I'm kinda curious........did you have any clue where the Colgan bases were located prior to your applying? If you don't get the Q by April you're thinking of leaving???? WTFO?
First of all, the Q should be awarded by seniority, PERIOD. If you have the seniority to hold it, then great, you deserve it. But you Beech guys sliding by the Saab drivers who are more senior to you for a spot on the Q is total BS. Just because the company is phasing out your airframe doesn't mean you should get preferential bidding for the new bird. IMHO.
Whoa there buddy. Chill.
Yes, I knew what bases Colgan had.
When I interviewed and accepted an offer to fly the Beech, I was not told that the Beech was getting phased out in a year or less. I was specifically told (the day they offered me the job!) that if I wanted to fly the Q400, then I should go to the Beech. I took the job with the presumption (based upon information specifically given to me after the interview and during indoc), that I would be on the Q out of EWR in a year.
Well low and behold a month after training I learn that the Beech will not be around long enough for me to upgrade on (this coming from check airman, as the company lacks essential communication with its pilots). Even more of a shock was the fact that I wouldn't even get a years time in the aircraft.
Enlight of this
lack of information, or should I say communication - I feel as though I should be given a
choice by the company as to which aircraft I would like to fly in place of the Beech. I don't want to go through initial/transition training at the same airline 3 friggin times! Thats absurd. If they were upfront with me at the interview and during the first week of training about the Beech phase out, I would have gladly taken the Saab as ABE is an hour drive away.
When I was hired, it was under a
1 year seat lock into the Beech. Well if the company removes the aircraft before that one year is up, what does that do to my contract? It negates it.
Based on the above - I believe the Beech pilots should be given a choice of aircraft, especially those that got hired within the year of the Beech phase out with no knowledge of it!
Now, in respect for those pilots
above myself on the
company seniority list - I believe the Q bids should go from
top to
bottom. And, if when the bid got to me there were no open positions, then I believe I should be entitled to terminate my contract with the airline early based on failure to inform me of an aircraft removal plan that was most certainly in place long before I was offered the position.
Additionally, the 1 year training contract was for the Beech 1900 - NOT for the Saab and NOT for the Q. If the aircraft quits before I do in that 1 year, then how can a contract legally be enforced by sending me through training on another aircraft?
In no way do I feel "entitled" to the Q400 - but I do feel as though I deserve some sort of options as I was hired with a 1 year seatlock in the Beech while the company knowingly had in place a phase out plan for the aircraft.
This my friend, is soley hypothetical of course. The company has released no information what so ever on the status of the Beech phase out. It may well take over a year. Rumor that I continue to hear, is that by the end of this year, we may be down to our last Beech, if any remain.
When I has hired, I was specifically told by Chuck Colgan himself, that I would be able to transition from Beech FO to Q400 FO. I'm not transitioning from the Beech FO to Saab FO then to the Q400 FO/Captain. Not when I could upgrade faster somewhere else. If the company pulls my aircraft before my year is up and only gives me an option for the Saab, I'm heading somewhere else because you don't give potential employees false information.
If you read the memos, the Q bids
are going in order of seniority. And I've been told by many that the company has a lacking interest within its FO's to go to the Q. So relax - I'm not trying to steal options away from those higher on seniority then myself. You guys above me deserve the option first. BUT, enlight of the information the company gave to me, I should either transition to the Q or be allow to leave short of the Beech training contract.
I can't do this commutting to outstation bases for more then a year - not with what Colgan pays!! I am literally
paying to work here. Between the 3 hour drive each way and the $250 I spend a month on the crashpad its ridiculous. I took this job under the assumption from the company that I'd be based in EWR in a year. If that doesn't happen, I need to look elsewhere because you can only pay the minimum payment on your bills for so long. Maybe if they pay us as if this were a
real job, I might tough out the commute.
Understand?
