Reserve CA here...flown over 50 hours halfway through this month. We have TDY's going on....summer schedule bearing down on us. Still no classes coming through. I figure we can increase line hours on the CA side (not FO), but if our marketing hours increase this Summer, it will be tough to survive with the current staffing. Prob. is, we'd have to hire now to be ready by the summer. Looks like lots of JR. Mans/Xtensions coming! U think we try to push through this year w/ current staffing? Some places are beginning to hire. I say we will have to hire by the summer...of course, we may wait until it's an emergency (ie. cancelled flights) if the past is any indication.

 

We have an extremely high number of JA/EXT assignments being handed out (even for 9E). Multiple days/weekends of premium pay, 90 hour lines..... We need to hire, but I haven't heard a tip off as to when.

 

I know we're bringing a few more check airmen on...maybe just in case?

 

I was actually thinking about staffing the other day. I completely agree that we are short, and it is apparently getting worse. Even the CrewTrac message said that FOs should expect higher line values. I am not sure how they plan to go higher when my January line was 92 hours block with 10 days off, but I guess that is the plan. With the latest TDY sending FOs out of DTW, it could get really interesting around here if/when we pick up hours for summer.

That said, we still have some time to get a class in. It takes just over 2 months to get people online. This means that an April 1 class would be in OE for June's flying. Considering how many people are on the street, they could announce a class for 2 weeks from now and it would be full. My entire application process was 10 days in 2008. That is from sending in a resume, to being in class.

I certainly hope we hire, but I wouldn't expect anything to start till late March or April. They will just continue to depend on people picking up open time and extending/JAing when needed.

 

who did you hear this from?

 

If pinnacle people really wanted pinnacle to hire, this is what they would do.

1. If there is a TDY, dont take it for your own personal satisfaction - make them displace people for the month.
2. Don't pick up any open time - I know some f/o's and captains for that matter are living paycheck to paycheck but these are the facts of life.
3. Fly the contract
4. Repeat steps 1-3 often

None of this will ever happen of course because of selfishness and our lack of unity, but if people did want to get those 30 displaced captains and new hires back this is what they would do.

My personal prediction is that this place will not hire any time soon.

 

our company via memo

 

Hiring at the regional level requires one of 3 things to happen...

1) Industry movement. Its not happening anywhere else, is it happening at Pinnacle?

2) Growth. Not aware of Pinnacle getting any more flying. Where are you in comparison to your highest flying level since hiring stopped?

3) Changes in manning requirements. New rest rules might do this, new contract might do this, etc, but I don't think anything like this has happened to Pinnacle.


Then again, in the low times for the industry, its usually only the bottom feeders that are hiring. So if anyone starts, I wouldn't be surprised if Pinnacle was one of them.

 

Besides your lack on knowledge on how the industry works when it comes to hiring, nice slam on Pinnacle. Eagle is hiring as well, guess they are bottom feeders too, or maybe you are just jealous some places are hiring while you are collecting your unemployment check. People die, quit, get fired, eventually, they need to be replaced, that could be a reason. Delta gave Pinnacle 1000 more hours of flying in March than they had in Feb and its only looking like it will increase as summer grows closer, maybe thats a reason to hire. Really riles me up for you to call us bottom feeders when we rejected a TA with subpar pay as well as many other below average agreements. We are trying to pull the regional pilots up, not bring them down.

 

Its pretty simple really. The places with the worst contracts have the highest turnover and therefore greatest hiring. Pinnacle has one of the worst contracts out there, and as it stands is a bottom feeder. Its a dig on the company, not on the pilots. I applaud you guys for trying to improve things and hope you do.

Now, hiring, I'm interested in. I'm furloughed so I really pay attention to this stuff. I have no interest in going to Pinnacle but I have a lot of interest in industry movement. Its good for everybody.

Now as far as the flying hours go, month to month changes don't mean much. I just asked a buddy of mine over there and he said that March '10 hours are 7% less than March '09 hours. So yes, flying may be going up, but you guys still did much more with the same number of pilots last year and hiring wasn't happening then either.

So, sadly, it still doesn't look like theres any reason to believe that Pinnacle will hire unless something changes within the company/industry/economy or theres something I don't know about here.

Oh, btw, no need to be so harsh. Also, Eagle has a significant number of airplanes on the way.