have 3500, with less than 1000 TPIC, guess who is going to be getting the call?

So yeah, a 135 TPIC job, even if it doesn’t get you quite the hours a 121 job OUGHT to get you, might not be a bad thing to consider. Either that or a regional that will actually fly you.

I gotta admit, living in base, flying rarely but collecting guarantee might be sort of fun for a short while, but long term, if you aren’t getting a line and logging serious hours pretty quickly, you are just p1§§ing away the future you could have had.

Originally Posted by AkAv8er

After receiving a job offer in January I’m now being told I may not have a training class until 2020. Anybody have any other info on the state of the training department and the backlog? Sim or instructor availability issues still? What are the chances that Horizon management will decide they have enough pilots (on reserve) and retract these job offers?- has anything like that happened before here?

I was previously told that the summer training schedule had slowed down but they would lot go into details. I’m trying to keep the faith here but am now working random part time non aviation jobs after passing on some other good flying opportunities. Some of my airline contacts (ie friends, Horizon included) are suggesting looking elsewhere.

Originally Posted by skyemiles2

I had to make this decision and chose to go elsewhere. I’m already in class at another regional after their class timeline pushed out past the end of my last contract. I can’t afford to be unemployed, so I had to make the call.

I really like Horizon as a company but given their staffing bubble I just don’t think it’s a good place to be a new hire right now, if you can even get in the door.

Originally Posted by Dashdrvr

Once you are hooked here it is hard to separate and look elsewhere. Alaska knows that and exploits that.

Originally Posted by skyemiles2

I had to make this decision and chose to go elsewhere. I’m already in class at another regional after their class timeline pushed out past the end of my last contract. I can’t afford to be unemployed, so I had to make the call.



I really like Horizon as a company but given their staffing bubble I just don’t think it’s a good place to be a new hire right now, if you can even get in the door.

Originally Posted by porkchopexpress

What makes it hard to separate and look elsewhere? Serious question.

Originally Posted by Excargodog

Serious answer:

https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/...-cost-fallacy/

https://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/03...-cost-fallacy/

The seniority system plays into it too.

Originally Posted by Dashdrvr

Im curious what you like about Horizon? What the Alaska pitchmen throw out there or what really goes on here. Personally I think you made the best choice looking elsewhere. Alaska has a great PR machine and really doesn't represent what really happens here. What the PR machine represents is just that PR designed to get you in the door. Once you are hooked here it is hard to separate and look elsewhere. Alaska knows that and exploits that.