Do you really want to work at AS? If you do, I think QX is the best way to get there. The odds are long for everybody, but they are much better for QX folks. Yeah, the pool has gotten deep at times, and the waits are longer than off the street, but they try to make 30% of new-hires QX'ers. They've been honoring that.

I recently went over, and have been surprised at the amount of prior Horizon people here. Some from thirty years ago even. They've been very sympathetic to what's currently going on in PDX, and are looking at QX as the canary in AAG's coal mine. They got rid of the HR folks who screwed up hiring for them a few years ago, and Flt. Ops. has a lot more say now.

Don't have your heart set on AS? Do what you think is best.

If you do though, I'd advise sticking with QX. If Angle Lake has had them screw it up so badly the ship eventually sinks, it will take a while to happen. You'll have currency & a fresh type in the meantime, with a $ bonus and lots of options.
But I don't think that will happen. It's crappy now, but they should recover.
Horizon means a lot to the AirGroup®, I'd say they would only sacrifice them if Alaska's own survival was at stake.

Might be worth staying at 10 jets for a while.

There's at least one tangible benefit now....

AD will no longer be Chief Pilot as of October 13. Part of the flight ops reorg and a hint of the plan to right the ship.

E175 initial training
 

Is there anyone on here who has recently completed the 175 FO initial training?

I would love to hear a bit about how it is and what to expect.

Thanks all!!

Supposedly some big announcements tomorrow
 

"Dave’s Check-in
Sept. 27, 2017

Horizon Air story in Sunday’s Seattle Times


Horizon Team:

As early as tomorrow morning, we expect to see a story online that will appear on the front page of Sunday’s Seattle Times. The story will be a feature on the pilot shortage and its effect on Horizon’s operations.

Both Captain John Hornibrook and I were interviewed for the story as were some of our pilots. Overall, we expect the story to tell readers why there is a shortage of pilots and what’s ahead for Horizon.

I’ll be honest, I think it’s going to be difficult to read, but participating in this story was the right thing to do as we confront the facts of our current situation – which we’ve not done a good job communicating to our guests and to you.

I will also tell you that while the pilot shortage is real, I own the fact that we’ve been unable to fly the schedule. We did not anticipate or prepare for the pilot attrition we’re now facing, and I apologize for the impacts this has had on our guests and you.

The good news is that over the past few weeks, the new leaders who have joined us have made tremendous strides to fundamentally fix how we run our airline – from making changes to the schedule so we can have some breathing room, to implementing new analytical tools for predicting resources needed, to doubling down on pilot recruiting, and especially training, so we can get pilots into the flight deck faster.

Looking ahead, you will be seeing a lot more of me and my leadership team, and hearing from us more often. Tomorrow morning, there will be communications on OYH outlining our recovery plan. And in the following days and weeks, we will have even more specifics on what we’re doing to recover and re-build the airline.

Also, on Friday afternoon, there will be a Town Hall that we will webcast out to everyone in the system at both Horizon and Alaska. In addition to me and my leadership team, we will have Brad Tilden join us, as well as a few other leaders from Alaska.

In the meantime, and very importantly, we can’t lose sight of our number one job and most important goal – safety. With so much going on, we risk being distracted, so I am asking that we all be even more vigilant about ensuring the safety of our guests and each other. Ready. SAFE. Go. is our ever-present reminder that nothing is more important, and we are all empowered to stop the operation if we see something that might not be safe.

Thank you for your patience as we recover and rebuild Horizon. I know it’s been a challenging time, and there’s still more to go, but I feel more confident than ever that this effort will help us become a stronger airline that can be poised for growth in the future.

I hope to see you out in the operation soon"



Also: Chief Pilot being replaced as of Oct 13.

More bloviating from DC and management. As if torpedoing the chief pilots office will solve anything! Instead of more managment inbreeding and analyzing, how about they put a stop to contract violations? Why hasnt the company worked with the IBT to come up with more solutions?

People are leaving because this airline has become a terrible place to work. I have 12 pilots below me at a small outstation base and I am yet again sitting reserve while the company guts the flight schedule. It seems the solution managment has devised is to reduce the schedule so that half the pilots are on reserve. Being on reserve at QX is quite possibly the worst position one can be in at any 121 carrier in the US.

I am going to say no to this. While Alaska does keep an eye on people at QX, if you cancel your class date here, I highly doubt that will have any impact of being hired at AS if thats where you want to be. They are having thier own recruiting problems and the only reason so many QX pilots end up there is because they make up a huge amount of qualified applicants to AS

Is that right? The new hires (at least this new hire) has been led to believe that Alaska is still harder to get into than NASA...

maybe they like to think so. but AS is near the bottom as far as pay. Of course that could change depending on how their arbitration turns out... but as of today, Alaska pilots are the lowest paid legacy airline pilots. By a large margin.

And besides, whether it is competitive or not, being at QX does little to improve your chances of being hired there.