You can. Everyone in my indoc that wanted it got it before systems even. Apparently it’s filled with short legs from old dash8 routes, so it’s not drawing a huge crowd.

I haven’t flown the line yet, but of the 8 captain upgrades in my systems class, none of them seem to think of Piedmont as negatively as it’s presented here. You gotta pick what’s best for you. It was the best choice for me for reasons similar to yours, rtp partner school nearby, and one leg commutable. Other regionals are no doubt better in some or many other aspects, especially pay and schedule, but I’m planning on getting my time and moving on. They know it too, and don’t seem to mind. Even at indoc when they were explaining benefits they didn’t go past 5 years because as the instructor said “by then if any of you are still here, it won’t be for long anyway”

You need to consider what if the economy takes a crap and you are here longer than “5” years... Piedmont is way behind the ball.

You also have to remember everyone is on their best behavior in the school house. You are under a microscope when upgrading, a negative (realistic) attitude wouldn't be the best idea for someone doing their first upgrade. So take that into account when they give their opinions.

By military standards, it’s a pretty easy gig. You know your schedule for a month at a time in advance so you can plan your commutes etc. People on the line treat you well and the company is accommodating when you have family issues you need to attend to in training or if something comes up on the line. You’ll fly a lot more in airline world than you will in .mil. There’s also a lot less bs to deal with compared to military life.

By airline standards, life at Piedmont is rough due to the schedule... 4-6 days on, 2-3 days off for a total of 11 days off a month to block 50- 75hours a month with cancellations, displacements etc. Junior FOs to Senior captains all get treated equally as the company uses extensions to cover gaps in mannig caused by training delays, and under accession etc.

Pay is below average. Unless you’re able to get triple premium pay which is few and far between on the FO side of the House. Triple premium is also decreasing on the captain side.

Flow is long. Significantly longer than the 5 years recruitment is advertising. PSA and Envoy both got flow increases but there’s no sign of an increase coming at Piedmont. Piedmont used to have the fastest flow of the three Wholly Owned regionals but without a flow increase that may no longer be the case. Using current attrition rates (8/ month avg over the last year including flow and OTS hires when AA takes flows roughly 10 months a year), withthe size of the pilot group, a new hire could be looking at around a 9 year flow... 12 years with zero outside attrition. That’s pushing Envoy flow timeline. At current expansion rates its 18 months or so until the next flow increase (to 7 per month) from getting a net gain of 125 additional folks on property.

If you get to Piedmont plan on working hard from the day you start flying the line until you leave. Plan on hitting the apps and job fairs hard after you’re off probation and take the next best offer you get. Don’t be one of these folks who leave $1-1.5mil in career earnings on the table because they’ve been on property a couple years and are competitive to leave but are content waiting 4-6 more years for the flow vs applying elsewhere.

As long as you’re willing to work hard and don’t expect strings of days off beyond 3 on a regular basis your transition to Piedmont will go pretty smoothly.

What could go wrong. Mainline unicorns farting jobs and dollars everyday. Riddle and recruiters say jobs for erybody.

Everyone thinks they somehow have the magic ticket out. Choose every job as if it is your last. It may be. PDT does however get you to mainline. Slowly but surely. If you can handle being beaten on everyday for 7 years. I mean Conan the barbarian wouldn’t be who he was without torture am I right?

Just to clarify Envoy didn’t get a flow increase. A grievance was settled making a harmed group while again.

I did just finish 24 years of active duty....

Why would you settle for crappy QOL? Tons of better options out there. Don't devalue yourself or your time.

PDT recruiters started calling the 70+ RTP applications lined up for interviews yesterday for 2019.

Interesting... thanks four the info.