What's happening at Horizon and Jets?
01-13-2018, 06:39 PM
#2931
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2017
Posts: 570
Originally Posted by Taco280AI
Finally heard back from the recruiter. In July I was told the details on the RTP would be a few weeks away. Here we are, four months later, and was told details will be two months away.
Just curious
01-14-2018, 06:14 AM
#2932
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2016
Posts: 268
I think this just proves that you're dealing with Horizon Air! :-)
Sorry to sound like a downer, but I suspect the RTP program is a very low priority right now. My reasoning? At the present time, Horizon is managing to fill all of its new-hire classes. The problem is getting all of those people trained. The training department at Horizon has always been excellent, but they just don't have enough instructors, check airmen, and sim time to get people trained in a short amount of time. I've been hearing that many pilots are spending four weeks or more waiting for the sim and/or waiting for IOE trips. Heaven help the poor slob that needs an extra sim or IOE trip.
As long as Horizon can continue to fill classes AND has a huge training backlog, I suspect that there won't be much motivation to develop a true RTP program.
Suggestions: See if you can find a regional or Part 135 outfit that CAN help you. The other option (if you really want to work for Horizon) is to just rent an airplane or simulator. Most helicopter pilots tend to have fantastic stick-and-rudder skills, but may need to bone up on instrument procedures and operations in a complex ATC environment. Instrument proficiency is actually more important that multiengine currency when it comes to dealing with the Q400 simulator (probably true for the E175 as well).
Good luck.
Sorry to sound like a downer, but I suspect the RTP program is a very low priority right now. My reasoning? At the present time, Horizon is managing to fill all of its new-hire classes. The problem is getting all of those people trained. The training department at Horizon has always been excellent, but they just don't have enough instructors, check airmen, and sim time to get people trained in a short amount of time. I've been hearing that many pilots are spending four weeks or more waiting for the sim and/or waiting for IOE trips. Heaven help the poor slob that needs an extra sim or IOE trip.
As long as Horizon can continue to fill classes AND has a huge training backlog, I suspect that there won't be much motivation to develop a true RTP program.
Suggestions: See if you can find a regional or Part 135 outfit that CAN help you. The other option (if you really want to work for Horizon) is to just rent an airplane or simulator. Most helicopter pilots tend to have fantastic stick-and-rudder skills, but may need to bone up on instrument procedures and operations in a complex ATC environment. Instrument proficiency is actually more important that multiengine currency when it comes to dealing with the Q400 simulator (probably true for the E175 as well).
Good luck.
01-14-2018, 03:15 PM
#2933
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2014
Position: fatigued
Posts: 1,397
There are no plans for an RTP program. If there was the pilot group would have heard about it.
It took them over 6 months just to figure out how to pay us our 4.2 rig. Still don't have reserve transparency and we were told that was coming in a couple of weeks about 4 months ago.
It took them over 6 months just to figure out how to pay us our 4.2 rig. Still don't have reserve transparency and we were told that was coming in a couple of weeks about 4 months ago.
01-17-2018, 11:42 PM
#2937
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2014
Posts: 216
"Reserve transparency" is basically a list of who's on reserve for a given seat/base, and which of those reserves are currently being used.
We were supposed to get it when we signed our amended contract in the middle of last year, but for various unexplained reasons (I'm personally going with "incompetent management"), we have no clue if or when it'll actually go live.
From what I'm hearing about this summer (we run out of upgrade-eligible FO's around August), it may be kind of a moot point, since the list would just say "LOL, what reserves?" most of the time.
We were supposed to get it when we signed our amended contract in the middle of last year, but for various unexplained reasons (I'm personally going with "incompetent management"), we have no clue if or when it'll actually go live.
From what I'm hearing about this summer (we run out of upgrade-eligible FO's around August), it may be kind of a moot point, since the list would just say "LOL, what reserves?" most of the time.
01-18-2018, 05:52 AM
#2938
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2016
Posts: 268
It's really hard to understand why the company is having such a hard time implementing reserve transparency... especially since our flight attendants have had it for years. Same scheduling software... so what's the holdup?
01-18-2018, 11:04 AM
#2939
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2014
Position: fatigued
Posts: 1,397
Email from CP
Horizon Pilots,
I’m writing to provide you with information regarding changes being made to our Captain Upgrade Policy. Horizon’s expedited block hour growth, along with increased hiring of Horizon pilots by Alaska and other mainline carriers, has resulted in an elevated demand for Captain positions here. We currently have a projected need for around 200 new Captain positions in 2018.
How are we solving this challenge?
In order to increase our Captain supply, we are now waiving – on a case-by-case basis – the requirement of 750 operating hours at Horizon for any First Officer who wishes to bid for a Captain upgrade. Captain candidates will, however, still be required to meet the minimum flight experience as mandated by the FARs. We will continue to respect seniority in the Captain bidding process, giving priority to candidates who have met the 750-hour threshold. Candidates with less than 750 Horizon operating hours can now bid for available Captain positions. If these pilots bid for a Captain position and are likely to be successful, they will be asked to submit very minimal information about their flying history so that they can be considered for a waiver granted by John Hornibrook, VP Flight Operations, per the requirements of the Upgrade Review Committee (URC) as listed in the FOAM.
This change presents an exciting opportunity to accelerate your career as soon as you’ve met the minimum regulatory requirements. It will also allow us to offer incoming candidates who bring extensive prior experience an opportunity to bid for Captain positions as early as when they join the seniority list. This is particularly important at base locations that continue to not have enough qualified candidate bids for necessary Captain positions.
We are pleased to provide this opportunity and are also evaluating additional changes that will help shift available Captain home base vacancies to our more desired station locations while not impacting those that are based exactly where they want to be. Whenever possible, we want to open upgrade spots to match the base preference of those bidding. So, as we increase our summer flying, we will work to add more available spots to more desirable bases.
What does this mean for you?
As a current Horizon First Officer, you can now both further advance your career as well as support our operational success by continuing to increase your flight experience and actively bidding for available Captain vacancies across all locations.
· For the month of March, we are currently looking to fill 12 Captain vacancies for the Q400 across multiple base locations.
· For the year as a whole, half of our upgrade needs are for the E175. (Fake news. We're parking 15 Q400s and at least 75 Dash captains are going to volunteer or be displaced to jet CA
The bottom line? If you’re a First Officer who wants to become a Captain, bid to upgrade now, even if you have fewer than 750 hours of flight time with Horizon. We’re offering more Captain spots than ever before, and by upgrading if you are ready, you will help lay the foundation for Horizon’s growth.
Fly safe,
Carlos
I’m writing to provide you with information regarding changes being made to our Captain Upgrade Policy. Horizon’s expedited block hour growth, along with increased hiring of Horizon pilots by Alaska and other mainline carriers, has resulted in an elevated demand for Captain positions here. We currently have a projected need for around 200 new Captain positions in 2018.
How are we solving this challenge?
In order to increase our Captain supply, we are now waiving – on a case-by-case basis – the requirement of 750 operating hours at Horizon for any First Officer who wishes to bid for a Captain upgrade. Captain candidates will, however, still be required to meet the minimum flight experience as mandated by the FARs. We will continue to respect seniority in the Captain bidding process, giving priority to candidates who have met the 750-hour threshold. Candidates with less than 750 Horizon operating hours can now bid for available Captain positions. If these pilots bid for a Captain position and are likely to be successful, they will be asked to submit very minimal information about their flying history so that they can be considered for a waiver granted by John Hornibrook, VP Flight Operations, per the requirements of the Upgrade Review Committee (URC) as listed in the FOAM.
This change presents an exciting opportunity to accelerate your career as soon as you’ve met the minimum regulatory requirements. It will also allow us to offer incoming candidates who bring extensive prior experience an opportunity to bid for Captain positions as early as when they join the seniority list. This is particularly important at base locations that continue to not have enough qualified candidate bids for necessary Captain positions.
We are pleased to provide this opportunity and are also evaluating additional changes that will help shift available Captain home base vacancies to our more desired station locations while not impacting those that are based exactly where they want to be. Whenever possible, we want to open upgrade spots to match the base preference of those bidding. So, as we increase our summer flying, we will work to add more available spots to more desirable bases.
What does this mean for you?
As a current Horizon First Officer, you can now both further advance your career as well as support our operational success by continuing to increase your flight experience and actively bidding for available Captain vacancies across all locations.
· For the month of March, we are currently looking to fill 12 Captain vacancies for the Q400 across multiple base locations.
· For the year as a whole, half of our upgrade needs are for the E175. (Fake news. We're parking 15 Q400s and at least 75 Dash captains are going to volunteer or be displaced to jet CA
The bottom line? If you’re a First Officer who wants to become a Captain, bid to upgrade now, even if you have fewer than 750 hours of flight time with Horizon. We’re offering more Captain spots than ever before, and by upgrading if you are ready, you will help lay the foundation for Horizon’s growth.
Fly safe,
Carlos
01-18-2018, 08:15 PM
#2940
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2014
Posts: 216
It's also worth mentioning that I've had two management types (one assistant chief pilot, and our head of flight ops) tell me street captains are a thing that's seriously being looked into, especially for the Q400.
From my "back of the envelope" math, any street captains on the Q would be looking at a minimum of around two years on reserve (about 16months for the new hires to upgrade, then probably another 6 to have a shot at a line in a junior base), which isn't going to be a lot of fun as the Q's lose their longer legs to the 175's.
From my "back of the envelope" math, any street captains on the Q would be looking at a minimum of around two years on reserve (about 16months for the new hires to upgrade, then probably another 6 to have a shot at a line in a junior base), which isn't going to be a lot of fun as the Q's lose their longer legs to the 175's.
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