sociald

Does anybody know what the upgrade time for the Saab at Colgan is? Also, what are their junior bases for the Saab and where are the best bases?

iflyjets4food

Last I heard the upgrade time for Saab is 15 months or so as long as you meet the mins. After training they put you where they need you, but within 6 months you can probably go where you want. Best base all depends on you. Of course this is all paraphrased from other postings in the history somewhere down the page.

SAABDriver

As said above the upgrade depends upon the time you come in with. If you come in with 700 you may sit right seat for close to 2 years. The upgrade mins on the Saab are about 2200 TT 1000 in airplane and the CP likes to see one year in the enviorment...that is a summer and a winter at least.

It will also depend on attrition and growth.

So if you come in with about 1200 hrs you can bet on a bout a year to upgrade.

Good Luck!

sociald

I start class on Monday, see you on the ramp!

JetPilot01

I work for Colgan now and was called for upgrade in Oct. 2005 and in class Nov. 2005. Hire date was Dec. 1, 2004, was online end on Jan. 2005. Before Colgan I was working as a CFI. Was hired with approx. 2200 TT of which 1800 was dual given and 200 hrs of multi. Also, already had an ATP when hired.

As long as you have the time, upgrade is about a year. Most junior bases are Johnstown and Jamestown. Unfortunately for Colgan, they're losing captains almost as fast as they are upgrading. Bad for them, but good for us. Shows industry is getting better and things are on an upswing. Good Luck. Hope this helps.

iflyjets4food

I haven't seen any new interviews on aviationinterviews.com. Are they still hiring? I put my stuff in there in mid-September and I have kept it updated frequently, but haven't heard a word.

JetPilot01

That doesn't surprise me. I have heard of a bunch of guys walking in resumes for people who don't get called. Speaking from my experience with them, email them. The link is on http://www.colganair.com/employ.htm.

They use airlineapps.com but I'm not sure on how often they check that. I know you don't want to sound like a pain in the ass, but if you really want to be here, send them an email every week. After a while they will remember your name and call you. Trust me on that.

From what I'm hearing, they are having trouble finding qualified people. If they continue to hire low time people, then they won't have anyone with enough time to fill the captains slots. That's what they are hurting for now are captains. However, since they are supposedly getting all these ShuttleAmerica Saab routes out of Dulles, they are going to need both F/Os and Capts for that. Of course this is all just speculation, there are a lot of rumors going around.

As far as getting a call back, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease".

freezingflyboy

JetPilot,
Just wondering what the cost of living is like over there. Is Colgan pay liveable? I know their bases are smaller towns which I'm sure helps. I would be moving from the upper midwest if hired and just wondered how things would compare.

I sent stuff in about a week ago through email and airlineapps.com and haven't heard a peep. I was curious what Colgan considered "low time". Right now I am sitting at 900TT and 120 Multi, is that short of what they are looking for?

JetPilot01

That's better than some here at Colgan. I fly with guys now who hired with less total time, but more ME time. Your kind of in the middle. Keep sending those emails.

As far as cost of living, that depends on your base. Norfolk, Manchester, Providence, and White Plains are some of the more expensive places to live. These are also some of the more senior bases as well. Starting pay for the FO is $21.00/hr (saab). You can expect to be flying at least 75 hours per month. My recommendation would be to bid a base where the lines have you flying 85-90 hrs./month. That way you make the $$ and build your flight time faster to get you in that port side seat. I myself, commute to my base. It sucks, but I'm building that PIC turbine REAL FAST.