Piedmont
 

I've been looking for some current information on Piedmont, but all the info is a couple years old. Anyone have insight to what bases are currently going junior and how the training is? I saw that it used to be dreadful but was getting better. Is it still or what?

just signed a new contract that will make reserve life a little more bearable with 11 days off as opposed to 10 (but piedmont reserve will always be abused and treated sub human) . We are short on pilot as is and attrition is about to start increasing, so hopefully you will not sit on reserve for too long. You should be able to get any base within a few bids/months. EWN will probably be the hardest to hold as it the smallest. Training can be rough, but if you cooperate and show a desire to be there (observing other people sim sessions) they will try hard to get you through.

IMHO if you can/do live close to a base it isn't terribly bad, but it's a really tough airline to commute for do to base locations and crappy schedules. If you can get on with a jet carrier you will probably be in a better position in the long run. Good Luck with what ever you decide.

Is ROA able to be heald out of training? Also, what does a typical trip look like?

Why is training rough? Honest question. :confused:

there is a good chance that you could hold it out of training as (I think) it is the largest place, so it has the most attrition. Every bid is different and it will depend on how senior you are in your class and how many people in your class want it. If you don't get it out of training you should be able to get it within a few months.

Coming to a turbine 121 environment from a flight instructor job (which most of our applicants come from) is a huge transition. For the past 9 years PDT survived by hiring pilots with less experience than that was required by other regionals which may have reflected in our high wash out rate.

Right now PDT NEEDS pilots, so if you show a lot of effort they will give you extra sim time to get you line qualified.

good luck in your decision

Short answer: *******s in the training dept. I know AW is still there as an example. They almost expected you to know how to fly the Dash right out of the gate on lesson 1.

*Disclaimer: I know they aren't all bad down there. I managed to have 6 ir 7 different instructors during my initial a few years back and only the aforementioned was the bad apple, the rest being pleasant to train with.

My experience is dated, so take it with a grain of salt.

It seemed like you needed some practical turbine systems experience going through initial. You needed to know the basics, like what an outflow valve, inverter, TRU, etc is. After that, you needed to know what's important. They did a good job driving the meat of it home. I haven't seen a Dash 8 in 5 years, but I can still tell you what the 2-0, 0-2 rule is. I can still describe the hydraulics and ratlle off most of the limitations. Learn what they're feeding you and you'll pass indoc and systems with no problems. Don't expect to drink beer everynight. Go back to your room after class, relax for an hour over a meal, then study what it was you went over that day. Test yourself on it.

I imagine you still get a load of information before training starts. Learn the limitations. All of them. When you sit down and start looking at them most aren't hard to remember. When you're done, start learning the flows. They will make absolutely no sense until you start actually throwing switches in the sim. Understand that and it'll make learning what seems like nonsense a little easier. Same with the callouts.

The sim is a different animal. A lot of newhires even 5 years ago trained in glass cockpits at college and had some difficulty getting comfortable with a 6 pack. The autopilot / flight director was another big stumbling block. Understand that whatever direction the bar is is where you need to put the airplane. Setting it up right was another hurdle. Bottom line in the sim, TAKE YOUR TIME. You're not being graded on how fast you can set up the cockpit or fly a maneuver. When you get your first engine failure, stabilize the airplane, then "set max power....". Same with any other emergency. Nothing will kill you faster in that thing than rushing through a procedure and botching it. This holds true for any transport category airplane.

I found the flight dept at Piedmont to be no more difficult than any other program I've been through, it just requires more effort. At Flight Safety I had a good time most nights, showed up for the oral, passed, flew the checkride and passed. That wouldn't have flown at Piedmont. It's not a type rating mill. Prepare yourself by flying some steam gauges, expect to work, learn what they're feeding you, fly the sim purposefully, and you'll be fine.

My information on Piedmont is a little dated too but I heard they have some nice equipment over there.

http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac...root%20AMS.jpg

Rode jumpseat on one of these bad johnnys from ILM-CLT the other day.. BIG rumors they are gonna buy Empire!?

http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac...%20737-200.jpg

I too have an interview coming up soon. Had no idea they had 767s! :)
Ah I hope I do well, ground school sounds like a lot of hard work, but I expect to give it my best shot and see how it goes...

Piedmont loses 3 airplanes this year (one might have retired a few days ago not sure on the exact date). Really think about the impact of this before deciding what regional to work for. That is 15 captain slots just disappearing further lengthening your upgrade time. There seems to be no indication of getting planes in the future (management says they are looking but supposedly can never find anything). We will be down to 41 airplanes (Nearly half the size as when PDT and Allegheny merged).

We did sign a new contract some of it is being implemented in April the rest in May (supposedly). Positives include: Increase in min day to 11, increase in guarantee to 75hrs from 72hrs, per diem will be around $1.70 and reserves are now pay protected when extended on their last day.

Schedules have been working people hard...breakout seems to be one line with 15/14 days off a few with 14/13 the rest with 12 or 11(minimum now) and all somewhere around 88hrs credit/block. There are trips built with less than 10hr overnights, there are trips built with 7&8 operating legs. Average three day is 6legs--12hr overnight, 2 legs or 4 legs --16hr overnight, and then 4/6 legs on the last day to pay around 14hrs. Most days off are grouped into blocks of 2 days. This makes it EXTREMELY tough to commute. We are short on pilots and seem to be having a hard time getting people to come to class (our contract is mediocre, we are losing 3 airplanes, we are not offering a $10,000 signing bonus). What this means for new hires is that you will be used to legal limits, and probably not efficiently (a lot of deadheading due to outstation bases).
No one knows for sure what bases will be open for bids once you get out of training. They usually do not open slots in every base. I would say you have a fairly good shot at getting ROA because it seems like they open at least one slot there every new hire bid.

The training is very difficult and the biggest problem with it is inconsistency. Groundschool was not that bad. Listen well and take a lot of notes, because the systems guide they give new hires is extremely watered down. I had to add copious notes from instructors to make sure I had all the numbers needed for the exams. Our manuals still have many typos and errors that can make some of the more nit-picky/specific questions difficult to answer. But overall, out of 12 everyone in my class made it through groundschool.
The sim is another story. You do not have one assigned sim time each day. Your slot during training could be at 6 in the morning one day and then 6 in the evening the next or vice versa. This makes it difficult to 1)get a good nights rest and 2)make sure you have adequate time to prepare for the next lesson. During my initial training I had 5 different instructors for my sim lessons. That means every other session was with a new instructor. I would leave many lessons frustrated because I would be criticized by one instructor for doing a task the way my previous instructor told me to do it. There is a definite lack of standardization (at least when I was hired) Talk about frustrating. Just like any place, there are instructors who are better than others, and they all have their own methods of instructing. That is my objective critique from my own experience, I'll try to stay away from opinions.

The company is now offering a $150 referral bonus to employees who recommend a friend to come to Piedmont so be careful of anything that sounds "too good to be true." A few years ago I would have absolutely recommended people to come here if they had low time: 121 experience, in busy airspace, icing and weather make it hard for you to leave Piedmont without becoming a better pilot. It was a great place to get in, build some hours and move on to greener pastures. However, now that every regional requires an ATP, it is hard for me to recommend people to come here when they can go somewhere flying jets and at the same time collect $5,000 to $10,000 signing bonuses.

Good info, thanks

No way their buying Empire. What would Piedmont want with a bunch of F-28s and a SYR base!

Just did some photoshoppin! Could you imagine? Crazy talk

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...6_edited-4.jpg

I still say no. Better chance AA buys TWA. Prolly close the STL hub too.

Does anyone know anything about this interview program with U.S. Airways?

Right now 25% of all new hires at mainline have to come from PDT.

A person actually has to start class to count towards the 25%

However, if you come to PDT or Upgrade to captain you cannot interview at mainline for 12 months

There still seems to be a lot of misinformation floating around about this hiring agreement.

US Airways must offer jobs to the lesser of: 25% of total new hire positions during a calendar year, or 3 of our pilots for each month they hire. i.e, if they hire 60 in one month, and 0 in all other months for the calendar year, they only have to offer 3 positions to our pilots, not 15.

Also, the amount drops to the lesser of 25% or 2 pilots per month US Airways hires in 2016 and 2017. After that, our contract is amendable, and the agreement is over until it is re-negotiated.

Please someone correct me if I'm wrong, but all I can go off of is the wording in the new contract. The only wording I am aware of is US Airways must OFFER said number of positions. I would take this to mean if they offer Pilot Joe a new hire position, and he decides to ditch class for United, US Airways may use that offer towards meeting their commitment. This only makes sense, as I don't see why they should have to go out of their way to accommodate our guys not taking what is offered to them.

If US Airways hires more than 144 pilots spread out over 12 calendar months continuously for the entire duration of this agreement, realistically, I see 36 of our guys getting offers for 2013-2015. Then, in 2016-2017, 24 of our guys per year getting offers. I wouldn't expect to see more than 156 of our guys total getting offers if Piedmont is still around through 2017. That is still a decent amount of pilots, but much different than saying a straight 25%. That number would be much higher, and inaccurate.

It says the agreement is fulfilled when the pilot starts training.

Either way I'm NOT part of the 78%

Where is this section? The only similar statement I can find is where they define someone as "hired" which is when the pilot begins training. However, hired isn't what they are committed to. They are committed to making offers.

I think this section pretty clearly defines US Airways' offer commitment:

4.
e. The following conditions apply to US Airways’ Offer Commitment in any given year:
i. The Offer Commitment will be fulfilled based on offers made to Piedmont pilots for New
Pilot Positions, regardless of whether the offer(s) is/are accepted, or whether the
Piedmont pilot fails to appear or delays appearance as scheduled for an assigned new
class hire date, or fails training. For example, if US Airways has an Offer Commitment for
27 Piedmont pilots, and US Airways makes offers to 27 Piedmont pilots, but only 15 of
those Piedmont pilots accept the offer, and three of those fail training, US Airways will
have fulfilled its Offer Commitment for that calendar year.

In other words, there are plenty of slots at Airways without going to Piedmont. Chances are they'd hire 3 from Piedmont without the contract. Ah, regionals and their marketing ploys.