how is life @ colgan?
 

as stated, whats the real deal.

You will have to be more specific to get anything substantive. If you are coming from another regional, it won't be as good as that regional more than likely. If you are a CFI, it will be better than instructing more than likely.

thats about as vague as you can get. :D

Just general QOL, managment ( aside from the fatigue letter), runs, bases etc.

Do they fly the Q400 out of Houston or is that just the Saab?

Apply elsewhere!

I believe just the Q is out of houston with the Saabs all in the Northeast along with some more Q's...but of course I'm not sure about that.

I thought it was the other way around

Why is that?

Only Saabs are in IAH right now, August 2010 we start getting 15 more Q's which will be based in IAH. The other 15 and the rest of the Saabs are in the Northeast.

Stick with your Jeep. :cool::cool:

is it really that bad? I figured Houston wouldnt be too horrible for affordability.

I'm sure they are going to send new-hires to the Saab in lovely IAD or somewhere out east, because Im sure current pilots will transition to the Q, because it is an "upgrade" and for the pay increa... Oopps... Never mind.

IAD would be fine by me. 2 hour drive from my house and my wife could keep her job that supports my flying habit

I don't care where I have to go...sadly colgans pay would be an almost 2X income increase for me

x2, Colgan, as pathetic as it is would be a pay increase for me as well. Not to mention a step up from instructing. It may not be the best place to be but it is better than where I am now. I'm sure several CFI's feel that way.

You're a paper boy?


Colgan pay is utterly and completely ridiculous for that size regional. And they have 74 seat planes. Theres just no words. But I can feel that. At the end of the week I was losing money on gas to get to and from work when I was instructing.

Perhaps you gentleman could wait to see the outcome of contract negotiations at Colgan before taking the plunge (I have a feeling that the Colgan MEC will do a good job), that's also assuming they have some resolution some time this year, but who knows with Pinnacle running the show.

A good friend of mine is out there, and he loves the people he flies with, but hates the money and the QOL. I'm sure OJ and others will chime in here soon enough to answer your questions.

I don't know where you instruct but I took a near 50% pay cut to fly "profesionally". I was treated better as an instructor than I am now by my curreent employer. Are you sure you are doing your math correctly? You only make $9,000 a year?

They sent me today this email:

"Good Afternoon,
Colgan Air is now beginning major expansion and will be hiring 150 First Officers in 2010. First Officers are now being hired for both Saab340 and Q400. Domiciles are in the North East and Houston. Minimum requirements are 1000TT and 100 multi. Preferred requirements are 1500TT and 200multi. If you would like to be considered please update your application completely and email Sara Martinez at [email protected] .
Have a great day,
Chuck Colgan "


For those who interested apply ASAP, because first year I cannot afford a crash pad and a life in USA with $16,000 first year salary (because I'm from PuertoRico) =(

Was there ever any fallout over that last fatigue policy memo?

Last year, after billing out around 1000hrs, after taxes, yes, I will "take home" a little over the figure you posted. I instruct at a small FBO in the Midwest. Industry leading pay, we do not have, but for the last 2 years I haven't had any other option if I wanted to keep flying. I was happy to have the job. Now I am hoping to move on. It may not be the best place, but for many of us our options are limited, and it is a step in the direction we want to go.

If you want to fly I say apply but here is a little food for thought.... I worked part time at Walmart changing tires and oil for seven months... during those seven months I made just over 7k... I flew about 950 hrs this year... grossed 28.5k with 108 days off before I add in Walmart which drops my true days off during those 7 months to 4 and my total for the year to 46.
No I didn't make this up.... this is the reality of the situation...

Do your homework, apply at a respectable airline with a decent contract and work rules.

Flight instructing looking for your first job can make you extremely narrow minded. Take your time and find the right fit it will pay off in the future.

Does anyone know what the interview is like? Any gouge would help. At this point i feel like any 121 airline is the right place. The turbin time and the 121 time is all they care about at the majors. It would be a step up from anything right now.

You worked as a CFI for $9/hour for 2 years?

So you're going to go from the crappiest paying CFI job in the world to the crappiest paying airline job in the world. Make sense.

I did better then expected for 09 as well. I credited over guarantee quite a few times. It's a whole different experience when you live where your based too!

I would tell anyone who thinks of taking a swing at the job to go for it. If it's not for you, at least you can walk away with some training and a few new contacts and maybe even a new friend or three.

Isn't there a 1 year training contract?

Anyone who wants you to sign a contract probably ain't worth working for.

Good advice for any company undergoing negotiations. Particularly true for a group seeking its first contract.

They do not make you sign a contract anymore. You're in the clear.

Colgan gets you:

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...a-turban-4.jpg

Turban Time!!

Suggest you get your facts straight and stop taking crap just for the sake of talking crap. There are many regionals with less pay for the equiptment than Colgan, Great Lakes, Lynx, Gulfstream, CommutAir, and Mesa to name a few. I know those airlines are not the "gold standard" of airlines but lets not act like Colgan is the worst, you just like to bash Colgan.

Colgan is improving by the day when it comes to scheduling and work rules, although we have a long way to go and continue to make strides in negotiations.

Since our union has been working with management we have been able to totally revamp our scheduling/bidding practices. No more are the days of upgrading and not knowing your base assignment untill after upgrade, we now know the base before hand and have the option to turn the upgrade down for a later date. This was never before the case, you either took the upgrade or you were blacklisted.

We can bid build up line with preferences and all lines are reviewed by the scheduling committee before being sent out to the pilots, no more 9-10 leg days. Base changes are now done through a vacancy bid, whereas before it was done by whomever kissed the most butt and then got the base they wanted. People senior to others always got stepped over for base changes because of this. This is no longer the case with vacancy bids.

The schedules are better as well. Before, your schedule would be a mix of 4 days, day trips, morning shows, evening shows, and reserve with a possible standup in order to keep the credit down. This is no longer the case as our schedules are reviewed beforehand by the union. We also now have online trip trade/open time.

These are just a few things we have acheived without a CBA. This was done with the hard work of our scheduling committee and others.

Out MEC is working hard to improve things for the pilot group and I believe the Colgan in 2 years will not resemble the Colgan we know today.

Those are some pretty impressive improvements considering what you guys had before. Hope it just continues to get better for you guys.

It will! Guaranteed......and ALPA is the reason!

ALPA is not the reason... the reason is the people who donate their time and efforts to make CJC ALPA what it is. Of course ALPA gives the guidance and structure but without our pilots putting in the work we would have zilch...

Good point. ALPA (or any other union) is only as good as the local level.

You can't pay the bills with turbine time guy. As for your uniformed opinion about turbine time and the majors, I know guys with thousands of hours of turbine PIC that are still at the regionals. Turbine time is no sure ticket to the majors. It is possible you may never see the right seat at a major. Worry about going to an airline that you could stand to be at for a while. Don't chase fast upgrades and "turbine time".

Well, would say that when the hiring starts again, piston time will get him looked at before the guys with thousands of hours of turbine PIC that you speak of?

And nope, we don't need to argue the merits of a guy flying 135 single pilot piston freight. If you (or anybody else) wants to take the thread in that direction, you're just wasting band width.

I think you missed his point.

Colgan is not the WORLDS Crappiest paying job, they are working on a contract give them a chance to evolve. Remember lakes pays less!:rolleyes:

This is the exact reason our industry is crap right now. I have always been of the opinion that if we improve pay and QOL for instructors then that will force the 121, 135, etc. operators to raise their wages and improve their work rules.

I wish Colgan pilots the best of luck in getting a better contract, although based on the history of Colgan and Pinnacle I wont hold my breath.

Turbine SIC doesnt do a damn thing for you except increase your total time.