3greens

Hey all.

I am awaiting a new class date with Pinnacle. I heard they cancelled their October 6 class and all other classes for the rest of the year! Any idea when they are expected to come back up?

Because from what I hear, they are already short of people, and then with the delivery of these 6/7 Freedom 900's.. one would have imagined that they would be running classes at this time.

I was told january 2 weeks back.. but do u guys think it might happen sooner?
Also does anyone really know what the main reason for cancelling classes was? They told everyone it had to do with the Merger.. but someone else mentioned to me that it had to do with a packed training house in Memphis, and not having enough training strength due to displacements and upgrades etc for the 900 Atlanta openings. But if upgrades etc r happening.. then wont there be a vaccuum at the 200's? For that filling, I guess theyll have to start hiring or should i say start classes back up!

Some one on the other thread also mentioned that rumor had it that classes will come back up real soon with the delivery of these airplanes. So just thot id enquire if anyone shared the same views or knew anything solid.

And yeh i understand that even IF these freedom airplanes are temporary.. we are still expecting to recieve our delivery part of the delta contract starting jan anyway. So how would it hurt pinnacle to start the new hire classes up again and rite now, and even if these freedom 900's leave in dec , theyll still have their planes coming in starting jan.

Shed some more light anyone>?

Sherwood80

I realize I am about to compare different airlines, but my buddy and I got hired at Piedmont, and were told last April, no later than a few weeks of being offered a class date, that it would be the middle of June. A few weeks later, July. Then August. Then September. Now Spring of 09. The point I am trying to get across is that the industry is so out of wack right now, don't put all your eggs into Pinnacle. Who knows, they might call you in two weeks and change their minds; but keep your current job, and my recommendation is not to hold your breath.

I took the summer off, studying and preparing for the upcoming class I was in. Mistake. Now I have another job while I wait. I recommend you do the same, buddy. Good luck!

Reds

3greens, Spoke with HR yesterday and verified Sept 22nd is the last new hire class of 2008 and I could expect a class in 1stQtr 2009. I’ve had BabyRuth’s thrown in three hiring pools since Feb, the economy stinks right now. I see the MAIN (not the single) causes of economy/credit crisis and oil prices being the Community Reinvestment Act and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (i.e. Enron loophole), respectively. A little research shows today’s problems didn’t happen overnight, been festering for years and years.
“In 2002 Kathleen C. Engel and Patricia A. McCoy published a study of the predatory lending implications of the CRA, noting that by the late 1990s, predatory high cost mortgages to ‘gullible borrowers’ were leading to foreclosures against low-income people” source Wikipedia: Community Reinvestment Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carter and Clinton made it possible for people to get in over their heads and Bush’s Housing Enterprise Oversight office didn’t help by allowing Fannie and Freddie to go wild - End of Offbase Ranting

I’m curious as well if new hire classes are on hold b/c training is swamped with transition classes and/or the company is simply going to run as thin as possible thru the winter? Sounds like Pinnacle pilots on this forum hint that the later is history repeating itself. What I’ve heard from others and from reading this forum, there would not be enough transition classes to clog the training dept, then again Pinn management is likely still up in the air about the DAL/NWA merger. I’m optimistic (or naïve as some might see it) that the shortage of FO’s will be recognized and new hire class will spool up.

Can any Pinnacle guys provide insight on how long the training department will be busy with transition classes?

norskman2

The closed thread below does a pretty job of running through all the various rumors and theories.
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/re...g-classes.html

- Every fall Scheduling thinks we're overstaffed and drops classes, then in the Spring we're short and they frantically try to add people

- Packed training house? That's a big negative. A lot of the 900 training does not happen here in MEM.

- Merger? Who knows.

- How they're going to staff the Freedom planes that quickly seems to be a mystery even with the TDY to CVG. ATL had been staffed at 7-to-1. Maybe they're going to trim that down.

So yes, it would seem they would have to start up training fairly quickly, and I don't even understand why they cancelled the classes in the first place.

Sit tight. Keep your hopes up. Adding another 7 airframes, they HAVE to start training again sooner or later. Whether it will be sooner than January is anyone's guess.

norskman2

Transition classes don't seem to be the issue, as most of the differences training is done in YUL, and there are quite a few instructors in MEM just sitting around these days.

BTW, that was a beautiful, succinct, thankfully non-partisan and dead-on rant.

Reds

Thanks for the info norskman2

3greens

thanx so much for the valuable update and info norskman2!

av8sean

With FO's leaving monthly for ATL, we're starting to become very understaffed in the NW bases.. which will only get worse once bad weather starts and people time out for the year. I hope the last two new-hire classes come online in the NW system instead of going directly to ATL, but who knows.

trackpilot

I'm def kicking my self in the ass for not applying sooner...

fjetter

Just throwing this out there...maybe they plan on parking some of those NW aircraft (they're all 200's right?). If they park em then they don't need people to fly them. This is just a long shot guess and I hope for 9E's sake I'm wrong.