IFLYPLANEZBRO

Ah yes the classic "I'm a superior pilot" syndrome. That's right offline you had to do a much more difficult interview and you did IOE in one local. God you are so badass! You probably didn't even have to study in class. You were just born with the knowledge you needed....
No dude IOE is still 40-50 hours like it always was and people are still being turned down in the interview. We still have good pilots coming in just like we always did.

zondaracer

Hmmmm, washout rate in my class was 8%.

Crazy Canuck

SkyWest has always tried to be selective in their hiring process. They look for a certain kind of character and good flying skills in the interview process and try not to hire those who don't meet their criteria. Recently they've laxed on the flying skills part (hence why training failures have really gone up) but it sounds like maybe they are still turning people down for other reasons, which is good. We don't want to be like Mesa or PSA who hire everyone who walks through their doors

Cruz5350

From the check airman that I'm friends with it sounds like the average is 50 hours and occasionally it hits 100, but 50 sounds very common. That 50 is sometimes not always the students fault... I waited 6 weeks for IOE so for someone who has never done this before that's a long period of sitting around. I've also heard some guys are getting standups for IOE... You're certainly not going to learn much on those trips. So when I hear 100 hours of IOE I take it with a grain of salt and try not to pass judgment on someone's ability to do this job, it honestly might not be their fault it took that long.

Crazy Canuck

Not defending offline, because he's wrong, but there are a lot more people taking 100 hours of IOE. I've talked to many captains, including Check airmen, and they have noticed a significant increase in very weak pilots.

That's not to say they won't get better...I was incredibly weak when I began flying multi turbine aircraft too, but previously they (and even myself when I was new...) may not have been hired.

Cruz5350

And I'll add to it that our check airman are getting burned out too. These guys are doing non stop IOE, that's a lot of work flying every trip for months on end where you might be basically single pilot. I'm not saying it's an excuse but maybe some of them are just not as fresh as they were when times weren't so busy.

GravyRobber

Nobody forces anyone to live in CA. There are plenty of bases elsewhere. IAH comes to mind. Very cheap living, and live in base. Personally, I choose to commute because I enjoy a much higher standard of living where I live as opposed to living in base. Not to justify how little we get paid, but it is definitely possible to live a pretty good life, financially, on 2nd year+ pay as a regional FO if you're willing to compromise on where you live. If you are unwilling to move out of, say, SoCal, yeah you'll probably hate life on FO pay.

Of course if you come out of a puppy mill with $200K in student loans, you're life is gonna suck regardless of where you live.

Caution Terrain

I know plenty of folks lined up to become LCAs. Some are waiting on IOE For that too.
For what it's worth, the check airman I had are stellar dudes, but I think they're pretty taxed.

Cruz5350

I wanted to go back on the pay talks of being on year 2 or greater. I've seen a few people post that they make 50k+ which yes is possible but let's break it down a bit more. I'll use my June and July pay stubs for example since those are higher block hour months. I live in base on the 175 and bid in the top 1/3of our base. I'll round the numbers up just to make it easy. First numbers are pre tax and before tax deductions (401k, insurance) second was take home.

June: $4475 take home $3300
July : $4630 take home $3300

For taxes I file single and reside in IL so depending on your state you may do better than that. Deductions are as follows: Delta Dental $6 a paycheck HSA $10 a paycheck and medical insurance is $32.54 on the value plan. For my 401k I put in somewhere between 5-7% I cant remember. I remember when I started here all I could think about was getting off year one. Captains would tell me you'll make a ton more and they were right but once you're on it it's not much more than you think. I figure I can average about the same year round and if I do that I'll make 55k and after tax and deductions I'll take home about $40k. I guess my whole point is that once you take out all the deductions and taxes there's still not a whole lot left over to live on and I don't have a mortgage or family that relies on my paycheck thankfully.

Edit to add I included per diem in those number.

GravyRobber

In 2014, I grossed $59,700 as a CRJ FO, after all deductions it was $43,700 net. I way over-withheld taxes, so I got a $3800 return as well. So overall, $47,500 take-home pay. Not great, but certainly not poverty-level, either. That was also averaging probably 14 days off a month with all commutable trips.