Training for a New Aircraft at an Airline

[Stormflyer]

I have two questions about the training you go through when you switch aircraft types at an airline:

1. How does this work with your schedule bidding? When you bid for the month you come out of training and start flying the new aircraft, does a reserve pilot do the first few rotations, and then you take over if you don't finish training until the middle of the month? Or do you just not fly until the next month?

2. How much do you get paid while training for the new aircraft?

 

[N9103M]

At the last place I worked here is how it went....

If you were elegible to bid for more then 16 days that month you could be awarded a hard line of flying. Which means that you would bid normally and flyyour line up until you are supoosed to go to training. If you were not elegible to biod for more than 16 days you are awarded a reserve build-up line designed by Crew Planning.

Pay in training for upgrade/fleet change was your monthly garuntee and 24/7 per diem. Not all a bad deal...

 

[Stormflyer]

[ QUOTE ]
Pay in training for upgrade/fleet change was your monthly garuntee and 24/7 per diem. Not all a bad deal...

[/ QUOTE ]
Definitely not a bad deal at all!

Given that pay, I would hesitate much less to change aircraft types. Another question: what is minimum guarantee at most airlines? Air Wisconsin's website says that all pilots are guaranteed 75 flight hours per month.

 

[Fearless]

Where I work (a.k.a. "The World's Most Senior Regional Airline"), pilots in training are NOT permitted to bid. Instead, our department of crew planning simply "builds" them a line. This line will include any ground training, simulator training, IOE (or supervised line flying), and regular trips. If they don't finish their training or IOE exactly as scheduled (for whatever reason), then a reserve pilot will cover for them until they get caught up.

I've been here long enough to get a "regular" line (no reserve). From time to time, crew scheduling will remove a trip from my line and use it for training purposes. When this occurs, my status is one of "reserve" - technically, I'm on call, but get paid for the value of the original trip.

Our minimum guarantee works out to about 75 hours per month for "regular" lines, and around 70 hours per month for reserve and coverage (composite) lines. During training, we get our regular pay (at least minimum guarantee), but may or may not get per diem (ground school - NO, simulator - YES). In practice, it often works out to a slight pay cut for the time that you're in training, due to the loss of per diem and the fact that you can't pick up any extra flying (a big money-maker for me this summer).

FFFI

 

[Fearless]

I meant to add the following:

Where I work, it's actually very hard for a First Officer to change airplane types - the company will put you where they need you. Captains have a little more flexibility. Captains can basically bid on what they want to fly, and the bids are awarded on the basis of seniority. Once a captain is trained in a new aircraft type, he/she must stay in that type for a least 12 months (a.k.a. a "seat lock").

All of these rules are driven by economics and the fine print on our contract with the company. It costs upward of $20,000 to train a new hire, and anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 to train someone (who's already flying for the company) to fly another type of aircraft.

FFFI