I actually like CMX more than a lot of our ORD overnights. The hotel is a bit of a dump and I've gotten stuck there before but you can't beat $2 drafts at Keeweenaw and Jimmy Johns 20 feet away from the hotel. I'd prefer CMX to some of the overnights where you have to walk a mile to the nearest restaurant.

 

Noobs: Copy and save this and then refer back when you can bid a line. It will make more sense after you've bid and failed miserably. You'll have plenty of airport sits and crappy overnights to spend learning more about PBS!

- If you end up in a small domicile, bid pairings for the first 5-6 layers, then a layer or two of conservative properties to "catch" you so you don't fall out the bottom of layer 7. Make sure your respect legalities and company buffers. Make you sure you bid each pairing on a specific date...if you just select the pairing with no date, you might end up working when you didn't want to.

- At a large domicile it's harder to bid pairings because there are so many you have to choose from. Use the search feature to narrow down the pairing pool for each layer, and gradually open up the search parameters for each layer. If you want, you can bid properties only for your fisrt few months to get a feel for that, and then start doing pairing. Initially do pairings in the first 3-4 layers, and then properties to backstop yourself.

- Be very, very careful about using pairing properties when bidding specific pairings...this will have massive unintended consequence. Try to bid ONLY specific pairings in a pairing layer. Most line properties are OK to mix with specific pairing bids.

- If you want a certain day off real bad, bid for it layers 1-6, but bid to work that day on layer 7...that way if it turns out that it's impossible (due to seniority or coverage) for you to have the day off, at least you won't fall out the bottom and be at the mercy of the company and all the other bidders.

- Need a certain day off real bad? Try to load up your schedule in days prior with six days of work or as close to 28 hours as you can get. Then you won't be legal to work on your target day.

- If you fall out of layer 7, you can be awarded anything at all which will be whatever nobody else wanted to fly, and the company has to get rid of. Reserves will probably have better trips than a guy who falls out of layer 7.

- Read the online manual. Specifically, DO NOT use any line or pairing property bid without reading the directions first. Many have non-intuitive limitations, will conflict with other property bids, or will invalidate your pairing bids. I've seen super-senior peeps decide to "try out" a property they've never used before and get utterly hosed for an entire month. Also the directions are not written well...if it's not clear to you, ask somebody on the help line or the SAPA forums.

If you don't bid pairings, someone junior to you WILL make out like a bandit at your expense...and I was that person (the bandit) for many years. SKW PBS punishes those who are not tech savvy, computer programming experience will help you understand the myriad possible permutations of logic.

 

That's how we all felt when we were in class. They gave us a couple days of professionalism classes, a full 2 hours on ASAP, yet PBS, the most important thing that controls our lives on line, they spent about an hour on. I'm still on reserve but I've picked the brains of everyone I've flown with, and even had an IOE LCA sit down with me during an overnight and we spent almost 2 hours going over all the little details.

Now I keep reading that there are 2 classes in October? Is this true? Does anyone know how many people are going to be in class, and if they're going to continue running 2 classes per month?

Also, does anyone know aprox how many guys we're losing per month?

 

according to sapapilot.org we lost 71 in the last 3 months and added 74

 

I've been keeping track just for my own curiosity. Since May 28th we have lost a total of 95 pilots. 51 CA and 44 FO's. Average seniority number for CA's is 22,000 and for FO's is 41,000

New Hire June two CRJ classes 48 and 6 ERJ, July one CRJ class 32 and 8 ERJ, August one CRJ class 27 and 7 ERJ, September one CRJ class 28 for a total of 156 new hires. I also show 131 upgrades since June including the October class for the CRJ. Some upgrades from CRJ to ERJ but most ERJ classes have been transition from CRJ CA.

Again since we don't get regular communication on these things, this is just numbers I have come up with looking at the seniority list and bid award lists. Less attrition in September than the last couple months.

 

Thanks for putting those numbers together. Here's to hoping the movement keeps up.

 

Let me guess...the AWOS keeps breaking in CMX stranding you there? It's happened a few times this year.

 

You might be able to buy the higher % beer in a State Liquor Store but you have to buy it by the bottle (yes ONE 12oz bottle) and they charge a premium. No 6 packs or 12 packs.

 

Anyone know about what's been the recent wait time between putting in the online application and getting call for an interview?

 

BTW, is it entirely normal to feel completely overwhelmed on Day 4 of Systems? We're all trying to get our heads around fuel, electrical , fire, powerplant, APU, AFCS, pneumatic, ECS...while also trying to learn the Collins FMS and start learning our initial flows for Matrix class next week. Oh, and read up on a bunch of profiles.

I have no clue how we're all going to get thru training, but somehow we will. I must say I'm impressed with all the instructors and my fellow classmates, who are all uniformly professional and are putting in the late hours. (I'm writing this from good ol' Room 331 in the Candlewood, sitting in the CRJ mockup, trying to figure out for the life of me the following question...

Why for the love of God would you (during the safety check) test all the fire systems, start the APU, and so forth...and only then check that the aircraft documents are present? If somebody stole all the paperwork, you're not going anywhere for a while. Seems like you'd check the paperwork first, check your emergency equipment second, and only then would you run the rest of the safety check.

Oh well. Back to packs, probes, transponders, STAT, and...whatever else comes next