i just put in my two weeks at good ole TSA last night. Hopefully it is the right move. I will admit, things at trans states are bad, but not as bad as its made out to be. Reserve did suck through the winter, it usually involved a deadhead to IAD, picking up a turn or two, deadhead or working to RIC to throw in a day of hotel reserve and then a double deadhead through IAD to get back to STL just to commute home for 36 hours. I am leaving just because I fear whats going to happen at TSA within the next 6 to 12 months. They are loosing 10-15 captains a month, there are only 30ish FOs that meet the new "reduced" hiring minimums. There have been "rumors" of a merging of the seniority lists just to get qualified g**et Fos in the left seats of the 145. Thats just a recipe for disaster. The Fo attrition slowed down tremendously in january and february but with RAHS new lowered mins, and everyone else dying for Fos, I foresee others will jump ship for RAH, Xjet and Skywest. I definately feel trans states is at a sink or swim period, if they keep it up, they will run out of captains and be forced to reduce the mins even further. the phrase street captain has been floating around, but they are still working out the grievances from the last street captain episode. They cant even fill the new hire classes so FO shortages will soon follow. I believe the reduced hiring mins, talks of CASS and pref bid are just ploys to boost moral to dampen the attrition, there is absolutely no growth at all. If they get the contract rolling ASAP and do some miraculous deed to improve moral, they might just float by. But who knows. I decided to leave for a company with more stability, a better contract, and a junior base in my hometown. If it werent for that, I would have stayed at TSA. A jobs a job and all regionals have thier problems. TSAs problems might be a little more than others, but I see a downward spiral, stemming from the creation of G**et and catalized by the unneccesary furlough, followed by the max exodus of the FOs. Good riddance to TSA, you cant run an iron fist company now a days, people are learning its just not worth it and there a plenty of other regionals, or non aviation jobs that are better and more rewarding. I did enjoy my time at TSA, every single crew memeber I flew with were awesome inidividuals and very professional. I hope everything works out for them!
uke:
