Agreed...You won't upgrade quick here LoL

 

Care to share the ones that address my concerns?

 

This is something I have pondered very carefully, and have informally surveyed numerous SKW captains who are senior to me. There are a lot of ten year+ guys who swear they are never leaving...I think a large percentage of them really mean it. This puts me in the dilemma of being very junior in the west forever or commuting east.

Assuming the regional industry stays mostly status quo (little or no growth) I suspect a jet upgrade at SKW might be ten years for today's new hire. Good chance of quicker upgrade on the EMB, assuming that they don't get rid of them like they keep threatening to. That might be five years or even less.

The rumored massive mainline retirements and pilot shortage will only help the situation if there are no economic or other industry crises. Also be aware that if the CA's don't move on to mainline, they will have to hire regional FO's...you might see guys at SKW who would like to upgrade but are not moving because all the mainline hiring attrition is happening below them! If mainline starts hiring FO's in a wholesale fashion they will have to shift their selection process to be less focused on flight time and more focused on the whole person. In this scenario a mediocre human being who has lots of flight time might lose out to a an FO with 1000 RJ SIC hours, a college degree, good grades, and extracurricular/volunteer activities (and a winning personality).

I am particularly concerned about oil...as the global economy warms up that is headed on one direction only.

Basically it's going to be a balance between mainline hiring/regional attrition vs. oil prices.

 

I remember the last question on the survey asking if you supported SAPA in its current form, a certified SAPA, ALPA, or other legal representation. I think the largest support was for a certified SAPA.

 

Great! So whats the hold up?

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

Seems like SAPA is dropping the ball. The pilots want them to be their representative organization AND have all the legal rights and abilities to do so under the RLA, yet SAPA is shelving the issue for no legitimate reason.

Seems like a great organization to be the leaders of the SKW pilots.

 

Who's money?

Maybe because there is a true conflict of interest. Who pays for Sapa to do its work? If our company wanted to comply with this survey, they could send a letter to the NMB next business day letting them know that they recognize sapa as the legal bargaining agent for the Skywest pilots. But somehow I have a feeling that their mantra of not wanting to go against their pilots' will is all BS.

 

Our lack of it. 2% of the 26k I grossed on 3rd year pay ain't gonna go to far when a certified SAPA has to pay lawyers when chipaway decides to not follow our policy er uh suggestion manual.

 

I think you'd be making a big mistake leaving for SkyWest. Upgrade for those at the bottom of the list is a long, long, long time away.

Junior EMB captain just awarded is at nearly 4 1/2 years seniority, with another 900 pilots junior to him. We only have 200 or so EMB captains. Junior RJ captain just awarded has nearly 1300 pilots junior to him. Even come 2013, if we lose 30 pilots a month, it will take a long time to move up the list.