For christ's sake have some self respect and don't go to class. The very few there that remain positive will never cease to amaze me. If you do decide to jump off the bridge, enjoy and don''t say others never warned you.

You wouldn't happen to be their recruiter playing the innocent doe in the headlights would you? Looks like the above post as well as a few others buy it every time. Their management used to post stuff on here a while back under the name of wannabepilot or something like that until called out.

 

On point, don't worry to much about it. I went there with all my memory items nailed down, and was anxious to get right into it. Then I actually showed up and we had a week of basic indoc which felt like we weren't doing anything. You will have plenty of time when you get there to study, which you will have to do. When I was there about 7 months ago the training center was in a state of chaos, so it required us to be proactive in finding out what we needed to learn and then learning it on our own. BFD, we all did it, and nobody had any problems on the oral. Just know you limitations, memory items, and walk around slide (You will recieve that when you get there, it's cake). Good luck!

 

There are no positives to working here. Wait til Pref bid screws you. Then see how your QOL is... Its only a matter of time my brother.

 

1. i didn't have sjs when i came here 2 and half years ago. i came here because your company (mesaba) was the worst regional in the world. yeah thats a little extreme but how long have you been at mesaba? i was here when they started losing all the avros and furloughing people. mesaba treated their employees like crap, and made them eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner. if you think mesaba is different than pinnacle then just take a trip back in time a couple years ago and where we are now is where you were then.

2. qol doesn't suck. 18 days off this month, 3, 3 day trips and 2 day bleed over from last month. life is actually really good.

3. lower standards?? we are the only pilot group that is telling management to give us a good contract or they can sink this boat. if you went to mesaba after bankruptcy then you lowered the standards. our contract is 8 years old. your brand new concessionary contract is just a little better than ours. and don't give me the crap about management being better and such because like i said, just look back a couple years and there is no difference.

just read some of flatspins post and you will see the only thing he has to contribute to this message board is flames and flame bait. anyone that has anything good to say works for management, yadda yadda yadda.

uh been using prefbid now since the middle of last year and it has yet to screw me over. you have to be smarter than it is.. i average 17-19 days off every month since we started using pref bid. i also get everything i ask for if i know what i can get (you don't ask for stuff you know you wont get, thats just dumb). before i only got 14-15 days off a month.

now before you all get your panties in a wad i will say what i have been saying forever about this place. there is a lot that needs to change. luckily we have a pilot group willing to go for it instead of signing concessionary contracts to "maybe" get some flying. there are a lot of good pilots here. i got to work, do my flying and go home. no problems whatsoever. if there is a picket event and i can make it i show up. i voted yes on the strike vote. i will volunteer at the strike center. like one of the guys on our board says, all it will take is 30 days and 30 seconds to end it all. i will fight for whats right as long as i am here. i like everyone else wants to come here, get the time and move on. that is exactly what i plan on doing. but while i am here i am going to make the best of it and do what i need to do to bring about change. i feel bad for the pinnacle guys who hate their lives here. getting worked up in a unproductive hissy fit wont change anything. to many of you complain yet look at the volunteer status and all the jobs we need help with.

 

Thanks to everyone who has replied and those who have sent me PM's. To respond to the first couple of threads, no I am not management and no I don't have SJS.
From my research and people I know at 9E I think you guys will get a contract. The mgmt can't afford the strike.
I didn't want this to turn into a flame session on 9E and I guess thats all this will be. It seems that anytime anyone wants to get some info on anything it turns into some flame, or someone gets sent to the corner for making some silly statement.--sorry rant from another topic--
I'm willing to bet that once the contract is in Pinnacle will be flooded with applicants and this negative attitude will turn positive.
I ordered that book from AVsoft, thank you for the recommendation, I do appreciate it. If anyone has any other CONSTRUCTIVE advise, other than flaming the company, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

I dont have any experience with pref bid. Why is it a bad thing?

 

I've been at XJ for 9 years, And yes 9E's is better then it was. But I wasn't going to go to Express back when you didn't get payed for training, payed for your own hotel room, and had to pay for your training. All of the people I've with that have come from there had nothing good to say them.

 

Well after getting through even my own positive and negative PM's I have some things to say.

-In echo's to some there are some MAJOR issues here at 9E. This company WAS short staffed months ago, now we are simply NOT staffed at all. We have minimal (if any) reserves and are canceling flights left and right. We cannot staff a regular schedule of flying, much less dealing with people getting sick (happens) and irregular ops (such as weather, mx, etc.). To say that there is "friction" between mgmt and the pilot group is an understatement. We (pilots) are getting memo's on meal breaks, fatigue calls, sick calls, delays, yadayada.

-There are some LOOMING issues here. We have a contract that is "crap" to be optimistically honest. Almost any regional (including mesa) would be a major pay raise on the FO side (looking 2+ years on the scale) and even then the pay is still horrid. Our contract is not pilot friendly and with our "loving" mgmt vs. pilot relationship the company stance is to basically "throw out the contract" and just tell the pilots to "grieve it later". We cannot staff our jets and have more coming with attrition rising. This path will (sooner rather than later) end up with even more cancellations and eventually the wheels (no pun intended) will stop.

-There are a couple PROMISING things here. Obviously upgrade is quick, we have a pilot group that is fed the F up with this mgmt team. A 99% strike vote is a rather loud showing of that. Our next contract will be one that WE are proud of and --more importantly-- will help to bring up this industry. This is a hard and long process but we are doing it. One day we will force mgmt into a contract because they will see the choices are either a contract or the end of pinnacle.

On a personal side I do have a pretty good QOL. After a year and a half I get 15-18 days off with the weekends. I was off all the holidays. I fly 3 days trips with great coworkers. Pay still sucks.

I have friends here on rsv that are contemplating leaving- I don't blame them. I live in base and am only waiting on a bday to upgrade. We will get a contract- when? Only Phil knows and he seems to be a pathological LIAR so I wouldn't believe what he has to say. I would not recommend this place to anyone, yet you could still come to class while you look elsewhere. If you have other interviews GO FOR IT! Just my thoughts on this place!

 

so you are one of the "lucky ones" who were left standing after they sent hundreds of pilots packing. i even picketed with you guys right up to the time you all finally gave in. i thought for sure the mesaba pilots were going to stay strong and tell management that you weren't signing that contract. your management is no different than pinnacle management. and if you have really been at mesaba for 9 years then you know that is true. mesaba is a better place to be at right now, but 3 years ago, guys from your company were killing just to come to pinnacle. it all a cycle man. you guys are getting built up right now, just like we were when they were tearing mesaba down. soon they will sell you off to the highest bidder (which could be pinnacle ) and then the cycle will repeat itself. nothing has changed, it all stays the same, just goes in cycles. i have met several people from mesaba that have nothing good to say about them either. especially this one guy 2 years ago who was being dead headed back to memphis to be furloughed. yeah, we had a nice long chat on that flight. its the same every where you go. you will find people who hate it here and who are fine here. same at mesaba, you may like it there, but there are a couple hundred guys who think that the company sold them out.

 

Fedup,

Listen to higney and Airsupport. They actually work here and recount their experiences in an accurate and balanced fashion.

There are advantages and disadvantages associated with working here. Right now the disadvantages grossly tip the scales however things will change drastically for the better when we get a new contract. When we get a contract is the big question and at what expense? We've made it clear that we would all rather strike and risk our jobs than accept a substandard contract. I personally feel that we may be starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel - whether that means a TA or release to strike - but you should by no means count on this.

This industry is cyclical and todays best company could be tomorrows worst, especially in the regional field. If I were choosing where to go, I would not come to Pinnacle as a new hire at this point. There is simply too much uncertainty. However if you are still considering Pinnacle, do some more research on these forums. There is a lot of information in many other threads. Good luck in any case.