Isn't Piedmont really fat on FO's? Does anyone think maybe they are holding off on furloughs for a reason, i.e. the possibilty of more flying soon? Seems kind of odd that they would remain stacked like that when Mainline and PSA are furloughing unless they expect to be able to use the pilots at some point.

People have been grasping for any little clue that indicated something big was coming at PDT for the past year and a half that i've been here. Biggest thing since then is EFBs that we got for free, woo.. I'm not trying to dash anyone's hopes, but it was the exact same thing last year, people over-analyzing things trying to figure out what this or that meant as to when we were going to get Q400s or ATRs.

Speaking of the EFB's any word on when they will start to be installed, or if the Satphones will be doing the OOOI inputs?

EFB's? Do we even have a vendor selected?

As for us being overstaffed. Just my 2 cents but if we do not get out to PHX soon, I think we could start to see furloughs. I think the VLOA was a test to see how much we need to cut. I don't think they will be big but I think you could see some furloughs here in the next year if things don't change. Hopefully not cause I like workin here and the crews are great but something has got to give soon.

Does anybody know how many Dash's are operated out in PHX? Someone told me it is only around 8 anyways.

I dont know that's why I asked, even being based in SBY i try to stay away from the hanger, and I do believe 8 or 10 is correct there currently is only 7 or 8 dash destinations out of phx right now.

I heard 5.

Well, I don't know how many Dashes fly out of PHX, but even if it is 8, that's one more crew base and 8 more airplanes than we have now. Mesa has 16 Dashes total, but some of those are flown for United (I'm not sure how many).

Yeah it seems like nobody can figure out why we're so fat on pilots in general. Even some very senior check airmen are very puzzled by it. Alas, none of them have any answers either. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we don't need to furlough. I'd say as spring approaches there's going to be more flying which means more lines, more line holders, and fewer people on reserve. That still doesn't bring us down to traditional Piedmont staffing, but it's closer.

And FWIW, I think the ATR is a decent airplane, but it's not a great airplane. Right now Piedmont operates a great airplane that's versatile and efficient. The ATR might be efficient, but it's nowhere near as versatile. It's just not as much of a pilot's airplane.

Well, if PHX is run with only 5-8 aircraft, I think we could probably increase our utilization of aircraft on the east coast freeing up 5-8 aircraft. I don't think PHX would require more aircraft, just use the ones we have better. It would realign the old PDT way of operating on bare minimums and not require any real initial investment of money.

You all are putting way too much thought into this.

lol it's all we got.