Firebird2XC
Well-Known Member
The Colgan 'classroom' facility is in a strip mall behind the Manassas, VA Best Western.
A good deal of pilots go there for some sort of training at some point.
Q400 pilots may or may not be an exception.
To the Colgan guys..
- Thread starter meritflyer
- Start date
The Colgan 'classroom' facility is in a strip mall behind the Manassas, VA Best Western.
A good deal of pilots go there for some sort of training at some point.
Q400 pilots may or may not be an exception.
USMC-SSGT
Well-Known Member
oh we are not so lucky...we do indoc there and from what I understand we are going back for another three days after the checkride for acars and a few other missing pieces. In very short time Q training will be in house and we will ALL be there in Man Asses as a happy team.
At least the location is good (relatively speaking) and in close proximity of a wal-mart and a few restaurants.
At least the location is good (relatively speaking) and in close proximity of a wal-mart and a few restaurants.
Firebird2XC
Well-Known Member
It could be worse, I guess. How's Q training going?
ComplexHiAv8r
Well-Known Member
Aahhhh.....wow. The air smells fresh in here. Kinda like a new airplane. Its going to be so hard to say goodbye to Colgan.
Did I miss something? Did you get moved over to the Q?
BajtheJino
I'm looking at you.
Wow. Really? Thats the only thing?
OldComputerGuy
New Member
I'm guessing that based on the new avatar and the smiley he selected after saying it'll be hard to say bye to Colgan that he did NOT get moved to the Q, and is going with the plan B he hinted at. I remember Airdale saying something about he would either be in the Q or something else would be changing around mid-December. Am I right, Airdale? If it's plan B, what airline are you moving to?
USMC-SSGT
Well-Known Member
Its going really well so far. My sim partner and I had the oral today and checked that box and our type ride is tomorrow (SIC before I get ten questions on that) and then we do loft on Friday. Talk about down to the wire huh.
The sim flys great and the plane should have promise if it can do half of what the sim can do, great climb rate, great speed and 13 foot speed brakes on each wing when you need to dump alt and speed (props are 13 diameter so I dont get asked if we have speed brakes) Once you get it close to the ground to land it in a cross wind it just lands like a big heavy cessna 182. Alot of automation just pretty much knowing which button to push at which time. We dont get to have a quarter of the fun a 1900 guy gets to have.
*all of these oppinions are based on my experiences flying the SIM and I have not flown the actual airplane
its too bad that everytime someone posts you need to include a disclaimer to prevent getting flamed.
Airdale
Well-Known Member
Well I was just being patient and putting things into motion both inside and outside the company. When the company doesn't want to hear anything you have to say, well that makes the decision easy. It just took a month and a half from initial phone call to interview with RAH. A painful month and a half waiting to hear a callback about an interview. When it finally happened, everything else just fell into place.
Colgan gave me a great opportunity when nobody else would touch me, so I'm thankful for that and I can't complain at all about the experience flying the 1900. By the time I leave I'll have 700 hours in the Beech. It was a good stepping stone. Its just ashame that the company treats their employees so bad and that half of the pilot group was too stupid to pick up the phone and vote ves. Otherwise, things would have probably been different.
SmitteyB
Well-Known Member
The Beech world must be completely different, because so far my experience with the company has been good.
I'm a line holder who is home everynight and have an amazing QOL. The company has never treated me with disrespect once, but I feel that is just a matter of time.
For December I'm going to have 115 hours of credit with Xmas Eve, Christmas and New Years Eve off. It also looks like I'll have New Years Day off too. 15 days off/97 hours of block time. I'm very lucky considering my seniority number is 359. There are already 2 FO's under me at my base.
Scheduling was finally mean to me yesterday and I had to cite the Flight Crewmember Handbook to get my way.
I'm a line holder who is home everynight and have an amazing QOL. The company has never treated me with disrespect once, but I feel that is just a matter of time.
For December I'm going to have 115 hours of credit with Xmas Eve, Christmas and New Years Eve off. It also looks like I'll have New Years Day off too. 15 days off/97 hours of block time. I'm very lucky considering my seniority number is 359. There are already 2 FO's under me at my base.
Scheduling was finally mean to me yesterday and I had to cite the Flight Crewmember Handbook to get my way.
jynxyjoe
Queso King
well i was from the beech world.
i hit the line december and immediately got a line and i had christmas off, before that i had thansgiving off.
at the base another guy started up the pad and i went in on it and ended up taking it over. 150-190$ a month. by march i made 102.5 credit hours and i never dropped below it again. the pilots were great. so by the 3rd month my bills were low as hell, i was the senior guy, i got all the open time i wanted and i could fly a plane i love with guys that let me get away with murder and have all the fun i wanted. my last check was 155 hours pay credit, per diem was another $100 or something.
my buddies back home picked me up in their airplane's (V-tails and super vikings) on my days off if i wasn't deadheading to see friends/family. i had a second job (for a bit) which gave me access to a couple single engines for free, to fly from job to job.
i had it so good i was seriously ready to stay after the alpa vote failed in august because i thought "hey we'll get them next time".
over that time i'd seen:
-two guys at my base ALONE (base of 8 people) get illegally threatened with missed trips because they were legitimately sick.
-guys get through training who were OBVIOUSLY unfit to fly any aircraft, or push a grocery cart.
-management completely locking down any communication for base closings (LEB) leaving one of my buddies twisting in the wind- then the exact same happened to HPN after they promised they wouldn't.
-schedules going from 16-18 days off to 11-12 days off
-one guy i flew with had 14 hour duty days every day for the month and 2-3 hours of flying
-some of the best guys i knew from my first month on the beech had already bailed for bluer skies
-four guy's upgrades got f'ed with that i know of(WHICH IS THE ONLY REASON YOU GO TO A $#!t BALL UNDERCUTTER LIKE COLGAN)
-maintainence items clearly being ignored by mx staff(albany mx being the only bright light in the storm). not only being ignored but flagrantly doing it.
-duty times shooting through the roof and the colgans telling me flat out they were powerless to do anything about it
-volentary turn-in on crews on BS that had never bothered colgan before
-purposeful crucifixion's of one senior beech pilot
-q400 pay staying in the toilet
-the CPG starting up
-ex-eastern ex-gulfstream George A. Casey becoming pres (i'm not calling him buddy, he's not my buddy)
-#1 pilot on the seniority list told me to get out if i could because it was only gonna get worse
-theres a lot more but it blurs together after a bit and i'm losing peoples attention
i can't point to just one that made me leave, but its clear to me that it wasn't how i was treated that made me leave. it was how they treated everyone else. it may not matter to everyone but it matters to me.
EDIT: thought about it for five minutes. its more like 8 guys i knew on the beech whose upgrades got f'ed with and (i'm still on the brink email list becuase he thought i was upgrading) and i see one guy's transition/upgrade has just been f'ed with.
i hit the line december and immediately got a line and i had christmas off, before that i had thansgiving off.
at the base another guy started up the pad and i went in on it and ended up taking it over. 150-190$ a month. by march i made 102.5 credit hours and i never dropped below it again. the pilots were great. so by the 3rd month my bills were low as hell, i was the senior guy, i got all the open time i wanted and i could fly a plane i love with guys that let me get away with murder and have all the fun i wanted. my last check was 155 hours pay credit, per diem was another $100 or something.
my buddies back home picked me up in their airplane's (V-tails and super vikings) on my days off if i wasn't deadheading to see friends/family. i had a second job (for a bit) which gave me access to a couple single engines for free, to fly from job to job.
i had it so good i was seriously ready to stay after the alpa vote failed in august because i thought "hey we'll get them next time".
over that time i'd seen:
-two guys at my base ALONE (base of 8 people) get illegally threatened with missed trips because they were legitimately sick.
-guys get through training who were OBVIOUSLY unfit to fly any aircraft, or push a grocery cart.
-management completely locking down any communication for base closings (LEB) leaving one of my buddies twisting in the wind- then the exact same happened to HPN after they promised they wouldn't.
-schedules going from 16-18 days off to 11-12 days off
-one guy i flew with had 14 hour duty days every day for the month and 2-3 hours of flying
-some of the best guys i knew from my first month on the beech had already bailed for bluer skies
-four guy's upgrades got f'ed with that i know of(WHICH IS THE ONLY REASON YOU GO TO A $#!t BALL UNDERCUTTER LIKE COLGAN)
-maintainence items clearly being ignored by mx staff(albany mx being the only bright light in the storm). not only being ignored but flagrantly doing it.
-duty times shooting through the roof and the colgans telling me flat out they were powerless to do anything about it
-volentary turn-in on crews on BS that had never bothered colgan before
-purposeful crucifixion's of one senior beech pilot
-q400 pay staying in the toilet
-the CPG starting up
-ex-eastern ex-gulfstream George A. Casey becoming pres (i'm not calling him buddy, he's not my buddy)
-#1 pilot on the seniority list told me to get out if i could because it was only gonna get worse
-theres a lot more but it blurs together after a bit and i'm losing peoples attention
i can't point to just one that made me leave, but its clear to me that it wasn't how i was treated that made me leave. it was how they treated everyone else. it may not matter to everyone but it matters to me.
EDIT: thought about it for five minutes. its more like 8 guys i knew on the beech whose upgrades got f'ed with and (i'm still on the brink email list becuase he thought i was upgrading) and i see one guy's transition/upgrade has just been f'ed with.
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
Airdale, congrats on getting out of that cesspool. A buddy of mine is in flt ops management at RAH, and things seem relatively stable there. Probably a decent place to be for a while.
SmitteyB
Well-Known Member
Yea- I figure it's just a matter of time.
Airdale
Well-Known Member
Honestly though, when you're a very low time guy, getting hired at Colgan isn't a bad thing. You will gain plenty of experience and you'll learn a LOT about the industry and have a different perspective much father from the SJS kids out of an RJ class. You'll work like a dog in the props for scrap pay. Scheduling will run you into the ground and you'll get treated like a rat. But if you hang in there for a year (when I leave it will be 11 months), you get a bunch of Turbine time and can then leave for a better place without sacrificing too much.
Guys have been telling me not to leave because of the seniority I've gained, but I beg to differ. If there is a time to bail, its now (for me anyway). I was hired with 450 TT. No respectable airline like RW would touch me with that flight time. At the rate I was flying as a CFI, I would have been instructing for well over a year and then have to compete against other 121 guys at an interview with zero 121 or Airline experience. But in 10 months, I've flown 600 hours in the Beech and have 1,050TT. I'm still low time. I still have 1-2 years left of sitting in the right seat. I have everything to gain and nothing to lose by leaving now. In another 6 months? Then it would become a silly decision because I'd be too close to upgrade. I'm not even close yet and won't see it on the Beech anyway.
To each his own, but I don't see how anyone could enjoy being at Colgan for more then a year. I'd lose my friggin mind and go work at Walmart. :insane: I feel bad for the Beech Captains though. They get treated like ass and what options do they have? If anything, those guys deserve better. At least those of us FO's that are still within our first year have options to bail.
BE19Pilot
Flying a Box
Hey Airdale!
Congrats on the job at RAH. I think that you and S.S. from ALB will really enjoy it over there and will be flying a great airplane. I have had to ride up front a couple of times on the 170 and it's really nice machine. One of my good freinds is a check airman on the 170/175 out of DCA and he say's that lots more growth to come and perhaps some 190s down the road.
You made a good point about being on the 1900 as a Captain now. As far as PCL Holdings is concerned we are a dying breed of pilots here on the 1900 in both seats. We are getting some of the worst schedules in the company now in HYA. The amount of deadheading is out of control, and is making for alot of fatigue, low morale and daily complaining. All of which is justified.
One can only run on pride alone flying an awesome airplane in the northeast out of NYC and BOS is just about as good as it gets from a pilot standpoint. We are going to have more turmoil ahead as the "Q" comes on-line and more and more transitions take place. CJC is going to be forced to hire new F/Os on the 1900 (poor bastards), street Captains on the SAAB and 1900 this winter/spring to fill the ranks. What does this mean for a guy like myself thats got nearly 4 years of service here? Probably another S*** Sandwich!
Hopefully, we will all find greener pastures out there...
Regards,
ex-Navy Rotorhead
Congrats on the job at RAH. I think that you and S.S. from ALB will really enjoy it over there and will be flying a great airplane. I have had to ride up front a couple of times on the 170 and it's really nice machine. One of my good freinds is a check airman on the 170/175 out of DCA and he say's that lots more growth to come and perhaps some 190s down the road.
You made a good point about being on the 1900 as a Captain now. As far as PCL Holdings is concerned we are a dying breed of pilots here on the 1900 in both seats. We are getting some of the worst schedules in the company now in HYA. The amount of deadheading is out of control, and is making for alot of fatigue, low morale and daily complaining. All of which is justified.
One can only run on pride alone flying an awesome airplane in the northeast out of NYC and BOS is just about as good as it gets from a pilot standpoint. We are going to have more turmoil ahead as the "Q" comes on-line and more and more transitions take place. CJC is going to be forced to hire new F/Os on the 1900 (poor bastards), street Captains on the SAAB and 1900 this winter/spring to fill the ranks. What does this mean for a guy like myself thats got nearly 4 years of service here? Probably another S*** Sandwich!
Hopefully, we will all find greener pastures out there...
Regards,
ex-Navy Rotorhead
Airdale
Well-Known Member
Hey thanks buddy. You know I wish the best for you and all the Beech Captains here. Hopefully you folks will end up getting what you deserve here or get on with a Mainline carrier real soon before it gets worse. I'm just disappointed we never had a chance to fly together!! How funny would that be. Ex-Coastie and Ex-Navy guys sitting up front. We might fly past our destination with all the stories.
