XJ street CA folks
 

Hey,

Anyone on here a Street Captain for XJ? How do you like it? Are you getting all stand-up overnights? I would be interested in being based in DTW. I know I talked to a few of you about it in months past, but I am still curious about it. PM me if you have any good info. Thanks.

Lax

Not enough posts to PM yet, so I'll own up here. Yep I'm one of the street CA's. Unfortunately I can't help you much beyond that. Took my type ride two weeks ago, and have just been sitting at home getting paid since then. They said after my LOFT, that it'd be 2-3 weeks before I got a call to show up for IOE. Sunday will be the 2 week mark since the LOFT, guess we'll see if they call next week. Personally I'm just enjoying the time off right now.

I came from 9E, and not to slam those guys, but the difference is night and day between the two companies. I think this is going to be a good place to work based on what I've seen so far. I thought they put the street CA's on hold for now though- do you have an interview set up?

Welcome to XJ. Enjoy your time off. You will enjoy flying for XJ.
You came on board at the right time. XJ is growing phenomenally right now.

What are the mins for street CA?

XJ? is this express jet

XJ is mesaba

I was offered Street CA at the end of December; just waiting for a class date. I'm curious too if they're still interviewing Street CAs or if I've missed the boat. Steve Taylor mentioned he doesn't have a date for the next Saab class.

So, anyone interview for Street CA since early January? How big a pool will XJ want to have for Street CAs?

wow thanks I was like holy **** express is hiring street cpt's. thought the place might be going down the tubes.

From the looks of things, the saab hiring is slowing down quite a bit. Its my personal guess that that means that street captains wouldnt be required any longer for a while. Thats just my guess.

If I remember hearing right, street CA's were 2000TT min, but would imagine realistically would have been higher

What are you saying?;)

Not saying mesaba is a bad place-but airlines besides upstarts that hire street captains give me a bad feeling. I believe that an airline thats been around like mesaba should have enough qualified guys to staff their captain positions. Just my thoughts and every one probally has a different opinion on this.

I'd say all but less than 50 or 40 original FO's from before this latest sweep of hiring have upgraded. This is out of a pilot list of over 1000 pilots now, so basically all the "qualified guys" have upgraded. Definitely know what you're saying about how it sounds though.

Obviously if they are hiring street CA's there is a need for qualified guys getting into the seat ASAP. The reasons behind it are what you would want to worry or be happy about. Lots of turn over (CA leaving for better things/upgrading to RJ's) combined with a very junior FO staff (low time original hires) sounds pretty reasonable. Is any of that a sign of a bad company? I wouldn't think so.

BTW, for the street CA hired in Dec waiting training, I bet we will be in the same class.

The last time we had street Captain's was back in the 80's. We've gone from 49 saabs to 49 saabs 36 CRJ 900s and 17 200's. Do the math, we needed street captains. there was no way around it.

We are not a upstart have been around for over 40 years.

Don't forget the seat locks... that was another thing keeping the qualified guys from bidding Saab CA. However, the company seems to be wising up about that type of stuff.

Never said that you were an upstart company-or at least didnt mean it that way, I am familiar with mesabas long history in the buisness-
meant to say that besides an upstart company
Upstarts in my opinion are the only ones that should do this-maybe they should re-think their upgrade mins or seat locks so that there putting there own people in the left seat-people who are already familiar with there company and the way that there op's on the line work. Would seem like the fair thing to do (I do understand the ATP req. for 121 captains) like I said just my opinion- I do think you guys are a good company -wish I met the hr req. for street captain, I'd be there.

I fear that the locks are only being released temporarily to correct the over staffing on the SAAB.

according to scheduling and reserve openings, both MEM and DTW are short on Saab Ca's, so unlocking Ca's from the saab is not due to overstaffing. imo

i think they just want higher time guys in the jet, but i could be very wrong

i think the saab is only overstaffed on the fo side, but that will change in april/may/june

?
 

Hopefully, have you seen how many reserve lines are in DTW for March? :eek:

Re-think their upgrade mins: Currently ATP minimums.
Seat locks: Released for the last two vacancy awards.

Honestly, what else are they supposed to do?

I disagree, they just asked for volunteers to take time off without pay for march, to me that says they are overstaffed.

The are overstaffed in MSP for Saab CA's. They are understaffed in MEM and DTW for Saab CA's, at least concerning CA's finished with IOE and Fed rides.

Thanks for the welcome Lighteningspeed, I think this is going to be a good place to be. Can't believe I was the only Street CA on here to admit it though! ;-)

There's nothing dirty about being a street CA. Besides, we need guys like you to soak up all the reserve lines :p. Now is a good time to be at XJ. Enjoy it and welcome aboard!

Waiting for a Saab class, some more curiosities have popped up...

As a potential Street Captain / Reserve Forever Pilot, what are the XJ reserve windows? I'm wondering if they're commutable (fly in first reserve day, fly out last reserve day), or will I be commuting on every day off?

Can / do reserves get assigned to CD trips, and how many can they be assigned back-to-back?

How often do they pre-notify reserve pilots of trips, and if so can you commute in for that instead of your reserve window?

Are all reserve slots the standard 90-minute call-out, or does XJ have a Long Call (8 or 12 hour,etc)?

Thanks!

DTW SF3: 0500-1900(P1), 1000-2400(P2), 1900-2400(P3)
MEM SF3: 0600-2000, 1000-2400, 1830-2400
(These can vary from month to month)
Yes, even if you bid P1 or P2, you can be switched to P3 and put to rest to fly a CDO that night. Maximum of 4 CDO's back to back. You can bid any contact period and also specify first out or last out. Preferences are awarded in seniority order.

Sometimes it happens and you can work it out with scheduling at that time. Much more often than not, you won't be pre-notified. Per the contract, a reserve pilot cannot be contacted outside of his/her contact period. You are free to login to CrewTrac and check for yourself in advance...although sometimes trips are not loaded in there until the last minute. Lots of intricacies here that you will figure out once you are immersed in it.

All call-out is 90 minutes. That is to say you must REPORT to your base within 90 minutes. You then have an additional hour prior to departure time. Must be on aircraft 20 minutes prior, so in REALITY, you have 2:10 to get seated in the airplane from the time you are called. Some people take full advantage of that time :)

Is Mesaba still hiring street captains, and if so does it look like they will be for the next few months? How likely is it to get hired with about 2500tt with 1500 of it being turbine sic?

thanks

I think we are still interviewing into a pool for CA positions. There hasn't been a need in the last couple of months due to seat locks being released on each vacancy. They are also thinning the ranks a little on the Saab right now, so until that picks up again, no more street CA's needed.

Even if you don't get hired as a street CA, your upgrade at Mesaba will come really quickly. You don't have to take my word. Upgrade in the Saab has been few months after hiring date although things have slowed down a little. It will pick back up in the Spring.

A few months? Don't you mean a few weeks.