OldSF3Dude

Having flown the Saab for a few years a long time ago (for Mesaba) things going on at Silver have peaked my interests. I have always been a big believer in turbo-props and thought 80 seats or less jets was foolishness ever since they started becoming popular in the 90s. So, I buy into Silver philosophy of turbo-props and think there is definately a niche market that needs to be filled. I wish them well. I do think it's strange that they use Saabs (no APUs) down south, though. Those things were like saunas even on the Canadian border in summer! Must be miserable in Florida and the like.

Anyway, I have some questions-

First off, I read online that Silver was getting rid of their last 8 Beech-1900s and was going to all Saabs. It was a May 10th 2013 wire that I can't find anymore. Did anyone else hear that? Are the EAS routes going to be flown with Saab-340s?

Is CLE a crew domicile?

I've read through many of the old posts on here and a while back there was talk about basing crews in hubs instead of out-stations. Is that still the plan? How do pilots commute... or don't they? What are schedules like... days on/off, days off per month, etc.?

I also read all sorts of rumors from a year ago about MSP becoming a base, among other places, but nothing recently. What ever happened with that?

From what I've read it sounds like a year ago there was massive expansion plans and then everything sort of imploded. What happened? Seems like very little growth in the past year, unless I'm missing something. Guys on here say they've been on reserve for a year and there are few upgrades. But your management says that if they're not growing they're dying. It's hard to get a read on what's going on there.

What's up with that flying in Montana? Seems wierd that that's way out there by itself. Does Silver plan to build on that or connect it with the rest of their system? Why isn't Silver competing head to head with Great Lakes? If Lakes went belly up would Silver even be capable of taking over that flying?

In short, it's confusing to me what direction Silver Airways is thinking of going. If they want to go the prop niche it seems like there is a lot of plums out there that they're not trying to pick (especially in the upper midwest). Do they have no desire to expand outside the southeast, or are they just not capable due to lack of infrastructure, qualified pilots, etc.?

What happened to all the talk of expansion from a year ago?

Cruz5350

They found 15 or so a couple of weeks ago to start. When I took my ATP written today the flight school had a couple of bright eyed CFI's asking me about us and how they wish they could start their careers here, so no matter how good or bad a place may be people will come. Hell I had a fantastic job and multiple people tell me not to come to the airlines but being young and dumb I just had to figure that out on my own...

ShyGuy

What's the update on Silver in regards to FOs who won't have 1,500 hrs by August? Do they have an option to take an unpaid leave and fly around in Cessna 152s to get up to 1500? I'd imagine some are very close (1300-1400) and just need a little more time.

Or are they getting fired?

Tom a Hawk

ShyGuy, there is no official word on that from the company. I fear the worst.

Cruz,
They gotta start somewhere. In my experience being a CFI until you hit ATP mins makes a good base for transitioning to this job. If they have options I would pick somewhere with decent second year pay but of course if they don't want to move or commute were pretty much the only game in florida.

Oldsf3dude,
Rumors around here spread faster than ghonorea at Woodstock. The growth your talking about is the 27 saabs that we have gotten in the last year and a half. Some were beech replacement some were growth. They talked about 60 airframes but no word in the last year. Beech is still in cle and bil. Everything outside fl is outstation based. Personally I don't think it's working but the company hasn't changed it yet.

OldSF3Dude

Silver Airways to switch to an exclusively-Saab fleet

10MAY2013
Silver Airways (3M, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International (FLL)) has decided to remove all twelve of its remaining Beech 1900D turboprops and will instead shift to being an exclusive Saab 340B operator, of which it has seventeen. The aircraft were acquired by the airline's current owners, Victory Park, who bought twenty-one 1900Ds from Raytheon (RAY, Tucson International (TUS)) for Silver Airways' predecessor, Gulfstream International Airlines (3M, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International (FLL)), in 2011. The Florida-based operator had used its 1900Ds on flights throughout Florida, the Bahamas and Cleveland under the United Express banner.

jsfBoat

One TPA Captain will have his last day soon, hes moving on to fly MD-83s. I keep believing something will happen soon, for the better

CaptainCarl

I haven't heard anything concrete about the Saabs replacing the Beechs, but it wouldn't surprise me.

No.

Silver will most likely stick with outstation basing to avoid 365 days of hotel costs. In the CLE system alone, we've calculated hotels to cost ~$250,000/year.

Most commute, some don't. It's a PITA, period.

Schedules in the CLE system consist of three lines; weekday mornings, weekday afternoons, and weekends. All day trips. Days off per month are between 12-14 for line holders, 11 for reservists.

Nothing happened. Last I heard about it was DR (former CEO) announcing we'd turned down Q400s that would've been based in IAH and MSP.

I suspect they slowed the pace of growth to let everything else catch up. Your guess is as good as ours.

Montana is just government cheese. They'll hang on to it as long as it's turning a profit. I'd like to see Silver go head-to-head with Lakes, but I doubt that'll happen.

I think they bit off more than they could chew in the beginning and its taken them some time to sort out what's already on their plate.

It stopped.

Flying Enoch

Does anybody know what the upgrade time is currently looking like, and what the upgrade requirements are? Thanks

Flying Enoch

...also, how senior are the FL bases going right now? Does anyone hold them straight out of training?

mexipilot84

With new law in proposal you might need 1000 sic time before being even upgrade qualified, not sure if that's concrete on HR5900. Too many senior FOs in line waiting to upg. Next staffing bid will pretty much reorganize this place I think. Prolly be a long while before upgs on late 2012 and 2013 hires get a chance. Obviously unless there's movement to better places. Next upg class is into the 1900 and least senior guy is jan 2012.

FL is still pretty senior on all ends. There's FOs in northern stations trying to go to FL, so that might be a while. And you would have to on the Saab to even qualify at this point without transition.

I think this place might be getting stale pretty soon without any growth. We shall see.