Originally Posted by USMCFLYR

USMCFLYR,
Business relies on Managers to run companies. Our country relies on Leaders to run the Military. Furthermore, business by necessity is profit driven and that is the end goal of the business. Ethically managed, this is a good thing. In contrast, the military is clearly a non profit enterprise for those serving, the end goal requires loyalty as virtually everyone serving in todays military voluntarily signed a check to Uncle Sam with a value that includes "upto and including my life". There is a significant difference as you well know. Often, military folks like ourselves entering the market fail to recognize these simple facts. It is normal.

Off the pointy end, leadership and your loyalty as a Marine will permit you and the leadership to drop peace time rules to complete a real world mission. We have pressed weather, equipment problems to serve the Marines/Sailors/Soldiers/Airmen on the ground. Leadership is pleased, the mission was successful. However, In the FRS/RTU, you would say "no reason to die for a training scenario" with bad wx or equipment problems just to get an 'X'.

In the professional flying business, managers want the mission complete at maximum profit. That is all. It is fair, it is business. If they need to furlough you, it will be done. It is not the mission of the company to provide you a career, paycheck etc. unless you are can provide profit. It is simply part of the business equation to have your services enhance the business abilty to make profit. You presence is a negotiated business decision with the aim to provide the business maximum profit. Thus, we must approach a civilian job with the same interest and focus as the managers. You need to look out for the best interest of your family at maximum benefit. It is a business transaction. Loyalty is left out of that equation in the business world.
Personally, when I left active duty, I was dubious of pilot unions. However, learned quickly that pilot unions, as imperfect as we are, are the best way of enhancing a transacted business deal with my company (a collective bargaining agreement 'CBA" or simply, the contract).

So keep your loyalty intact, just direct it squarely at your family, not a corporate entity. However, as the majority of my fellow aviators do daily across the spectrum, we proudly conduct ourselves professionally at our companies. No conflict. Just properly placed priorities.

Originally Posted by fjetter

This is just a random question as I'm not sure what SKW policies are with seatlock, transition, etc.

At SKW if you see you are getting close to an upgrade in about say 6-12 months and you currently are on the jet, can you transition to the EMB as an FO? Then once you have the seniority you can make the right to left transition easier (a/c familiarity-wise).

I'm not sure if you have the same bases for equipment as that would obviously be an issue in making that decsion. Just some food for thought.

Originally Posted by SaltyDog

I think that this goes beyond military vs. corporate mentality. I'm certainly not advocating blind loyalty to any person or organization. However, I'm just advocating "doing the right thing." Companies can and do sacrifice their employees for short-term profits, and there are selfish/self-centered people out there who do not care about anyone else except themselves. This is all fine and dandy in the short-term, but in the long-term it WILL come back to bite you. For example, APC has numerous threads about the merits of working for a good company like "ABC" because they treat their people well and the pitfalls of working for "bottom-feeder" airlines like "XYZ" because they do the opposite. By the same token, if you're one of these "me-first, hell with the rest of the world" types, then people will eventually pick up on that and they won't go out of their way to help you, and doors of opportunity will be closed to you. As far as this incident with SKW is concerned, I don't think that any one individual or faction should be blamed. Rather, the summation of all of the previously mentioned sins equals an organizational mentality that raises a big red flag in my mind.

Originally Posted by boilerpilot

Unfortunately, you have them mixed up. Any FO to any CA is upgrade training, which would fall under 11a. 11c is a little more complicated, since if I remember correctly, it barely even applies to SKW. SKW, I believe, trains all it's jet captains on all of its jets (since they're all CRJs) and gives you differences trainings. However, let's pretend that they only trained you on the CRJ200, and you would have to bid a CRJ700 slot. The training to the CR7 would be transition training.

To summarize, upgrade training=upgrading to a CA position that you don't already have a class of ATP for.

Originally Posted by TonyWilliams

b. No "training" during a sim checkride. For FO training, if during the checkride you screw up, the examiner can have you repeat the failed maneuver. Not in the captain checkride (although, I'll say that I know that this policy is selectively applied... I didn't get any "do-overs").