New Comair hiring minimums

[WMUSIGPI]

Hmmm, how about not filing a 1113c motion to again cut the pilots' pay. Not to mention the threat of a furlough soon.

 

[RiddleEagle18]

I would hope a company that just made 50 million would not be allowed to void contracts..... but who knows these days.

 

[flyby]

Hmmm, how about not filing a 1113c motion to again cut the pilots' pay. Not to mention the threat of a furlough soon.

What is with the logic train derailment at Comair? The company files this motion to cut pilot pay and compromise your work rules. Now your HR people are lowering the newhire qualifications and offering incentives for referrals.

Maybe they could hire David Copperfield Consulting to help them fill classes while they make those same jobs less appealing.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

I had my ATP MEL and I got a nice letter from Comair saying I didn't meet the minimum requirements!

Comair, TSA, Pinnacle, AWAC, and a bunch of other organizations are all having a very difficult time filling their interview and new-hire slots. I heard TSA was hiring some guys with 100/10.

This is an example of the pilot shortage that PilotYIP talked about coming in 2007. It will only get worse until the next downturn in the industry, which normally would be in about 5 years from now.

The pilot shortage is due to a number of factors. One of them is that the military is turning out less pilots, and there are less civilians starting flight training. The FAA said that new pilot starts are down about 50%.

cliff
LRD

 

[imacdog]

Hi!
This is an example of the pilot shortage that PilotYIP talked about coming in 2007. It will only get worse until the next downturn in the industry, which normally would be in about 5 years from now.

When a shortage of qualified applicants is due to this job being less and less desirable all the time, it isn't a good thing! This has nothing to do with fewer qualified pilots and everything to do with the simple fact that no one wants to work here any more.

 

[time builder]

The pilot shortage is due to a number of factors. One of them is that the military is turning out less pilots, and there are less civilians starting flight training. The FAA said that new pilot starts are down about 50%.

cliff
LRD

I think there's plenty of other factors. Cost of training vs. Expected Salary is the biggest. When I got into this, I was paying $35 an hour for the plane and people were only spending a couple years in the regionals to get their six figure spot in the majors.

Now they spend over a hundred an hour for a plane, and have a resonable expectation that they might spend their entire career in the regionals.

My question is: when are banks going to stop financing these students? Many go 80,000+ into debt and end up either defaulting or paying interest only because they can't make the payments with the jobs they get.

 

[slipstream]

When a shortage of qualified applicants is due to this job being less and less desirable all the time, it isn't a good thing! This has nothing to do with fewer qualified pilots and everything to do with the simple fact that no one wants to work here any more.

That's what I don't get, what's changed since last January that has really sapped morale and why are ppl staying away? There are contentious negotiations over pay and benefits at every carrier, and the pilot group at Comair has weathered far worse in the past. What's different this time that's causing so many to bail like it's a sinking ship?

 

[imacdog]

That's what I don't get, what's changed since last January that has really sapped morale and why are ppl staying away? There are contentious negotiations over pay and benefits at every carrier, and the pilot group at Comair has weathered far worse in the past. What's different this time that's causing so many to bail like it's a sinking ship?

Our attrition rate has been very high since January, and I don't know if it has gone up or down since July but I believe it is the same. I don't think you could say that Comair is going through what every other carrier has gone through at all. We have everything to lose, and management is making sure we know this. 1113c, the RFP, the threat of masive furloughs, other carriers being brought into the DCI operation (Mesa), have made many people decide that Comair is not where they want to be any more. We are no longer treated like employees, but liabilities.

The reason our attrition rate was not a big deal in the first few months of the year was that we were slightly overstaffed, since Delta had taken away a good percentage of our flying. Now that it has stabilized (at least until Delta decides to take more away), we are becoming severly understaffed because we can't find enough quality pilots to show up for class. This shortage has resulted in the abuse of our reserve pilots, which make up a good portion of our pilot group.

Additionally, line holders are down to minimum days off because our trip pairings are so unproductive. Though I wasn't here during the strike, I can't imagine that being any worse than this because the company is now using the courts to impose labor terms and possibly transfer our flying to other carriers.

 

[BYUFlyr]

I heard TSA was hiring some guys with 100/10.

Wow! TSA's hiring private pilots now?

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

Yeah, obviously it doesn't make sense, so I guess the bare mins would be a commercial with a few hrs of multi.

Back in 2001 I know for sure they were hiring guys with less than 20 hrs of multi, and the hiring situation actually sounds worse for the regionals today.

cliff
LRD

 

[BYUFlyr]

Hi!

Yeah, obviously it doesn't make sense, so I guess the bare mins would be a commercial with a few hrs of multi.

Back in 2001 I know for sure they were hiring guys with less than 20 hrs of multi, and the hiring situation actually sounds worse for the regionals today.

cliff
LRD

Well, that would actually be good news for me.... I just send them my resume last week, but my multi time's pretty low. TSA could be my only way out of the single engine instructing rut without having to take out another loan for multi time.

 

[doh]

Our attrition rate has been very high since January, and I don't know if it has gone up or down since July but I believe it is the same. I don't think you could say that Comair is going through what every other carrier has gone through at all. We have everything to lose, and management is making sure we know this. 1113c, the RFP, the threat of masive furloughs, other carriers being brought into the DCI operation (Mesa), have made many people decide that Comair is not where they want to be any more. We are no longer treated like employees, but liabilities.

The reason our attrition rate was not a big deal in the first few months of the year was that we were slightly overstaffed, since Delta had taken away a good percentage of our flying. Now that it has stabilized (at least until Delta decides to take more away), we are becoming severly understaffed because we can't find enough quality pilots to show up for class. This shortage has resulted in the abuse of our reserve pilots, which make up a good portion of our pilot group.

Additionally, line holders are down to minimum days off because our trip pairings are so unproductive. Though I wasn't here during the strike, I can't imagine that being any worse than this because the company is now using the courts to impose labor terms and possibly transfer our flying to other carriers.

Bingo! My wife told me I had to go ANYWHERE else. Comair was killing my marriage. I know at least 10 guys who have left to return to their old non-aviation lives. It used to be a good life, but management has turned it into a living hel!. I can't imagine it is much better at other regionals, and so nobody wants to show up for class... unless of course they are the bottom of the barrel with no place else to go.

 

[doh]

Well, that would actually be good news for me.... I just send them my resume last week, but my multi time's pretty low. TSA could be my only way out of the single engine instructing rut without having to take out another loan for multi time.

I see in your profile that you have 900 TT. In about two years that will be enough to be a street captain! OMFG!

 

[av8er2]

How does 600/100 get you the best? How stupid!

 

[Dumb Pilot]

Like I said on another thread. You WILL see (800 to 1000) hour new hires at the majors on the next decade and program graduates with 250 hours directly into the right seat at the regionals as the norm. Sad, isn't it

 

[Terrain Terrain]

Like I said on another thread. You WILL see (800 to 1000) hour new hires at the majors on the next decade and program graduates with 250 hours directly into the right seat at the regionals as the norm. Sad, isn't it

well.... those real cool CAs that fly the 777s and what not were hired when places like united hired with NO flying experiance whatsoever, so take it for what it is.

 

[BYUFlyr]

How does 600/100 get you the best? How stupid!

The only logic I can pull out of their thinking is that the same incompetent pilot at 600 hrs will eventually become incompetent 1000 hr pilots. By the same token the quality 1000 hr pilots were quality pilots at 600 hrs, and are getting snagged by other airlines with lower minimums, e.g. ExpressJet. If most airlines are hiring with less than 1000 hrs, then the 1000 hr pilots left in the hiring pool are the ones who couldn't make it through the hiring process at other airlines. Sort of like the last guy picked at a street football game. I know my analogy is a bit generalized, but I'm speaking generally here.

Maybe it's just my inexperience talking, but if there's a logic in lowering the minimums to attract better pilots... I don't see another logical explanantion.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

I am still amazed that people still want to be a pilot anymore. Crap wages, crap QOL, crap retirement, high training costs, TSA B/S.

Those of us in the industry before the RJ blight are stuck so to speak, too far along to do anything else.

Personally I think anybody getting into the industry now is either mis-informed/mislead or just plain stupid.

20k to fly a jet in a go no where career of continous whipsaws, management screwjobs, and off day call outs....pathetic.

I have flown everything from the smallest (Cub) to the largest (747) and after all that I have come to the conclusion that I should have been a Lawyer...or maybe a McDonalds manager............

 

[imacdog]

Maybe it's just my inexperience talking, but if there's a logic in lowering the minimums to attract better pilots... I don't see another logical explanantion.

Wrong, the only reason we are lowering minimums is because we can't attract enough pilots, and now we're throwing a hail mary and hope that anyone will show up. You don't get better pilots by asking for less experience.

 

[JohnnyP]

.....

I have flown everything from the smallest (Cub) to the largest (747) and after all that I have come to the conclusion that I should have been a Lawyer...or maybe a McDonalds manager............

The last thing id want to be is a lawyer. Ive see plenty with crap wages, terrible hours, staying late at the office, not to mention that law school thing you have to sit through. Being a lawyer (or doctor, real estate, whatever the golden job appears to be) is no ticket to a wonderful life.

I think if I had to sit behind a desk and go to a meeting at the water cooler everyday i'd go completely mad.

And the lawyers I do know that are rolling in money, big houses, cigarette boats, etc, have paid a high price for it. Lets just say they dont work just 40hrs a week.

Kerosene, would you pick your 747 gig, or water cooler meetings?
If you look at it that way, even the impending paycut on your big boeing gig seems good compared to sitting in a cubicle forest everyday.

But thats just me, everyones situation is different as you well know.