They are shaking the tree. Trying to get rid of as many as they can by forcing them all back now. There is going to be a ton of training going on and they have to stack the reserves. MEM is the base for now, but that will spread out quickly I think. Seems to be planning that about 75-100 will return. We are still loosing 15/month on average to "greener pastures". Figure 4 months or so to get all the furloughs through training (the sims are going to get backed up) and the numbers seem to make sense.

Can happen depending on seniority number however as posted earlier by RJ85FO:

"On the vacancy that just came out for the first 10 CR9 F/O's we had 6 lateral from the Saab and 4 recalled from Furlough. You can see just from that, that not all available jet slots were filled by saab F/O's because of the seat lock scenario."

The majority of the furloughs will be recalled to the Saab due to the fact that Mesaba needs to build the Saab numbers early to cover the training events that will take the current captains to the jet and upgrade the current F/O's to Saab captain."


NOTE: RJ85FO Answer above is more accurate and based on first hand knowledge.

The MESABA Pilots are not like that. This is not SKW or XJT Please!!

Bull****. I guarantee if things don't get sorted out, attitudes towards new hire jet FOs that "skipped the line" won't be peachy keen "business as usual". You guys and gals are a standup bunch, and have been through hell and high water, but you can't expect any of us to believe that there won't be at least some ill will (regardless of how unintentional it may be). It will still come across and create a negative vibe for those folks- even if directed at entirely at management.

I'm not saying that what is happening is right- far from it. However new hires and junior guys placed into the CRJ will definitely get singled out emotionally.

I think you'll need to look at the maturity level of the average MESABA pilot. I've not seen many whinning MESABA pilots in these forums. Although they could have. Everyone has a great attitude when things are going right. But when they tank, that's when the true character emerges. Watch and see how we are different. This will be why good pilots will come and fly with us. Character!

True. That maturity resulted from the 2005/2006 Mesaba "blood bath." The smaller pilot force that emerges now is on average older with high total flight times - even the FOs. If managed right, it should be a great place to work. This isn't a claim to be better then any other company; it's a claim to be a better place to work. :)

All the guys that I know at Mesaba who are currently working there or who have left due to the issues of 2005/2006 are open minded and enjoy working for the company. They have told me that they are glad things are turning around. Even when Mesaba was getting the new CRJ's in 2005 there was no animosity towards the new hires that got based in MSP. It is luck of the draw. I would assume most of the guys that are coming off of furlough realize the situation and accept it. They want the more senior guys in the saabs because that is where the guys are going to upgrade to Captain first.

This is true. The upgrade path is through the SAAB. CR9 FO - SAAB CPT. Rather get all recalls in the SAAB for quick upgrade.