Agree to Disagree. Its funny you mention the American Eagle thing cause i know ALOT of my fellow 05/06 grads who are working for them right now. I dont know where all this hatred for riddle comes from but it may be something that is carried over from the olden days. I dont see how an ERAU grad is any different than a UND, Purdue, or anybody else. I try to not get involved in these discussions cause they are ridiculous.

Back TO THE TOPIC..... this is an interesting idea. So is the mesaba thing with und that the guy above mentioned. You wonder whats in it for AT or Mesaba? Low Pay? If the majors start snatching these young guys too....are we setting ourself up for CFI shortage? I know its starting to seem that way out here in the midwest where my flight school is located!

If this does happen, i think the reason the graduating seniors wont get this because im pretty sure this program would have to require at least 5 or so AirTran specific classes with which the seniors wouldnt be around to do.
But i will also be waiting for the press release before i believe it.

Well is it just an internship, ?????

UND program with Mesaba has a long way to develop, but it's my understanding that Mesaba is considering "contractual hiring" agreements.

Essentially students (seniors) at UND would apply for the program. Recipients would have the CFI certificates paid for by Mesaba, in exchange for a period of instructing experience at UND (guaranteed job by UND). Once the instructing period is served, that student/instructor would be placed automatically into a new hire FO slot at Mesaba.

Mesaba wins by gaining an experienced pilot (which they currently seem to be having a hard time doing). $5000 or $6000 dollars to train a student is a lot cheaper than cancelling multiple flights due to crew shortages. UND wins because they now have a committed instructor that isn't bailing out right after graduation. The student wins with an airline job before graduation, and defrayment of some of the flight training costs.

In reality, it's not that different from the same type of offer the military offers to ROTC candidates. Money towards school/training and a guaranteed job offer, in exchange for a few years of employment.

Yeah...no kidding...I guess the only thing we have is our dignity. All of us regional pilots will know deep down inside that we earned our stripes with blood, sweat, tears, and years of hard work...not just because mommy and daddy bought our job at AirTran...

I wonder how the AirTran pilot group feel on this matter?

Its all relative. Your one year of instructing is hardly "blood sweat and tears" compared to the time guys in the mid nineties put in.

Yeah we talk about it in our classes...manages to **** all of us off who are walking in the next year or so...oh well...what you gonna do but watch all backfire from a safe distance...

Well, I walked 8 years ago and all I get are "can we get some money" emails. They do have a message area for alumni that I made some good contacts with. Granted, 9/11 was in this equation as well. Some get the breaks and some don't. Life is too short to worry about it. Seems good for these guys now but who knows what lies ahead. Afterall, I was about to be an ATR Captain after 11 months with my company and had been given my class date for the upgrade. That was Sept 10, 2001.....

For those who ask for "the source" of this subject. One of the training managers from Airtran (Riddle grad) came to my aircraft performance class and talked about this plan.

So far this is just a "plan"/"idea". From what I know the biggest issue is that AirTran wants ERAU to pay for a sim to train the students they select.

Well, it's pretty much guaranteed that if this deal WERE in fact to go through, that it would **** of a LOT of Pilots :-)