Mesaba street captain q's to ask

[Monster Buck]

Hey all, I rarely venture to the 121 side of the boards, but I am curious about the street captain position Mesaba is listing. Let's just say I were to accept an interview, being completely unfamiliar with regionals/contracts/unions etc...what are the questions I would need to ask? Like is this a good gig?

For example, I would think the current contract would address something like street captains-how does it work? The guys in the right seats obviously aren't going to lose seniority to new hires, so what happens down the road?

What else needs to be asked?

Being familiar with only corporate, I'm a bit out of my element here and would appreciate any explanations you could offer.

Where did you see this?

 

[WIPilot]

Where did you see this?

mesaba website.

 

[CFIfornow]

junior capt was awarded in memphis on the last award. detroit isn't to far behind, both are possible for street capts. I would never say never, but chances of holding Minneapolis as a street captain are slim to none.(until you have been at XJ for about a year) You will sit at the bottom of the captain list in your domicle (some street capts may be below you) until those hired after you start upgrading. You can not get kicked out of your seat or base unless there is a reduction in fleet (or base) size

 

[flap operator]

IMO, a street captain who got on RIGHT NOW wouldn't have it all that bad. Here's why...

First, there is a reason why we're hiring street captains. There is no shortage of qualified guys to go to the jets. When they do, the left seat on the saab will be vacant. Most of the FOs on property pre hiring boom, have upgraded or are slated for class.

That being said, the remainder of the FOs are ones hired this year and don't have the time/age to meet the minimums.

As the jets deliver and the current saab captains who are not seat locked (IMO, they'll be released) move to the jets, the street captains will move up the list.

The problem lies when the lower time FOs gain their hours to upgrade, then these street CA's will get pushed back down the list.

So, if you get hired NOW as a street captain and live in base, I don' think things would be so bad. It looks like DTW, then MSP would be the most likely bases for now, since that's where all the growth is. When MEM starts getting the -900s next year, then things will shift once again. I predict by the end of next year we'll get back to our traditional MSP, DTW then MEM order of senior to junior bases.


FO

 

[wmuflyguy]

How is the training department for the Saab? My friend said it was pretty good and he enjoyed it ( he had flown the Saab at a 135 place, so he had a bit of an advantage). anyone here have opinions? What is the training footprint like?

Think there is much of a difference in the standard interview for street captains?

 

[naglasair1]

The training department is great for right now. But come January I have heard most of our ground instructors are being replaced with more new people which could make the ground portion more difficult. The sim instructors seem like they are going to stay in the saab for a while, and they are a GREAT bunch of guys. (if you end up doing sim in MSP)

Overall the training is more operationally based, not intimidation based (example: Why did the light come on? What can you do about it?....not What temperature did the light come on and who manufactures the light...etc)

 

[Flybet3]

Are they hiring Street Captains for the SAAB only? Or are they throwing people into the CRJ as well?

 

[XJohXJ]

Saab only for now. Jet would be quite a ways off.

 

[xjhawk]

ha, hope they release the seat locks before they let some street captain take a jet job. I would be peeved if that happened. I think I would tell then straight up they are full of crap if they did not release the seat locks. But I have talked to a lot of guys, they would want QOL over taking a jet job. I am not sure for me, I have been at the bottom of every list I have been on MEM avro reserve MSP avro reserve-msp saab fo reserve-msp saab fo reserve again- and now msp Capt reserve. Why not be MSP CRJ reserve making 60 some an hour.....better than 32 an hour on reserve!

 

[Raskal]

The HR person I spoke with was non-commital when I asked what aircraft this was for. Personally, I really don't care. The extra pay for the rj is nice, but my main concern is base and QOL, as far as the plane goes-I fly jets now, I've got the tshirt. Now I want a good life and if that's in a saab then great.

As for the interview, HR stated we don't do the sim evaluation thing, the interview is a panel form lasting about an hour followed by a written test of some kind, fingerprinting and drug testing then home. I didn't ask about how long to make an offer.

I will post how it goes in the interview forum.

 

[Hulk Hogan]

How is the training department for the Saab? My friend said it was pretty good and he enjoyed it ( he had flown the Saab at a 135 place, so he had a bit of an advantage). anyone here have opinions? What is the training footprint like?

Think there is much of a difference in the standard interview for street captains?

Way better than any R. Cain class .... but sure as heck isn't a T. Deckerd class. As said before, most bang for the buck in Sim Land atleast for MSP ... STL was being run by Flight Safety but from what I heard is supposed to be going back to XJ instructors. Hope its true.

 

[ImbracableCrunk]

Reserve QOL

.... but sure as heck isn't a T. Deckerd class.

Deckard rocked! Well, except for the multiple multiple choice tests. Or Z: a-k, m, and Mig-28.

When I was on reserve, I ended up working only 10 days on month, sometimes. Since I was 15 minutes from the lot, I had a pretty good QOL.

Good luck.

 

[wmuflyguy]

Way better than any R. Cain class .... but sure as heck isn't a T. Deckerd class. As said before, most bang for the buck in Sim Land atleast for MSP ... STL was being run by Flight Safety but from what I heard is supposed to be going back to XJ instructors. Hope its true.

R. Cain's class' were great, nothing like getting 5 minutes of work done in a 3 hours a class. I never had Deckerd, I tried to avoid those classes.

 

[WMUSIGPI]

R. Cain's class' were great, nothing like getting 5 minutes of work done in a 3 hours a class. I never had Deckerd, I tried to avoid those classes.

5 minutes of work with Cain... what are you talking about? There was plenty of work in his class, you just must have made the common mistake that his class was at the airport instead of Wayside. Anyone for another Jack and Coke?