hope you're being sarcastic :P its not totally random, high time types generally go to the saab due to the quick upgrade, at least lately....

If you are hired, you are hired and go to where they need you. Upgrade times have slowed a bit but should pick up again soon.

There were two people in my class that were hired with around 1400 hrs into the CRJ. Can't get much closer to upgrade.

Mesaba does not only hire guys from UND. The numbers of pilots below 600/50 is small and the the pilots hired actually span a wide range of ages and hours. Classes are filled through May, so if that's any indication, we aren't having a hard time attracting, hiring and filling classes. In fact, we turn down more people than we actually hire. No pilot shortage here. Sorry.

As for a/c, it isn't exactly random, but put it this way... it has nothing to do with skill. The hot shots don't go to the jet and the rejects go to the saab. It's not like that way at all. It has to do with company needs as well as many other factors nobody except the folks doing the hiring know about.

Hiring isn't exactly slowing down... they're just trying to catch up with training. We're still on track to do a lot of hiring for the rest of the year. TOWOP isn't anything to be alarmed about. We're just a little overstaffed on the saab right now, but as the jets continue to come online things will start to even out. With the seat locks being lifted for saab captains, you're seeing more movement off the saab, which will naturally clean things up.

I don't think there have been any classes lately for street captains. They were a stop gap measure for a short time and new ones don't seem to be needed right now. I have heard they're building a pool however and if you look at the website, the job posting is still there.

There was a class of street captains around the center in early February.

Actually the only reason that they are interviewing at those hours at UND is because those people have been through the UND program (Along with CRJ training) and Mesaba knows what kind of pilot their getting. UND Grads have had a 98% first time pass rate during training, where the industry average is somewhere between 50-60% from what I'm told.

Also I know for a fact that no one that interviewed with Mesaba last week at UND has heard if they got a job or not.

The last street captains started class on Jan 14. There have been none since then.

Any of you know how close to the minimums street captains are being hired at? Lots can change between now and the end of my Army commitment but I'd expect to have around 2300 TT and 1000 ME PIC Turbine. That puts me just over the mins for captain in the Saab.

I don't know of any that did not have prior 121 experience. Street CA hiring has stopped for now. Mesaba is in a bit of a different situation than we were 6 months ago. Many of the new hires from April-July now have a good amount of experience in their aircraft and have logged significant flight time towards upgrade. While we may continue to supplement with street CA's this late spring/summer, I don't think it will be at the rate we saw the last several months. There are already several in the CA pool waiting.

Of course, all of this is subject to change IF we get additinional aircraft. Certainly doesn't hurt to apply.

This is true. In my class last year, we had 4 or 5 UND graduates and the rest were from another regional, 1 military, 2 corporate, and 2 or 3 CFIs.
They all had 1000 hours or over. 2 had close to 4000 hours. Everyone finished but 1 UND was asked to resign. 1 FSI was also asked to resign.

Whether you get assigned RJs or Saabs is completely dependent on the needs of the Crew Planning and the logistics of the Training Department.
If you have never flown a turboprop, don't be so quick to dismiss it. You will regret not flying a turboprop later on in your career. First of all, quick upgrades are into the Saab, so you definitely want to upgrade in the same type of AC you have been flying. Secondly, I know a lot of guys missing their days flying turboprops after they have transitioned into jets. I have flown turboprops not at mesaba but elsewhere, and it is a lot of fun flying them. At Mesaba, Saab drivers get to do some really fun stuff into small airports and at lower altitudes. Some older Flight attendants only want to fly in the Saabs.