West coast skywest
 

Good afternoon, I'm really trying to weigh options... skywest CRJ classes are available a lot sooner than ERJ... However, I live in the Northwest and ERJ bases are are closer. I will be commuting either way but everyday waiting on a class is seniority lost. I also have a family and would like to see them. I'd like some input if anyone has some. I get there are is a lot of give and take but with those in mind I am thinking of a sooner CRJ class. Thanks in advance.

You can take the CRJ then go to the ERJ when your seat lock is up...but yes every month is 120 people in front of you...

Just out of curiosity, what is the difference in wait time between the ERJ and CRJ?

Sent from my BND-L34 using Tapatalk

SFO is not a bad commute. I do it from EUG without much of a problem, outside of this month because of the construction. ERJ upgrade times are longer, and ERJ CA on the west coast is much more senior than CRJ CA. On the CRJ you will hold a line quicker, and be able to upgrade quicker. A lot of ERJ FO's move over to the CRJ for upgrade because of how long the wait is for ERJ upgrade.

They didn’t say, just that it was a pretty big gap.

Skywest hires 120 pilots a month?!

Yes sir. CRJ classes 50-58 (58 is the target) every 2.5 weeks. ERJ 20-30 every month... Currently 56 in CRJ ground almost done ground, 36 in a CPT class, 20 ERJ almost done ground, and 10 ERJ just started yesterday. 53 CRJ NH’s start systems monday..

Thats just ground..


---------------------------------------
August 1 2019 size: 5127
September 1 2019 size: 5191
CA gone: 31
FO gone: 33
Total: 64

August was 128 hired. Lost 64. Net change +64 on the list..

If the Majors are your end game....then take the seniority and quickest path to upgrade. If you need hours...start ASAP.....but more importantly you need Turbine PIC hours ASAP. Family is ALWAYS the priority......but part of family is sacrifice for the future success of the family.

ERJ ground school is going to be getting bumped to 40 people a class from it 20-30 it is now. Don't know the time line on when that will happen, but that is the plan. They are also working on a ERJ CA short course, similar to the CRJ CA short course. Once again, no time line on that either.

There also saving ERJ spots in January after the holidays for Compass pilots....

Compass is not even trying to find replacement flying at this time so I hope the Compass pilots take advantage of the opportunity. It could be they are not trying because they already have something lined up but cannot announce it, but I would not rely on that theory. Maybe they have some nice 50 seaters from somewhere? What happened to those Great Lakes planes?

Depends what you're doing currently. I.e., do you have a job that you can continue to work until an ERJ class date. Frankly, I'd go ERJ if I was anywhere west of SLC at this point, especially if you're in the Northwest. If you go CRJ, you'll probably wanna be DTW, ORD, MSP, maybe DEN, if you want to fly and not ever get called on reserve in places like SFO, COS, FAT--at least from what I've been told; someone might disagree. In DTW and ORD, you could get a line fast. I don't know about the ERJ, but with the new Delta stuff, seems like SEA is blowing up (relatively) and could be a good spot for new ERJ guys soon.

Seems like out of ERJ training you could get a west coast base, or ORD at the very least for a month or two, but that being said, I'm not in the ERJ training dept, so I really don't know for sure, just observations. Good luck!

My experience has been very different. I finished training in June and was on reserve for two weeks in FAT. Line holder since July.