not right now. i just talked with one of the head guys in training and they are supposed to upgrade 15 guys every two weeks from here to forever. i thought that was a funny choice of words, but he said that they are going to be hurting for captains real soon, and they are starting now to avoid having to hire street captains. i know the pay would be nice, but it sure would suck being a street captain. you would be at the bottom of the captain seniority list for at least a couple years, while all the fo's are upgrading, you just keep moving to the back of the line. i cant imagine being reserve and having 10 days off a month for 2-3 years!!

 

The other issue may also be the fact that there are not many street capts on the street... A good number of the street capts are ex-independence guys, and with everyone hiring Pinnacolgan may not be the mecca for those qualified.

 

the upgrade mins have not dropped, they are still 3500 reducable to 3000 with 500 in type.

 

this is true. The mins haven't changed yet. Even with these times i am still about 100 away from a captain seniority. but i still need about 800 hours to upgrade.

 

At SKW, upgrade time are:

EMB- Once you have 2500 TT and 1000 121 Crew.
CRJ- Last class that ran had quite a few 18 monthers. I see that time holding firm with the new Midwest flying. We are running a CRJ upgrade class every 3-4.

Usually the RJ classes are a mix of Transition (5-10), Upgrade (20-30) and New Hire (30+). SKW can only train 70 RJ pilots at a time so these numbers are manipulated to achieve 70.

 

Don't you need 3000 to upgrade if your airline fly's international?

 

no...Where did you get that number from???

 

Last I heard Mesa was putting guys in the left seat of the Dash8 off the street...

 

Airline-specific upgrade requirements vary, usually around 2500 total time with some turbine time, but you don't have to get that time at the airline in question...it can come from another 121, 135 op, military, or even 91, as long as you have it. So mesa street captains are not CFI's, they have time from somewhere else.

Also the airline requirements are just that...airline requirements, not FAA requirements. As long as you meet ATP mins (1500 total time and other stuff), the airline can upgrade you.

Foreign operations (excluding Canada) require a couple extra things...
1) SIC type rating for the FO
2) The CA must meet ICAO ATP requirements, which include 1200 hours PIC...this has kept a lot of low time FO's from upgrading at some airlines. Some of them have to go rent cessnas on their days off to get their time up

 

RAH is 2500TT and it has been running around the 2 year mark. Most junior CA upgraded in 23 months.