70 seat & senority questions

[scabseeker]

What regionals have 70+ seaters? From memory: ASA, Comair, Mesaba, Mesa, Horizon, Skywest, Air willy, Eagle. Any others I forgot?

Also, anyone out there know what kind of senority it takes to hold captain on one. Like say a summer of 1998 hire. Could he/she hold a captain slot on a 70 seater at these companies?

Thanks

 

[328dude]

Mid Atlantic

PSA (for now)

 

[Palerider957]

ASA 700 Capt. spots are a mix of VERY senior and pretty junior. As we took delivery of the 700's people wanted to see what the lines and QOL would be. Right now the new Capt. spots seem to be going pretty senior.

 

[scabseeker]

Sorry, forgot about PSA. How senior is it going over there?

Also, what is defined as "pretty junior" over at ASA?

 

[skeezer]

Sorry, forgot about PSA. How senior is it going over there?

You will be a Captain on it right out of new hire class if you are a J4J pilot...but that is another story.

Since all our pilots will be dual-qualified on the 200 and 700 any captain can hold it. The most junior captain we have is an October 2000 hire so until we upgrade our current FOs that will be the most junior guy in the jet, and that is after all the Doniers are retired. Of course unless you get to fly the -700 before August 12th, you will never get the chance to do it at PSA because they will all disappear (the -700's that is) on that date.

Skeezer

 

[S2B]

Here at Eagle it is about 6 years to hold CA in the Cj70 in ORD and about 12 years to hold it in DFW.

 

[CF34-3B1]

ASA CRJ700 Capt

DFW DOH 06/2000

ATL DOH 03/2000

Juniormost guys I saw on the list, but I may have missed some.

 

[Ace McCoy]

Mesaba is a little slower

At Mesaba the Avro in MEM can be had at Jul 1998, DTW is Apr 1998 and MSP is sometime in 96. The sad part is the Saab is Aug of 1999...ouch.

 

[j41driver]

Here at Eagle it is about 6 years to hold CA in the Cj70 in ORD and about 12 years to hold it in DFW.

You can hold CRJ70 CA in 6 years at Eagle?? Not long ago it was about 6 years to Saab CA, wasn't it? Things must be looking up a bit.

 

[surplus1]

The number on a seniority list or the DOH of a pilot holding a particular vacancy is not a true indicator of what it takes to hold a particular position. Pilots don't always bid the biggest aircraft just because they can hold the slot (as you all know).

If you want a true indication here's a suggestion:

1. How many of the type does your company operate? (At Comair we operate about 25 CRJ7)

2. What is the staffing formula at your company? (At CMR it is roughly 10 pilots - 5 crews - per airframe).

Those two things give you an "honest" picture of what it takes to hold a left seat in the particular airline. If you can better those times its a question of luck and opportunistic bidding.

At Comair, that only calls for about 250 pilots in the CR7. Half of them would be captains or about 125.

On the 01/01/04 list, there were 111 Captains holding the CR7. If it was strictly based on seniority you would have to have a number of 111 or less to really "hold" the left seat in this aircraft. That equates to a DOH of 1987 or 17 years with the company to "guarantee" that you could hold this type as Captain.

That's really the only way that you can accurately determine the YOS required to hold a particular position. The more "types" your airline operates, the more variations you'll have.

Example: As of 01/01/04 there were a total of 905 Captains in the airline. So, based on strict seniority your "number" would have to be 905 or lower to guarantee you can hold a Captain position in anything. That number equates to a DOH of 11/1999 or almost 5 years with the company.

In actual practice, I think the most junior CR7 Captain has a hire date of 03/2000 and is 35 years old. That tells you that quite a few pilots that could "hold" the CR7 have elected not to bid it. Why? Probably because the difference in pay and QOL that your schedule could produce does not justify sitting reserve or haveing a "not so good" line of time. There are many more schedule options available if you stay in the smaller aircraft.

The most junior captain I could find overall has a hire date of 01/2001 and there are only 2 captains hired in that year. Both are over 35.

These numbers will change when the "list" is next updated, but there won't be huge differences. We are not growing any more.

There is not much "soft" time in our schedules so being "senior" doesn't mean you can get high credit pay for doing a whole lot of nothing (as is the case at those legacy carriers that haven't reorganized as yet).

This airline has "matured" and there are no more "instant" captains. Upgrade times will get longer in the future unless there is fleet expansion or heavy retirement. Continuous rapid expansion and quick upgrades can only be expected when your company is a "come lately".