Thanks for the reply. I know both Captains and FOs have been getting hired, but it does seem like a lot of FOs lately.

 

That's the word. SAPA is a little behind on those numbers. Just find a Jr captain on the list, write his Sen. No. Down and yours once a month and track it yourself

 

I'm a 40xxx and I've moved up 37 spots since November 20. It's definitely not as quick up here. My guess is some FO's are going to other regionals. I've already started over once and won't make a lateral move again. When I had to make the jump, no regional had a "quick" upgrade, so I went for the best QOL for me at the time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Here are the overall numbers for the past 6 months (Aug-Jan) I don't really trust the numbers the company puts out so I have been keeping my own

Aug - 23 Total (12 Capt, 11 FO) 3356 Total pilots
Sep - 26 Total (14 Capt, 12 FO) 3366 Total pilots
Oct - 37 Total (21 Capt, 16 FO) 3398 Total pilots
Nov - 28 Total (18 Capt, 10 FO) 3398 Total pilots
Dec - 25 Total (17 Capt, 8 FO) 3411 Total pilots
Jan - 27 Total (14 Capt, 13 FO) 3433 Total pilots

So in August we had 3,335 pilots and currently we have 3,433 so 98 more pilots on property. We lost 166 over that span, so I would assume we have averaged hiring about 44 per month?? Some of these could be cadets that are on the seniority list but not on property.

Also, some interesting number of which group is leaving. These numbers are based on their number at the time they left.

Under 1K - 31 total (All CA, including a top 10 line flying pilot)
1,000 - 2,000 - 70 (Mostly CA, Some senior FO's)
2,000 - 3,000 - 41 (Some Jr CA, Mostly FO's)
3,000 and up - 22 (FO's)

My assumption is that 3,000 and up group realized that SkyWest has become just another regional and they were looking at a 6 year upgrade. Maybe they enjoyed that brief bump in pay on the Bro, but then realized what that vote cost this pilot group and bailed.

 

I know at least 5-6 of those FO's who left 3,000 and up. At the start of this recent "wave" the company hired these guys who were C130AC'ers/F18-16'ers, masters degrees, exc. All were gone to UA/SWA/DL within 2-3 months, one didn't even make it online before he was picked up. I think it's great SKW gives vets a job if they want one but thinking they would get any ROI out of these super qualified people is pretty foolish. There was quite a few non-mil very qualified types interviewing overseas as well during training.

I would bet half of that high-numbered attrition comes from guys who just used SKW for an IPC and type, the other half jumped to PSA, exc. for da upgradezzzzz.

 

Would the regional bean counters see this pattern and end up bypassing military guys? Worth it to pay for training if they'll be gone within a year? Not that they can be picky right now I suppose.

 

The cadets get an employee number, not a seniority number when "hired". The seniority number comes when you start class just like everyone else.

 

While SkyWest has always been one of the better regionals for looking ahead, I really feel they have lost the vision and instead focus on short term gains for long term pains. Or maybe they are brilliant and like CCB is fond or saying, are playing 3D chess while we are playing checkers.

We have too many training events going on, not enough staff for the inefficient 117 pairings, and everyone is getting hosed with their schedules. Since we don't have a contract, they can just randomly adjust the minimum reserves and make it so nobody can drop a trip and a majority of our guys are only getting 10 or 11 days off a month. And this is in the slow season. By summer we will have burned everyone out and we will get more messages from MT talking about how we need to improve our performance. Meanwhile, we will work harder than we should to fill classes or hire people that will get a type then quit and provide no relief to our overworked pilots.

Sometimes I really think they are just pushing the envelope to see how much they can get away with before we bring in a union. At this point, I think it would be better for the company and I don't think it was the threat that it has been in the past. But our apathetic pilot group will just keep watching our QOL diminish little by little until we finally realize we need protection, but we will be starting negotiations from almost zero by that point.

But at least we will save 2%....

 

I doubt it, same risk exists for a CFI type (PSA, TSA street capt thing, CPZ, exc.) It's no secret they've been working to find people, where in the recent past it wasn't an issue. It used to be pretty rare to have an RJ newhire that had never flown anything but a Seminole and Cessna. According to one of the hiring guys this is now the norm.

 

Then maybe we have had some people start class then need to defer or something. WW hung out at the bottom of the list for quite some time. I think it was mentioned that he had to leave for military or something. I just see some weird things at the bottom of the list and I have given up trying to figure out what is going on there. I see people bounce around down there all the time, maybe it is after class starts and the SSN seniority is put into place?? It's not like we are ever told what class numbers are.

Also, nobody ever replied if the 2nd January and February upgrade classes had been postponed or pushed back. Is there anyone in those classes that can verify?