gbntpilot

Very true. Just for your information: The Mesaba flowthrough has been finalized and the initial list of pilots who have submitted their bid to flow or not was posted a few days ago. The names even have the month they're expected to flow all the way through December 2008. The top 50 or so on the list have mostly opted out of the flow with a few exceptions. Most of those pilots are too old for a flow to be worth it to them. But, from about seniority number 100 down to the bottom (~1000) an overwhelming majority has opted to flow when eligible. Just to clairfy, the list I'm referring to only lists those who have submitted a yes or no bid. There are many others who have not given a preference yet. But, with other carriers like Delta and US Airways publishing minimums of 1200-1500 TT with no PIC turbine required and only an ATP written, I'm not sure how many of the younger pilots (especially newer FOs) who opted in will actually wait around to use the flow to NWA. Still, I wouldn't count on using the flowthrough as a definite way to get into Northwest, and would assume that nicholasblonde is correct -- it would be very hard to jump ship from Mesaba up to NWA with that flowthrough agreement in place.

On the most recent award, pilots with seniority numbers in the 600 range were being awarded captain slots on the CRJ-900. If you were hired in the next few months, you'd probably be one of the first group of pilots at Mesaba with a seniority number over 1000 to start with. Movement into the CRJ is going a lot faster than anyone had thought, but there's a lot of factors that go into that such as the addition of MEM as a 900 domicile, seat locks being released for Saab captains to move to the RJ, new plane orders, how many 200s actually come over to Mesaba, etc. The bottom line is this; if you were hired as a street captain, it would be on the Saab (which is still a great airplane). Officially, you'd have a 2 year seat lock, and a one year training contract to fulfill before you could leave. So, to answer your question, it would probably be two years before you'd see a CRJ if you were hired as a Saab street captain. But, you could always take it and roll the dice on getting that seat locked released if you had the seniority to hold a CRJ position and they needed to fill the class. Of course, that's like having one shot at rolling snake-eyes on two 100-sided dice.


Right now Mesaba is upgrading at 1500TT and hiring captains off the street.

bertengineer

Yes 2500 Total, but 1000 of the time has to have been at Pinnacle. Read netween the lines. It is on the bid pack.

3500 Street Capt
3000 with 500 at PCL
2500 with 1000 at PCL
1500 if flown with 3 mentor captains and received the endorsement

but remember 2000 multi is also required.
If you have 250 PIC...OE is only 25 hours
Less than 250 PIC requires 50 hrs OE

TheProfessionalPilot

::sigh:: well I am not going to argue this with you, but there IS a difference between what's advertised and what is actually happening. Don't forget they are short on pilots across the board. Especially qualified CA's. What I'm saying has been told by those who do the awarding and by those who do the training, so I'm going to make the judgement that they do indeed need CA's.

-- Still don't recommend coming here though, as I've said before. Seems like a great company with a management that takes a different "view" as how to run it.

TheProfessionalPilot

What is that saying about 20/20? LoL Something along the lines of "if I knew then, what I know now..." I would say it once a day. Everyone makes their decisions based on what is happening right now with the information available at the time. All you can do is accept it and move on knowing you made the best educated decision you could have made.

Right now the sweet place for a person looking to street captain is indeed mesaba. You'll have fun with the seniority list for awhile, but hey if you are alright with it, then I would be signing up too. I just don't want to waste another 2 months of my life in training!

Tonne

Just recieved an invite for an interview at Pinnacle....looking to upgrade in 5-6 months...have the TT, ME time and over 2500 in the RJ. currently a 4 year CRJ FO at a regional that apparently is downsizing.....very long til upgrades.

Do we really think it's going to come down to a strike?? Don't want to leave a job to be on the street....but i dont want to be an FO in year 6.

help?

TheProfessionalPilot

The answer is simple: NETJETS - Starting pay $69k/yr FO 18 day pref bid - 100 cities to choose from or $58/yr FO 7 on and 7 off... I think it's a no-brainer.

Tonne

Apparently you missed the part about me wanting to upgrade. I don't want to be an FO for NetJets. I want to upgrade at a regional so i can move on to my promised interview at a major.

Now....anyone from Pinnacle have any help?

IHateMgmt

Who promised you an interview at the majors?

TheProfessionalPilot

Yeah... don't come here. Pretty simple. If the major requires PIC turbine time, alright then maybe. But what if they remove that limitation once they are desperate for pilots? It's happened elsewhere.... Just think, making more $ as an FO than a CA makes here at 9E. And until the majors DO hire without PIC limits, you won't be suffering with a company that is bent on keeping the same 9 year old contract (roughly). Who knows, by the time we get a contract, you might be at a major. Or you could start here, finish training, and then wind up on the street during a strike.

Think about it. I didn't think it was so close. But apparently no one knows how close we are anymore now that 9E has filed against ALPA.

higney85

How long have you worked for PNCL?