I was contacted yesterday as well. Sorta forgot about it as an option. As I understand it from refreshing my information today, training times are long at PDT but coming down. Pilots are crediting 75ish hours a month. I haven't seen much on reserve - is it short at PHL?

As far as RTPs go, Piedmont sounds pretty decent and I could drive to work from the Baltimore area. Sounds like, since most people dislike their jobs on APC, being able to drive to work is +++. I am not expecting the flows to bear fruit but I guess it's a "nice to have".

 

Training times are reducing a bit but expect to touch the real airplane for quite some time.

You will credit about 75 hours a month with 11 days off a month.

 

It's been "coming down" for years. Look back through the threads here at how long it's been rumored to be improving. Years.

Yet, there are pilots hitting the line now that started the first week of February.

The company always has another excuse ready in the on-deck circle. There's always something around the corner that they claim was unforeseen. Do NOT assume anything here will improve until it's already happened. You will almost always be disappointed.

Pilots are crediting 75 hours/month, because that's the minimum guarantee. They're very often flying less than that.

Yes, reserve is minimal now. However, the company has claimed to be fully staffed with no plans to grow. If that's true, upgrade times are almost sure to go up, and so is the amount of time you spend on reserve.

This is not a desirable place to be right now. Growth has stopped (our seniority list actually got shorter this last month). A new hire today will not have the benefit of growth pushing them up in relative seniority. Expect to be at the bottom of the totem poll at Piedmont far longer than you would elsewhere. To make it worse, most of our organic attrition is from the bottom half of the list, so there's little advancement after the first couple of years here. (Lot of guys leaving before they even hit the line.)

We have the least days off of any regional in the industry and less flying, due to grossly inefficient schedules and the short flights we do. These two in combination means you spend a lot of time sitting in airports or in stale small-town hotels doing nothing, instead of home with your family.

Based on what the airline is saying, the few good reasons to come to Piedmont are fading. Upgrade times will go up. The time to hold a line will go up. The flow is long, and better airlines now have similar flow rates.

Unless something changes, it's very hard to make a case to come to Piedmont. Every pilot complains about their airline or management, but these things aren't just gripes, they're undeniable, objective truths.

 

Full disclosure: im at PSA. I thought PSA had it bad, but i think the piedmont guys and gals have it worse than us.

I know driving to work sounds nice, and if youre only interested in the RTP then I’m not sure which other airlines offer so i might be way off base, but if youre ok with only crediting 75 hours with only 11 days off a month you could go to several other places and credit 75-85 hours a month with 18 or more days off. Not only credit the same or more each month but do so at a much higher pay rate on top of that. You cant beat driving to work, but i think after a year you might wish you went somewhere else. Think about it, you’re giving up a week off each month. In total That’s 3 whole months of your life every year. Even if you commuted somewhere else and had to get a hotel at the beginning AND end of a trip (which is rare) you’d still be home more while crediting the same or more hours at a higher pay rate compared to going to piedmont and driving.

 

Seems like the MTP program was turned back on as DEC and Traditional FO recruitment forecast numbers fall well short after the failed TA.

60%+ of folks going through in 2018 training have been having issues, mainly due to inconsistent sim scheduling resulting in long sits between events. Previously the training overlords were fairly benevolent and willing to throw additional sims at struggling folks to get them on to the line. Sometime around August that mentality or the quality of the students changed and attrition has been increasing.

For your own sake, avoid a MTP/MTP NH pairing in sims. PDTs training department hasn’t figured out how to get those to succeed yet and fired the last two MTP folks paired together.

 

18+ days off a month huh? How’s SAPA been working for you guys lately?

Not defending Piedmont but show me a regional or about any airline where you get 18+ off a month.

 

Dude, when you actually hit the line just talk to any PSA pilot in the f terminal.

 

Do your homework (commute/pay/benefits) and do what’s best for you. The pilot shortage is here and real but getting hired by any mainline carrier outside of the flow is still hard. This place isn’t bad.

 

The PSA FO I sat next to on my way to PHL showed me his schedule... SAP still works there... he had 18days off with 68 block hours and was going to swap out a low credit trip for a high credit trip and keep the same footprint.

Meanwhile at PDT FOs and captains alike get interfaced down to 11 days off with 70-75 block hours.

PSA has PDT beat by a landslide QOL wise with SAP. Reserve is a tossup since PDT has a 90min call out, except for the 2hr callout to a base that doesn’t exist, and PSA has airport standby... at PDT folks will be a lineholder sooner/ longer, but the lines are worse.

 

Exactly. I cannot wait until flysooner gets to experience the joys of the 48 hour window and gcom. For everyone that doesn't know you get to write an email to scheduling hoping to trade a trip or pick something up. It must be done by 3 pm. They then literally sort all these requests in sby by hand. Then you get to call in around 6 pm and they say sorry they are still working on it. You call back later and they say it was denied for whatever reason, resubmit tomorrow try again good luck. I dream of having SAP.