Nah, its "Express". Continental is the only airline that slams props by calling them "connection" while their RJ regionals for CAL are the highly touted "Express"

US Airways and United call all regionals "Express"....but then again United has the ExPlus as well..

 

............

 

You are absolutely correct. I was in error. I had the wrong tail number in mind and didn't go back to the picture. I stand corrected.

And for the rest of my comment:

Put it in your contract, get the flying back, negotiate a pay scale for a 34 pax TP (has there been one at a mainline since 1980?), and you will have your wish. I just hope any of your buddies whose resume you forward are willing to start on a puddle jumper.

any comment on that????

 

The MEC is too busy tying up resources to deal with petty issues like MX repos. And we still have crews being suspended/fired for safety of flight issues. The MEC and ALPA lawyers assigned to CJC, just keep selling pilots down the river.

 

This happened also in PIT in 2006 after the crew returned to the field when the hydraulic pumps failed after takeoff. The pumps came back on after they landed so they decided to taxi back to the gate, which was a mistake because they simply failed again on the way back. They went into the ditch and the IAD picture looks pretty much identical to how the Saab ended up in PIT.

 

I think all the jobs should be mainline jobs. If it say United and has the UA logo those should be UA employees. No reason the 340 couldn't be an ab initio fleet. Having two hiring funnels. Those with less experience get routed to the TP fleet. Applicants that have better experience get the jet path. All have the same seniority so they move up as they get time. Once a threshold of say 1,500 hours (assuming the FAA caves on raising the experience) they would be able to bid any position their seniority could hold.

How is NOT having those jobs at mainline bad for an express pilot? Did you really want to have to be hired TWICE to get a mainline job? Once a regional and then again at the major. It makes the path much better for the express pilots as it doesn't limit their earnings to a 30-64 seat airplane. It opens up the entire gamut of aircraft and pay rates to you. I am not sure why you don't like that idea? Of course you are not having your job outsourced. Once you get replaced by the next lowest bidder I suspect your tune might change. But if you are at Colgan I am guessing that may not happen for obvious reasons.

L

 

How about requiring at least one A&P on the flight deck for taxi and run up, since there
aren't many Joe Petroni's on staff.

 

I think the last part of Josh's comment was a little slam on the old mainline guys that let the RJ go to the regionals because they were too little to fly for mainline.

 

I never said MEC. However as a voting member of that MEC I disagree with your overall statement.

I would be more than happy to discuss these issues with you via email or telephone. This, however, is not the venue.


In unity,
Brett Smithling
[email protected]

 

I don't know where you get the "too good to fly the RJ's". At UA the majority of pilots wanted the RJ's on our property. We had a rouge MEC Chairman (Mike Glawe) that made the pitch to the MEC that the company could either buy RJ's or 400's but not both. The MEC voted to add the widebodies and allow RJ's. This was letting the camel in the tent. I think at the time of the agreement we had 57 400's. The fleet now stands at 26, that doesn't count all the 737's, 727's that are no longer flying our colors either. The MEC Chairman during our bankruptcy (Paul Whiteford) signed the 70 seat deal behind the backs of the entire MEC. At no point did I or the remaining UAL pilots get to vote on whether or not we got to fly the RJ's.

What became of this murders row of MEC chairman? How did they atone for their actions toward the pilots they hurt so much? They along with a 400 Captain by the name of Jerry Gallud sued ALPA for additional funds from our BK exit agreement. That is right these guys are such good people they sued and settled for 4 million bucks. Read it and weep here: FindACase™ | Mansfield v. Air Line Pilots Association International These guys are pariahs and outcast, deservedly so.


You guys like to make the argument that we think we are too good to fly those jets. Nothing could be farther from the truth and it seems that it is used as an excuse to stroke your own ego. Grow up and realize that if those jobs are all mainline it benefits everyone.

L