Fastest way back to SLC/upgrade?
 

Gang,

Got the call today. Just FYI, class date are out to JUNE 2020. If you have all the req's met they are saying they have been getting people started in about two months. We shall see...

The ERJ seems like a cool airplane -- easy to fly, comfortable, etc, but at 51 (~5000hrs and some jet time) I'm looking for the quickest path to upgrade and back to SLC. I understand it can be a bit fluid, but I've heard that the CRJ is currently the ticket (plus some cool flying opps like ASE). Is this good intel?

Thanks!

There is about to be much less CRJ and much more ERJ flying out of SLC once the DL consolidation goes into effect...
you could always start on the CRJ and move to the ERJ later on.

SLC is going to take a while to get into either way though..
Upgrade.... many years.

Gonna have to exercise patience to on that mission!

Monthly awards are coming out today and tomorrow.
Jr SLC Captain award was hired 15 years ago.... as of tomorrow. He was a transition from CRJ Captain to ERJ Captain.
No CRJ captain awards into SLC..... but they're still going through the awards so to quote Lloyd Christmas "you're saying there's a chance"
Jr FO award is an 8/13/2019 hire.... in other words not even done with ERJ sim yet.

Jr Captain award overall was a 8/6/2019 CRJ New hire. Not even done with SIM and awarded DTW CRJ Captain.
Jr ERJ Captain hired 9/2015 to BOI

To say the least. I was nowhere SLC CA when I left after 10+ years.

Also don't forget that to get awarded SLC CA, you have to be bald, or shave your head. I think it's in the PPM somewhere.

(Kidding, of course... But hang out in the SLC crew room long enough and you'll see what I mean...)

Take it in too because it's the best crew room in all our bases

Take it in while you can because who knows where or how nice the new crew room will be once the airport reconstruction is done.



One thing that needs to be understood at Skywest is that what airplane you get as an FO has no bearing on what airplane you upgrade on.
It may help make the upgrade easier in an airplane you've already flown and are comfortable with than it is to upgrade into a different one, but there are plenty of pilots that started on the Brasilia and upgraded into the CRJ or even ERJ. The tougher move was to start as a CRJ FO and attempt upgrade as an E-120 Captain.

Where you are based as an FO also has no bearing on where you upgrade.
Once you get a base in any seat, as long as that base stays open that seat is yours. Displacements are in the Policy manual, but I don't know of any instance where a jr guy has been pushed out of a base due to a sr guy getting forcibly moved because of a base closure.

Cool, I have that one covered. ;) I guess I should have asked the question differently, or maybe in two parts:

1) Which airframe is going to be the quickest route back to SLC as an FO?
and
2) Which is the fastest to upgrade? I understand SLC is super senior for CA, just trying to make a good decision to get started.

What I've been told elsewhere is with the ERJ expanding at SLC (at the expense of the CRJ) that getting back to SLC and holding a line one the ERJ is likely the quicker route. Thoughts?

ERJ seems the quickest way to SLC all the “senior” SLC guys will be retiring the next 10 years... so things will change. But you have to be patient and prepared to wait for it if thats what you choose...

Get hired by DL.

How much do 15 year captains make at Skywest?? That’s a long time to wait for SLC

Thanks for all the input, gang. So I finally figured it out. The ERJ is the better route for me. Ironically when I emailed my recruiter and told her about the switch my start date is looking like it will be accelerated substantially over the CRJ. Looking forward to getting going!

for a bit it dropped down to a 3-4 year upgrade in SLC on the CRJ. but i think that ship has sailed for now.

right now the 175 plug is right at 5 years
CRJ is just under 4 years

Newhire ERJ FOs are getting assigned SLC. It will take a while longer as a CRJ FO.

Captain in SLC. LOL. I'm nearing 20 years and am nowwhere near being senior here.

Ya. 20 years gets you biding 60% as a SLC Captain.. Or Top 5% anywhere east of Denver....

Just throwing this out there... but I held a blank line [like composite with SkyW] in LAS six months out of new-hire with Southwest. In a couple years my FO rates will be in excess of what I was making as a SkyW captain. Automatic 15% retirement contribution from the company. Schedule flexibility like you wouldn't believe. Lots of guys have made the jump who had 20+ years with SkyW. If you havhaven'te at least considered the move, I'd highly recommend it. That commute out of SLC to OAK or LAS isn't tough.

Easier said than done... but that’s the dream!