Are these managements pilot who only fly once per cycle and then work in the office the rest of the month or are they true part time pilots who only fly once per cycle and then get the rest of the month off?

It is true part time. Like I said though, this is typically worked on an individual basis with management.


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No one in my class joined without intending on upgrading and every single FO is quitting because the company has driven us out.

Hi

Isnt there a 18 months contract ?
If yes, FO are still taking the risk to leave or they pay the prorated balance ?

There is still an 18 month contract for FOs. The history of the company deciding to recoupe that money if an employee leaves is a mixed bag. It is prorated.


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They wanted the money from me.

If you want to be a scumbag it's apparently really easy to scare them into forgiving it because it's not exactly on the sturdiest legal ground.

that may not have been true for your class, and its unfortunate that your classmates feel that way. personally, ive heard people flat out say they're only here to build the time.

it is true, this company is different than it was 5 or even 3 years ago. Pace is faster, demand is higher, personnel shifts in all departments show signs of growing pains. but no one is being "driven out." I don't think any operator would purposely put the screws to someone in order to drive the attrition rate.

that being said, it seems like the money making opportunities and differences in QOL that the regionals are advertising really make someone think long and hard about doing another peak season. again, I don't blame someone in that regard for looking elsewhere.

grass is always greener, matter of perspective, etc. etc...

What is it that's driving people away, other than more lucrative opportunities on larger equipment?

Biggest thing is the schedule. I had one day where they wanted me to airline at 5AM (so up and out of bed by 1), land in Boston, get a rental car, drive an hour and a half to Portsmouth, pick up an airplane, pack catering/preflight etc in 20 minutes to fly a 4 leg day with 20 minute turns in a plane with no autopilot or flight director. This was probably the most egregious example but not unusual by any means. Management pilots wouldn't change anything after I called them about the situation. We're constantly set up to be late (I've had 3 minute turns scheduled before), which means we're constantly dealing with angry pax. I've flown 3-4 6-7 leg full duty days in a row, getting minrested every night. I've had them pull crew meals and not eaten from noon until midnight because they ran the schedule too tight to find food on our own. Scheduling will consistently break company policy (NOT the regs) to make the schedule work. They're not a bad company but they're severely understaffed and doing absolutely nothing to improve pilot retention. Only 1/4 of the FO's stick around long enough to upgrade. Captains that were one class away from the jet have left. Jet captains have left. The seniority list got massacred over the time I was there. Like I said, we were down to 44 line captains for the -12, with 35 airplanes. You do the math.

If you're a low time pilot and you're sick of flight instruction, it's a great change of pace and a good way to get some real world flying skills before moving on to bigger and better things. It's not a place to anticipate making a career at.

PSM crew cycles in general are a mixed bag. Since they generally don't have to airline to aircraft, one can expect a full 8 days of flying. That being said, its not uncommon to be home at least once during the cycle. There isn't much home standby any more, so if you come back to PSM mid cycle expect to go back out next day.