Most of the posters who work at ASA are new. I've been here for a long time, and I can tell you that morale is the lowest I've ever seen it. You see people on the bus after a grueling 4 day trip where you had to do everyone's job plus your own just to get home on time, and they look like whipped dogs.

ASA is not the picnic it used to be, and that's why the minimums have gotten so low. But if you've got 500 hours, it beats Great Lakes, I guess.

Just be prepared to be treated like crap and worked to death with no gratitude and little pay. The planes carry tons of deferrals (because management is running this place on a shoestring budget and won't splurge on maintenance) and the ground workers still don't want to do their jobs. The trips and lines are ridiculous, with the average line almost 90 hours on 4 day trips. Oh and we may strike or be stapled to the bottom of the Skywest list when they pull the plug on us someday soon. Good times!

 

just keeps getting worse. Not too sure what to think.

As a local, I'd love to be at ASA for the lack of a commute. . . but I'm not too sure if I'm willing to deal with a strike, or to be stapled to the bottom of Skywest's seniority list. . . but - the later of the two would require SKW to become union, at least I think.

 

Everything above is true....

 

but if your local. ASA could still be a good place to get experiance. Upgrades are coming down. And i suppose it's possible things could turn around aftrer awhile. It will probably take you several months to realize it sucks as bad as it does.

 

Here are some specifics from an e-mail from the General Office:

• We are planning to run new hire classes of 40 for the remainder of this year.
• Upgrades are planned at 20 per month from now until the first week in December.
• Overall pilot attrition is planned at 6 per week or 26 per month. In April attrition was 28, May was 17 and June is so far 30.

That's all I have one that besides that we are still really short on staffing for the CRJ 200 while the 700 is actually set. We seem to also have a shortage on the ATR, but definitely not like the 200.

The National Mediation Board (NMB) this week set two new negotiating dates for ASA and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). The two parties will meet Thursday, June 28 and Friday, June 29, in Atlanta to try to come to agreement on the remaining open sections in ASA’s pilot labor contract.

I have my fingers crossed but this one but my hopes are definitely not any higher than they are now. We'll see though!?

 

Skywest, Freedom (Mesa), Shuttle America (Republic), and soon Pinnacle all have an ATL base. Why hang your hat on ASA just to be in ATL?

Skywest won't go union. It will fail by a narrow margin again. They look at what's happening to us and believe management that it's the union's fault.

 

Here's another one for you as a sign of the times at ASA. The chief pilots are advising everyone they see to get their apps out ASAP because "ASA is going down the tubes". Just food for thought.

 

Does any one know how many people have been assigned to the ATR in recent classes? Also, does it look like they will be looking to assign people to the ATR in the next few classes? Thanks for your help.

 

I would also like to know as they are one of the several regionals I plan to interview with.

 

Based on what a jumpseat IOE guy told me yesterday, almost everyone in the new hire classes are going to the CRJ200. About 2 out of 20 are going to the ATR. Staffing (at present) is directed mostly at the CRJ200.