Career thoughts

[BigZ]

If you have 1300tt you are a long way from Spirit. It says the mins right now are 2k and some people do get called with around 2.5k tt but it's still not the norm. I'm hearing the average is between 3 and 4K but if a decent contract does get signed it will go up again. Best of luck with whatever you choose

I might be off on this, but based on talking to the recent hires (and the training failure discussions on the other forum) it looks like the 1000 multi/turbine is the more important driver than the tt and I plan to arrive at 2k tt 1k turbine at about the same time. I talked to the HR people at the Aerocrew virtual fair, and the answer was "apply any time, but we can't really set up an interview unless you're couple of months away from the mins, so apply close to that".
Completely agree with you that the competitive mins will go way up with the new contract.
Thanks for the wishes of luck! I'll see how it goes and will be content either way. Having a three day hotel sit for 2.5 hrs of flight time recently was a factor for all the digging, talked about it with the captain I was flying with and he laughed saying that he lost more FOs to the airlines during these sits than due to all the other reasons combined.

 

[woodreau]

Having a three day hotel sit for 2.5 hrs of flight time recently was a factor for all the digging, talked about it with the captain I was flying with and he laughed saying that he lost more FOs to the airlines during these sits than due to all the other reasons combined.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

I wouldn’t count on getting a TA anytime soon. We just got called to DC tomorrow and Wednesday to sit down with the arbitrator and talking with the LEC/MEC reps. It’s probably going to be a you guys need to be more flexible in your asks kind of talk BS. The flight attendants took 9 years to get their subpar contract.

Anyways about the 3 day hotel sit for 2.5 hours of pay there’s plenty of that at Spirit. But at least you get some soft credit for sitting away from base if you don’t get flight time.

The part that finally drove me to throw all my apps out again was all the deadheading on American. I wouldn’t wish deadheading on AA on my worst enemy. I don’t fault scheduling though at least they’re buying all these tickets to get me back to base in compliance with the contract. the upside was that I deadheaded enough this year to get gold status AAdvantage. Something I never would have gotten deadheading around on AA at Eagle/Envoy and it’s better than A3 back to base.

 

[Dexter]

If you have 1300tt you are a long way from Spirit. It says the mins right now are 2k and some people do get called with around 2.5k tt but it's still not the norm. I'm hearing the average is between 3 and 4K but if a decent contract does get signed it will go up again. Best of luck with whatever you choose

To add to this, I had a friend who went to the Spirit chief pilot meeting in khakis and a button up with 2100TT and was offered a class on the spot. So you never know if you don’t apply.

 

[learhawkerbe400]

Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

I wouldn’t count on getting a TA anytime soon. We just got called to DC tomorrow and Wednesday to sit down with the arbitrator and talking with the LEC/MEC reps. It’s probably going to be a you guys need to be more flexible in your asks kind of talk BS. The flight attendants took 9 years to get their subpar contract.

Anyways about the 3 day hotel sit for 2.5 hours of pay there’s plenty of that at Spirit. But at least you get some soft credit for sitting away from base if you don’t get flight time.

The part that finally drove me to throw all my apps out again was all the deadheading on American. I wouldn’t wish deadheading on AA on my worst enemy. I don’t fault scheduling though at least they’re buying all these tickets to get me back to base in compliance with the contract. the upside was that I deadheaded enough this year to get gold status AAdvantage. Something I never would have gotten deadheading around on AA at Eagle/Envoy and it’s better than A3 back to base.

A3 back to base is gone at AA.

 

[jtrain609]

I’m gonna retire as an E190 CA if i can. Either that or the Concord.

I heard we're going to get 787's to replace the A320 fleet to make the internet happy.

 

[PhilosopherPilot]

I heard we're going to get 787's to replace the A320 fleet to make the internet happy.

I heard we need to start losing money to prove that we aren’t as good as Delta.

 

[jtrain609]

I heard we need to start losing money to prove that we aren’t as good as Delta.

I heard the company is going to agree to a contract in the next few months just to spite the internet.

 

[BigZ]

Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

I wouldn’t count on getting a TA anytime soon. We just got called to DC tomorrow and Wednesday to sit down with the arbitrator and talking with the LEC/MEC reps. It’s probably going to be a you guys need to be more flexible in your asks kind of talk BS. The flight attendants took 9 years to get their subpar contract.

Anyways about the 3 day hotel sit for 2.5 hours of pay there’s plenty of that at Spirit. But at least you get some soft credit for sitting away from base if you don’t get flight time.

The part that finally drove me to throw all my apps out again was all the deadheading on American. I wouldn’t wish deadheading on AA on my worst enemy. I don’t fault scheduling though at least they’re buying all these tickets to get me back to base in compliance with the contract. the upside was that I deadheaded enough this year to get gold status AAdvantage. Something I never would have gotten deadheading around on AA at Eagle/Envoy and it’s better than A3 back to base.

Best of luck to you guys and gals

I get paid salary regardless of whether I fly or sit at the hotel or do whatever, it's just long sits at the hotels get really old really fast.

I'm actually enjoying a reroute, was supposed to do a quick turn in Baltimore and back to FL, instead I find myself in Storm Lake, Iowa (smells like cow crap btw), after swapping planes in Omaha, Nebraska, and next couple of days will have me in Appleton, WI (too bad not enough time to swing by Air Whiskey), layover in some place South Dakota and so forth.
Building that time and stuff

 

[drunkenbeagle]

He's right, your chances of being a wide body captain before retirement are slim.

And it's not a time game, it's a numbers game. With the number of people already hired, you'll never get to the top of the list unless you're 23 right now.

I'm 35, and I'll retire as an Airbus captain.

Things can change a lot in 30 years. Hell, things can change a lot in 3.

The "pilot shortage" might make widebodies more attractive in fleets as labor costs rise, and slots and gates become more rare. There will be recessions, and furloughs, and bankruptcies. So it's still a crapshoot over the long term.

 

[FlySooner9]

Go to a regional unless you want to stay at spirit for a career. Even then as other have said i dont see spirit touching you anytime soon, especially if they get a better TA. Go to a regional now and in a few years you'll probably be able to get on with any major youd like.

 

[BigZ]

Figured I'd share this.
Talked to a former colleague about the life at the airlines.
His dad was an airline pilot, started on DC-2, retired 747 CA. My friend had the whole turmoil of the airline world through his career and didn't do as great - flew for Braniff, then Midway out of Chicago, then the original Piedmont, which got bought out by US Airways, which in turn got bought out by American, so he retired as an American A320 CA after all that. Lived through three airline bankruptcies and two mergers.
Says he'd do it all over again in a heartbeat and suggests I go do it now before the pay cut from corporate makes it hard to do.

 

[BigZ]

Sooooo...... anyone has any insights on what to read up on for the first 121 interview at maybe Envoy? Asking for a friend.

PS The friend would also appreciate a link to Jepp review

 

[Autothrust Blue]

Sooooo...... anyone has any insights on what to read up on for the first 121 interview at maybe Envoy? Asking for a friend.

PS The friend would also appreciate a link to Jepp review

Pulse checked - normal.

I'm told Will Fly For Food have accurate gouges, nowadays, at least for the Mormon Air Force.

 

[Jordan93]

Sooooo...... anyone has any insights on what to read up on for the first 121 interview at maybe Envoy? Asking for a friend.

PS The friend would also appreciate a link to Jepp review

Aviationinterviews.com

 

[BigZ]

Pulse checked - normal.

I'm told Will Fly For Food have accurate gouges, nowadays, at least for the Mormon Air Force.

Aviationinterviews.com

I heard that the pulse rate check was found to be too intrusive and opened doors to all sorts of sexual harassment lawsuits and hence has been replaced with mirror fogging

Thanks guys, I'll probably be overdoing it, being the awesome and desireable candidate that I am , but I prefer showing up to the interviews prepared and positive that I can nail it.

PS The above is about the friend, obviously, not me

 

[ozziecat35]

As we're in similar boats, I'll chime in. Get to a regional as soon as possible. Better to be looking for a job at Spirt or jetBlue / etc while flying 90 hours a month at Envoy or Air Whisky. Move to Chicago, live in base, QOL would be decent.
I've come to the realization since starting on the XLS, that 121 is where I want to end up. Not saying I wouldn't stay in Corporate for the right spot, but now that I've seen the Pt. 91 lifestyle, I've made a promise to myself to hit 1500 by next summer. no matter what it takes (Only 320 to go!) (then there's that whole degree thing....)

 

[BigZ]

As we're in similar boats, I'll chime in. Get to a regional as soon as possible. Better to be looking for a job at Spirt or jetBlue / etc while flying 90 hours a month at Envoy or Air Whisky. Move to Chicago, live in base, QOL would be decent.
I've come to the realization since starting on the XLS, that 121 is where I want to end up. Not saying I wouldn't stay in Corporate for the right spot, but now that I've seen the Pt. 91 lifestyle, I've made a promise to myself to hit 1500 by next summer. no matter what it takes (Only 320 to go!) (then there's that whole degree thing....)

The thing is, I love everything about where I'm at. Shiny new jets, great pay, great team. Lack of schedule sucks, but I knew that's what it's going to be going in. It's a start up, pilots don't materialize out of thin air and without enough pilots there can be no schedule. Company understands that too and is hiring aggressively (at least in the PIC side).
Strategically, however, I'm flying a light jet. I might upgrade in a couple of years, and if the FAA okays our midsize for 135 (the damn thing is new and apparently there are none on 135 certificate anywhere, so no 135 without going through the expense of the proving runs), I might get into the right seat of that. The problem with 91/135 is that the larger the airplane the larger the suitcase - be ready to be gone for weeks, and that's not what I want two do with two little kids.
So while the present is glamorous, thoughts about the future invoke 121 considerations.

 

[ozziecat35]

The thing is, I love everything about where I'm at. Shiny new jets, great pay, great team. Lack of schedule sucks, but I knew that's what it's going to be going in. It's a start up, pilots don't materialize out of thin air and without enough pilots there can be no schedule. Company understands that too and is hiring aggressively (at least in the PIC side).
Strategically, however, I'm flying a light jet. I might upgrade in a couple of years, and if the FAA okays our midsize for 135 (the damn thing is new and apparently there are none on 135 certificate anywhere, so no 135 without going through the expense of the proving runs), I might get into the right seat of that. The problem with 91/135 is that the larger the airplane the larger the suitcase - be ready to be gone for weeks, and that's not what I want two do with two little kids.
So while the present is glamorous, thoughts about the future invoke 121 considerations.

Sounds like you already know how the story ends. The way I see it is enjoy your time for the next 170 hours, hit 1500 and jump, or do everything possible to hit 1500 (block rental / etc) and jump even sooner.

 

[Grabo172]

http://ww1.jeppesen.com/documents/aviation/business/ifr-paper-services/intro-USA.pdf

Here’s the Jepp study legend.

Take a look at all the approaches, airport diagram, SIDs and STARs for DFW during your study, it’ll make the techical portion go well.

I’ll second the aviationinterviews.com for other information. It was pretty spot on.

Check and re-check the paperwork and logbook flagging. Make sure it’s 100% perfect.

Hope you(r friend) kick(s) butt at the interview!

 

[BigZ]

paperwork and logbook flagging

Thank you!

Found the logbook, have a bit of catching up to do since May 3rd.
Could you elaborate on the flagging thing? Didn't do anything for the interview with Air Whiskey, logbooks were collected, studied, pages flipped during the panel interview and maybe a couple of questions asked about random flights, but that's about it.
Anything done different with Envoy? IIRC that's where you went?