XJ (mesaba) getting desperate????
 

this is in addition to the 2 month upgrade post... now hiring street captains... man, we are hard up for pilots too but with all the guys that have been waiting for 6 years to upgrade is there no one left?



and captains at mesaba only need 2000 hours to upgrade???

WOW! At first I didn't believe it until I saw it for myself on our own website. First I have heard of it. Interesting. Glad you are browsing the Mesaba website! Thinking about joining us?

"and captains at mesaba only need 2000 hours to upgrade???"

all you need are ATP mins

How much total time should be required ?

Agreed. Total time is such a poor way of measuring pilot experience. Is 2000 hours of 152 time in the traffic pattern at XYZ "better" than 1000 hours of single pilot night freight in a Beech 99?

Keep in mind that this isn't really a street captain position. With a 35 day upgrade and dropping they're basically just pointing out the obvious that if you get hired with 2000TT, you'll be able to hold CA with your seniority when you're done with training. Advertising like this is just a method of attracting higher time applicants since 90% (totally fabricated statistic) of their pilot applicants right now have about 400TT. Still great news for those with upcoming class dates or the desire to join Mesaba. :D

So how do Captains with lower senority numbers fit into the mix when FOs with higher senority numbers are available to upgrade? Do they stay captains or do they rollback to FOs? Are the FOs with low time and a good senority number screwed by higher time pilots with a lower number.

hehehehe,, no.. to close to upgrade here and already have almost a couple years seniority.. i was like you however. a friend of mine mentioned this and i didn't believe it either till i went to your website.. nice pilot orientation slide show.. :) especially the part where they are trying to sell how comfortable the rj200 is.. "reclining leather seats"... lol, made me laugh.. people always ask at the counter if the plane has a first class section for upgrade, i tell them that the entire plane is first class,, all of the seats are leather, and everyone gets an aisle or a window!!! :)

i wasn't saying that in a demeaning way.. pinnacle used to be 3000hrs and is now 2500 with certain stipulations.. just mentioned it because i thought they were higher.

you are preaching to the choir man. people knock the lower time captains, but if 2000hrs of their flight time is in the plane they will be in charge of, i think they are in a far better position than the guy off the street.. or like the guys at almost every airline that have turboprops and jets..a friend of mine at skywest was flying the bro, and upgraded into the rj.. that is some crazy shiz if you ask me.

probably the same thing that happened to the street captains here at pinnacle a while back.. get hired and sit reserve as a captain for 4 years or so, till everyone that was hired ahead of you finally upgrades.

They won't displace the CAs back to FOs that upgraded quickly because of flight time. Guys waiting to build time will upgrade when they're legally qualified and another slot opens up, they'll slide in above people that upgraded before them and the other CAs will just sit junior to all the people that get to upgrade when they get ATP mins.

So noone with a number higher than these "extras" has anything to worry about?

no, i actually think it is a street captain position.. you can still get hired here at pinnacle and upgrade straight to captain if you have the time.. but the only job openings we have are for f.o.'s. if you go to the mesaba interview with the time, i would be willing to bet they will tell you right there they are hiring you as a captain.

nope, the only thing you have to worry about is a upgrade slow down.. other than that once you upgrade you will be ahead of them on the captain list... but i will repeat that the same thing will probably happen over at mesaba that happened here.. once they get a lot of street captains hired they will stop ugrade classes for a bit, or really slow them down.. then they will realize how dumb an idea it was to slow down and be hurting for captains once again.

Why the sudden drop in upgrade time? Is it that no one wants to commute to Memphis?

A whole raft of questions....Sorry...
 

Guys, would a "street-ish" CPT be able to get DTW? How long to hold a line there? Also, how bad would the smack down be when the F/Os finally start to upgrade?

And lastly, are those 36 CR9's growth, or replacements for 340's?

Thanx for the help...

Almost every new hire here is going to DTW and some are waiting for MSP so shouldn't be too long of a wait if any at all. Not sure about reserve time for a street CA...that's something new. The CR9's are additions....not replacements. The Slaab ain't goin nowhere baby :D

I see this as just a precaution in case the next vacancy has newhire positions in the CA slots. Also, I don't think this releases the seat locks because it is for saab captain and not CRJ captain.

it doesn't say which position it is for.. if there is an fo at eagle with 3000hrs of rj time i bet he will get a rj captain spot.

No there are plenty of guys here that are holding out for the jet, it won't go junior enough for a street hire.

see thats the thing though.. hiring street captains isn't for filling vacancies.. that is what you have to understand. they may have a set number they need now and will hire them, jet or sabb. i am sure it will work the same as it did here at pinnacle and every other regional that has hired street captains. you will continue to see vacancies posted for current crew members, but what if they need the captains in 1 month?? vacancies are filled for several months ahead. that is why you bring in street captains. our latest vacancy posted becomes effective jan 1st. but if they needed a captain right now they would be out of luck unless they get street captains in.

i am sure there are plenty of guys holding out for the jet. but if they need captains now and cant wait for upgrades and vacancies, they will fill them any way they can.

Yes, but our contract is a little different, if they hire a street captain for the CRJ 900 anyone that is holding out for jet captain, i.e. everyone, then becomes bypassed. So basically anyone who meets atp mins and put crj ca as their choice would get CRJ 900 captain pay. These street captains are for the saab because nobody wants it.

interesting,, i would like to hear rj85fo's opinion on that.. that doesn't make to much sense.

It makes perfectly good sense in a contract that values and protects seniority. It is all right there in plain language near the end of our section 24.

Our contract has strong language protecting seniority. FO's can get placed anywhere. Not so for Captains. Our contract has very specific language releasing seat locks as necessary to PREVENT the hiring of street captains.

This is not an issue for Saab Captains as that is the junior most Captain seat.

Every single eligible pilot (ATP mins..) who wishes to be a jet captain must be awarded those captain seats before a street captain may be placed there.

If necessary, a pilot may be bypassed if he/she is needed in their current seat. A basic summary of bypass: pilots may be bypassed for 120 days and then must be put in training for the seat for which they were bypassed. After 8 weeks, the bypassed pilot must be payed at the rate of the seat for which they were bypassed.

Street jet captains would be exceptionally expensive for the company. I don't think too many Saab Captains would be upset flying those high-credit decent time off Saab lines for Jet Captain pay!

This is NOT the type of issue our union would be willing to cut any slack on.

LoudFast described the contract language that pay protects a senior pilot during bypass situations. Remember, Mesaba is not lacking qualified pilots to upgrade to the jet. We have plenty of those who are waiting for the jets to get here. We are staffing up for the jet, not trying to fill seats that are vacant. The jet is not the issue. The Saab is the issue. Currently, anyone who upgrades in the Saab will be seatlocked in the Saab for 24 months. Many of those that want to be jet captains are just having to wait until we get a sufficient number of them to have vacancies. This waiting to avoid Saab seat lock is a driving factor in why the Saab CA seat is going so junior.

So, the street CA go into what, the saab, 200 or the 9. What type of trips will the nine get I hate 5 leg days.

Street Captain will go to Saab. CR9 has some 5 and 6 leg days. It also has 2 leg days. If you hate 5 leg days, you will not like any of Mesaba's aircraft/route choices.

5 Leg days DO suck. 6-leggers are better, so ya'll both get to fly 3 legs :-)

We enjoy 7 and 8 leg days in the Saab. You just kind of go numb after 5 or 6.

Ain't it the truth! There were even 9 leg days this last summer.

Ya but they're short hops. Toledo, St.Cloud, Flint, Watertown. I did 9 last month. Yes it did seem like ground hog day.

On another note (street CA's). I love the SAAB but I like the CRJ pay. So I would have a problem with them bypassing me for the jet.