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planejockey said:
Anything going on at Spirit? More guys hitting the streets? future hiring/expansion?
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Last info seems they are calling back some 20-30ish between Winter and Summer. That will come close to, but probably not result in mandatory recalls thus no hiring in 2010.
 
What I heard a few weeks ago in recurrent is that...

4 airplanes are confirmed for delivery, 320's
1 in March
1 in April
1 in May
1 in the Fall (August or September)

By April, everyone who wants to be back will be back. New hires for May and the fall...this from P.O.

If they keep the 321's around this seem like it will be true, if the 321's leave the story changes.

FWIW
 
Email just went out today for 6 vacancies, 2 DTW, 4 FLL, effective Nov.1
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Of course with people on voluntary leave for October, November and December...I'm a little confused by that.
 
Bulletin revision 1. :rolleyes:

Anytime I see this lady posting something on the remote site, I can't help but think that emancipation is a wonderful thing. Just a century ago she would have been subject to daily spankings by her man just because she would have never been able to produce a proper breakfast, on first try.
Poor thing.
 
You crack me up bro... at least her sense of humor is genuine, even if no one else gets it.... unlike others at miramar who's sense of humor consists of opening and closing bases and paying money to pilots, then wanting it back.

Speaking of which, any more info on the rumor that returning pilots will be paid full longevity?
 
Mike Oxlong said:
What I heard a few weeks ago in recurrent is that...

4 airplanes are confirmed for delivery, 320's
1 in March
1 in April
1 in May
1 in the Fall (August or September)

By April, everyone who wants to be back will be back. New hires for May and the fall...this from P.O.

If they keep the 321's around this seem like it will be true, if the 321's leave the story changes.

FWIW
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everyone back and hiring by May is a little optimistic (and i have no truck with being optimistic) I realize that some may not be coming back, but I think it will take all 4 aircraft to bring back the bulk of furloughees. 2011 may bring a new hire class.
 
Ran into the chief pilot a couple days ago, he did confirm that the company has plans to have everyone who wants to be back will be back this next year due to the new FAA rest requirements and also the 4 aircraft deliveries. This stuff at Spirit changes continuously, but he stated that was a fact as of now. I later had the opportunity to have an FAA inspector on my flight who confirmed that as well.
Rumor: 26 recalls in January, this came through a source from Miramar, however this is purely a rumor. Take it with a big grain of salt.
 
...I think it will take all 4 aircraft to bring back the bulk of furloughees...
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I just telling you (all) what I heard from the DO's mouth, in person...and please believe me-->I am the last person to drink the poop flavored kool-aid that Spirit [mis]management craps out.

To summarize...as of July 2009, 4 new airplanes on property 2010. March, April, May and September, all who want to be back will be back by April...planning on hiring for the last two airplanes. He also said that "upstairs" wanted to furlough again this fall, but DO and CP refused since morale couldn't be much worse so they offered voluntary leaves to reduce a few people. But since we are at minimum reserve coverage, this makes people just as angry since they can't drop or float vacation most days this fall.
 
boomlrd said:
Rumor: 26 recalls in January, this came through a source from Miramar, however this is purely a rumor. Take it with a big grain of salt.
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Any info is always appreciated. So I am not trying to put down anyone here just trying to decipher one rumor after the other.

I too have heard the 26, which was later changed to 32. The way I have heard it :confused:, these numbers were mentioned as the total number of recalls to fly the 4 new a/c. Recalls were going to be spread out over several months, starting effective March. That made sense to me. They would normally need 40-45 pilots to fly those 4 planes (since 1 will be a spare), but I am sure they will try to squeeze it with 32 just like they did this summer. Although the next recall will need longer training (4+ weeks incl OE), it makes little sense to recall 26 in January when the first plane will hit the line in March. Perhaps they will recall a few toward the end of January, I would guess between 8-14. Then another class the following month, etc.

The new FAA rules should result in more recalls. If say the new rules would decrease scheduling efficiency by 5% across the board (complete assumption here), most airlines would have everyone back on the property for summer. Some would be hiring. That would be a nice break for the industry. However it seems regional carriers will see drastic changes, while my feeling is that other carriers will be effected to a lesser degree. Spirit has a lot of night flying. But other than that, the rest of the schedule is very laid back. 1-3 legs are typical and I can't even recall a single layover where I was not legal for a few beer. So it is hard to say what will the new needs be after the new rules.

Well... at least as long the regionals get their people back, heck I might even have a chance to fly a Navaho to the Bahamas in case I don't get recalled... :rolleyes:
 
I agree with that huncowboy...I think Spirit will actually gain efficiency with the new rule changes (if the rumors of 12 hour max day are true), which might be a bad thing. They will LAX turns, maybe even squeeze in LIM for a turn.
 
Mike Oxlong said:
I agree with that huncowboy...I think Spirit will actually gain efficiency with the new rule changes (if the rumors of 12 hour max day are true), which might be a bad thing. They will LAX turns, maybe even squeeze in LIM for a turn.
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I have heard that the FAA has told some airlines they plan to reduce the flight time limit to 7 hours and 14 hour duty days max. That would prevent us from doing turns to many south american cities.

I would much rather them just give us a much lower max duty day and no limit on flight time. I get more fatigued sitting at the airport than flying.
 
Did you guys get a contract ?? Last time someone posted anything about Spirit you authorized a strike by 90 some percent, must have missed something.
 
Beetle007 said:
I have heard that the FAA has told some airlines they plan to reduce the flight time limit to 7 hours and 14 hour duty days max. That would prevent us from doing turns to many south american cities.

I would much rather them just give us a much lower max duty day and no limit on flight time. I get more fatigued sitting at the airport than flying.
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Why would you give anything? Why would you want to fly over 8 hours?
I can believe those arse kissers..
8 hours flying in one duty period is fine leave it as it is.
Only people who don't fly the line or Management wannabees will talk like that.
But don't worry, You'll get your no flight time limit, FAA is pro Corporate and will give something in return for reducing max duty time.
they'll Make sure they don't get in the way of big interests.
This country is just a huge banana republic...
 
9rj9 said:
Did you guys get a contract ?? Last time someone posted anything about Spirit you authorized a strike by 90 some percent, must have missed something.
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98% and still no...they have reached some agreements on a few sections but have not touched the pay and scheduling sections.

Mike A. told a recurrent class to plan on the negotiations dragging out through the next year...which seems amazing to me, that if they are planning on that how is that good faith bargaining?
 
It seems both max duty and max flying will be adjusted depending on the type of flying. In some cases shortened, in others lengthened. Numbers for duty are between 9-13h, for block between 7-11h.

From the: Cleveland Ohio Business News said:
...Instead of 16 hours' duty time, with eight hours off for rest and sleep, the airlines propose that maximum duty time range between nine and 13 hours. The exact amount -- detailed in a table attached to the airlines' letter to the FAA -- would depend on how many legs pilots fly in a shift and the time of day they start work.

At the same time, the airlines want to increase the maximum number of flight hours that pilots are allowed at the controls of the plane - it's now eight. Maximums instead would range from seven to 11 hours per shift, depending on legs flown and start times...
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http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/09/airlines_want_to_shorten_pilot.html


I am not sure if this will be a good thing or not. If they can max out my flying while minimizing duty, initially I would think that is a good thing. I can reach my target hours in less days, thus we can have more days off. No?

On the other hand most airline contracts already have a limit of 14 hours on duty. If it will only be reduced to 13, for other than regional airplanes that fly a ton of legs a day, that is not much of a gain.

Either way... this is quite complex to figure out but something tells me we are going to get f_ed. Just like we always do.
 
...thus we can have more days off. No?
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According to the head of crew planning, in their perfect world everyone at Spirit would fly 72 hours and have the minimum days off ( I watched him speak the words).
 
Mike Oxlong said:
According to the head of crew planning, in their perfect world everyone at Spirit would fly 72 hours and have the minimum days off ( I watched him speak the words).
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I don't doubt that. But I in my pref bid days I remember the best I could ever do was bidding minimum schedule, and trying to get days with high block time. The highest block you could find was 7.5h. So in order to get my min 80 or so hours I had to get 11-12 such days if I could. So I could end up with 18-19 days off which has happened a lot once I was senior. If the max block would have been higher like 10, I could have ended up with 22 days off.

Of course that is with pref bidding, and NK does not have that. Still we do have max line values, and the same logic could apply.
 
huncowboy said:
I don't want _crapbidding either. Not since they showed us what they can do with the schedules when they took 4 off away. That was just an example.
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In the meantime it sounds like you didn't mind flying blocks of 11 hours per duty period. Talking about opening a can of worms..
 

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