Turboprop staffing
 

I read an article in the WSJ this past Tuesday (2/4/14) that Great Lakes had stopped flying all together because they do not have enough pilots. I was also told by a new hire FO a few months ago that he turned down a job at Skywest because they were going to put him on the EMB-120. And rumors have been circulating around that Republic is not able to staff the Q400 and that they also have a lot of MX issues with them. Although I do not know how true that rumor is. Last but not least the reduction of the flying out of CLE. I am wondering if that means they will park all turboprops that was flying out of there.

Can some pilots at Republic, Skywest, and Commutair shed some light on whether their airline are able to staff the turboprops?

Well SKW just gave 2 year+ EMB120 FO's a big raise. But we're still staffing them fine.

For many folks it's probably worth a year (two years with the new pay deal) on the Bro in order to have a seniority number at a company with a lot of western bases.

SkyWest raised EMB-120 FO pay to match CRJ-200 FO pay. If you live out west, getting the EMB would be a better deal than commuting to reserve in the CRJ

Their loss. If I didn't live in an RJ base I would still be on the brasilia. I had much better seniority so I was able to hold higher credit lines with more days off. At least the first two and possibly the first 3 years on the brasilia you'll make more than any RJ FO of the same longevity.

I haven't heard of us having many problems with the brasilia classes. There's a new hire class in the training center right now. I have heard that overall we're between 5 and 10 short of the number of people we would like for each class (brasilia and RJ combined).

There's only a minor pilot shortage going on and Great Lakes is the only victim so far. GLA had the worst pay of anybody in the business, and when the ATP rule kicked in the low timers they were using became ineligible. The rest are eeking along in terms of staffing although I hear a few are running on minimums.

CommutAir is doing okay. They can always use more FOs but they have a ton of FOs on reserve who aren't flying much.

Turboprop staffing
 

I heard people skipping 4-5 classes so that they can go a jet class. It's plain stupid. Difference could mean holding a 7 year ca pay vs 7 year FO pay , especially these days where some airlines are moving to a four year FO pay

If only someone could find a way to hide those condition levers on the selfie pictures. People looking at their facebook page would assume it was a jet then we wouldn't have this problem.

Fixed it for you.

Just tell them it's a 4 engine jet...........two and two. :D