Is there still a written test given during the interview or is it just HR and technical oral questions?

 

I interviewed on Tuesday. There was no written for our group. Doesn't mean there won't be one in the future.

 

Thank you.

 

How about sim eval or is it all oral? Anyone at psa wish they had gone to PDT of vice versa?

 

Go to PDT, the less people we have here at PSA, the more pressure our company feels to accept our terms while negotiating increases to QoL.

Hate if you want, but this is the truth. Promote this place like the promise land and the company has no reason to change the status quo. If you want actual change to reserve rules and pay while keeping SAP, the company needs a reason to change. Full new hire classes proves that they can continue under current conditions and keep staffing, no reason to adjust the current work rules. Where are the changes to the reserve rules we've been hearing about since last December? Small gains, right TR? I call bullsh*t while you ride around in your Benz rental during company business.

If anything, reserve has actually become worse with scheduling parking hot reserve and garbage trips on people 5 days in advance without actually notifying them, in effect prohibiting them from swapping reserve days as they usually would be able to before this garbage LoA. And we've started force upgrades; I dont give a damn about the occasional opinion that "if people dont want to upgrade, they shouldnt be flying". They earned their seniority, its not their responsibility to cover the company's tail. Everyone has different objectives in this life and desire different outcomes from this career. No one should be forced to upgrade and commute to reserve when it wasnt part of the scenario when they accepted the position after interview. There is no pilot shortage, it is a pay shortage. A QoL shortage. Pilots will have no problem filling the staffing need when the reserve and pay situations are corrected. There are plenty of well qualified part 91 and 135 pilots who would come out of the woodwork for a set schedule and comfortable wage. This job at PSA isn't a "stepping stone", you have 76 people back there operating in the same airspace and weather as mainline, we should be compensated more appropriately.

Honestly, I hope the regionals will die all together, and I believe you should hope so too. We should all be making much stronger compensation. Every flight a regional completes is at 1/3 of the cost as a mainline crew would complete it for. AAG makes money hand over first because of the work we complete. It's in ALL of our best interest if this flying was conducted under mainline compensation rates. They need us right now, not the other way around...

Our pilots have gained next to nothing in probably the most pilot friendly industry environment we will see for the rest of our careers. Supply and demand, know where we fit. The flow is a gimmick. Do the math yourself, leave in 4 years vs flow in 8, you're missing out on over a MILLION dollars over the course of a career. You dont need the airlines, the airlines need you!

Forget the cheer leading that some people will post. "you're negative, this is a regional/stepping stone, my daddy is a captain etc etc". If all the WO got together and negotiated as such, we would all get paid and see improvements while we can. We are all just one missile strike, one recession, one terrorist attack away from keeping the current conditions OR WORSE for the next 10 years.

Do you think the company WOULDN'T barfain for compensatory rates immediately after the economy turns downward? Why are we accepting a delay in QoL increases now? Get it while the gettin' is good!

But what the heck do I know, my SJS faded years ago...

 

Wish I could "Like" a post... this one, gets one...

 

I spent my first career doing something I truly enjoyed, but something that involved very long days in the hot Florida sun. Transitioning to Aviation included several long years of incredibly challenging work.

I understand your perspective, and appreciate you sharing it. That being said, there was a time when I would have flown for free. In fact, in certain scenarios I still do. I think I sit on the other side of the fence on a lot of this stuff.

I'm certainly one of those "move up or get out" individuals. It's how every other industry makes progress, how the military recruits new leadership, and how progress does, and shouldwork. I'm not concerned with someone's comfort based on their seniority. The moment you stop bettering yourself as a professional, and an aviator, you become a roadblock to those below you.

As far as pay goes, become a captain. You don't like your paychecks, fly more and upgrade -- simple as that. It might still be below market rate but at the end of the day an entry level FO at PSA is guaranteed to make more than an industry-average CFI, or an industry average 91/135 FO. You'll get a pay-improvement just for becoming an FO. And a PSA CA can make easily twice as much as the FO sitting next to him if they're willing to put in the effort. So, don't like the pay? Stop being an FO. Don't like the pay as a CA? Put out your applications. As I see it, Flow just sits in my back pocket as a nice little promise. I'm not content with waiting for it. I'll move on when I'm ready -- and I'm sure as heck not going to sit around as an FO my whole career (and if I DID, I would be certian to understand that any pay/QoL issues that arise from that decision are my own doing).

Now, I agree that the idea of a regional job as a stepping-stone is a short sighted, minimized viewpoint that engages heavily in the 'distant-elephant' mindset. You're flying the same SIDS to the same STARS, carring paying passengers, managing a technically complex aircraft. That being said, my previous statement stands. Move up or get out.

If an FO doesn't like a regional, work hard to become a CA, and send out your resumes. If you want to sit around and wait for flow, then don't complain that you don't have it as good as mainline -- you chose to sit around and wait for flow.

I'm not saying the regionals aren't implicit in issues with pay and QoL, but for many we do see it as a stepping stone, we aren't okay getting comfortable in the right seat, and we will work hard to get ourselves to mainlines long before that flow date arrives.

I came to PSA regardless of the issues expressed here from QoL and pay. I did tons of research. I could go to E9 and wait months on end for a class date (and seniority), I could go to MQ and deal with large amounts of displaced pilots and a series of other challenges, I could give up and go to Mesa, Republic, Skywest, or TransState. However, anyone looking from the outside in sees PSA as the quickest growing regional fleet, with an expansive regional route map, backed by a huge mainline parent, with SAP (for now) that no one else gets, in a wide variety of domiciles that are all decently commutable, with immediate start and seniority dates. So, they don't pay the best and their reserve sucks. Comes with the job. Not but a decade ago pilots would have given their left leg to sit right seat in a regional.

The hedonic treadmill is strong in aviation, mostly because a lot of career pilots don't realize what everyone on the ground has to put up with for a decent paycheck. Sweat my rear off for a miniscule paycheck despite the coorporate headaches that came with it? I'll work to better myself and get out of the negative feeback loop. I understand the jobs not what you want, but you're lucky and blessed as heck that you're a US Pilot flying an airconditioned jet around the east coast and don't have to build iPhones on an assembly line in China. No one is born with a promise of success. Simply by being a pilot, you're far ahead of most of this planet. Work for a better job, but never forget how grateful you should be for what you have.
Even if the whole deck isn't fair, it's a lot better for you than it could be, and a little gratitude goes a long way.

Regardless, I'll take the office view for now and grow as a professional. I'll take all the opportunites the Company has to offer, learn from them, and move on -- greatful that I'm sitting where I am to begin with.

 

This ^^^ amen!

 

I'm not certain what the math works out to be at PDT at present, but I know that if someone had gone there a year or two back, they would flow to AA faster than someone who had chosen to go to PSA four years ago. PDT was (and I believe still is) flowing a higher percentage of their overall seniority list than PSA is.

If flowing to AA is a priority for someone, they need to find out what the total number of pilots on a prospective W.O.'s seniority list is, and what the number of pilots flowing annually is. The flows are not created equally.

PSA appears to be at 1,782 pilots - 44 in-process flows = 1,738 total pilots...not including the most recent new-hire class that will have around 30 in it. At 110/year flowing (AA usually doesn't hire one month around the holidays), that's just a 6.2% flow rate annually - when it used to be right at 10% back when they had the preferential interview.

The other thing to consider is PSA, under current fleet plans of 150 aircraft, is pretty much done hiring for growth. PSA's "president" just a week or so back sent out a communication that the company expects that 150 aircraft number to be solid. You don't need more than 1,800 pilots to operate 150 aircraft. 1,600 is probably a more reasonable number.

Airlines have a well-known history of hiring until they start furloughing. I don't think that's a real concern at present with PSA, but the math fails to support additional gains in the total number of pilots on the seniority list. Hiring will continue indefinitely, but it may in the near future be at a reduced rate, as PSA transitions from growth mode, to just managing attrition.

This will also take some pressure off the company to increase pay and quality of life.

 

Agree, but I dont think we'll be furloughing anytime soon. Our growth has been stagnating too. We aren't getting that any new flying or increased block hours (According to "Schedule Highlights" on myPSA). CA reserve times are increasing too; safe to say it takes about 3 years minimum to hold line as a Captain.

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