Colgan Question

[jayspilot]

I am curious if any colgan drivers out there can tell me what a typical schedule is like. Duty days, days off.. junior bases, upgrade rumors...thanks

 

[BRA]

You average around 5 hours a day. 11-16 days off a month. 16 hour duty day. You basically fly to the same 2 to 7 airports all month....or for as long as you are at a base. Which could be for one month...or for a year or so. They have almost 20 different bases....and you can pretty much have a shot at any of them. Some are just saab bases though/ or just beech bases. Job is solid though....in a rough time in the industry. We fly regulary...and no one does much reserve. Lots to like about it, lots to like not as much. Upgrade rumors? I have no idea....upgrade is based on seniority, hours, and i have heard "if they like you or not".

 

[CFINY]

Colgan...

Hi all,

I am looking for some info. about Colgan, such as: bases, upgrades, pay scale for CPT. and FO., schedule etc...

Thanks very much.

P.S. I heard, that Colgan is getting ERJ's or CRJ's...Is this true???

 

[chperplt]

P.S. I heard, that Colgan is getting ERJ's or CRJ's...Is this true???

NOT true...

When the rest of the airlines starts beaming people around like they do in star trek, Colgan may get jets.

 

[chperplt]

Duty days, days off.. junior bases, upgrade rumors...thanks

Upgrade in the 1900... They like 2500 total, 1000 in type, 1 year with the company. We have no union, and have a lot of low time pilots, so it does not go in seniority order. If you come in with high time and a lot of multi time, you can expect an upgrade in 6-8 months. The 1000 in type is wanted, not an insurance requirement.

Upgrade in the Saab.. The above numbers are the same, but realistically you are looking at 2-3 years with the company. Maybe this will improve if we pick up more Saabs. The company seems to be happier transitioning people from Beech captain to Saab captain rather than upgrading a lot from within the Saab.

BRA was pretty accurate on the rest..

Not a bad company to work for if you want to build time at a good pace. The airplanes aren't brand new, but the flying is fun!

 

[CFINY]

LGA...

How many planes/pilots is based in LGA?, and how hard is to get LGA as a base?

Thanks again...

 

[chperplt]

Planes and pilots based in LGA... 0

We do not have a LGA base.. Our base system is made up of outstations for the most part. We fly into the hubs from those outstations.

Current bases that I can remember

Beech

HEF
ALB
BUF
SYR
AUG
BHB
PQI
HYA
HTS
LEB
JTS
Shenandoah Valley and Altoona opening in MAY
BKW closing in May
LNS closing in March

SAAB bases

MHT
HEF
PWM
PVD
ROA
ORF

 

[CFINY]

commuting...

Hi chperplt...

Thank you for the info.

How many people are commuting to work?, and how hard would be to commute from NYC lets say to ALB, SYR or PVD ?

Best regards.

 

[BRA]

From NYC would be a very easy commute if you use LGA. That is about the easiest commute you can get i say.

 

[chperplt]

Most people commute to work.. Commuting out of LGA should not be difficult to those places.

 

[BRA]

You can use any us airways mainline or regional partner very easy. And the system has lots of options in the northeast. Many flights. You can call a 1-800 # to find out all the flights, and all the loads on the flights...to see if you will have a seat or not. After a while you will have it all memorized. And if you have to, you can jumpseat on other airlines to get around. During your days on.....you most likely will have to sleep at your base....at your own expence. This is a necesary evil of our system. So there are some crashpads available. May be whiteplains could be a nice base for you? I don't know how close that is. We have some people that just drive an hour and a half or so to their base whenever they have to work. I will say this.....it all totally beats flight instruction so far!

 

[WhiteCloud]

How's the commuting out of HEF or IAD?

 

[BRA]

Well IAD has choices too....and if it doens't work....DCA is close by...and it has lots of US Airways flights.

 

[getonit]

Are they hiring or not?
I have seen several ads for positions, but I am not going to pay some fee to apply if there are no jobs.

 

[chperplt]

Colgan Air is hiring. Interviews are to begin soon if they haven't already started. Classes are planned to begin in April. We are picking up more routes and opening more bases. We need pilots.

People in other threads on regional hiring have already been called for interviews soon after applying.

 

[SpocksBeard]

Those of you that have been called by Colgan: What kind of times do you have? I've been updating my resume with them since I had 1000 hours every single month and I also filled out their new application last month. It's frustrating to hear that somebody just recently filled out the application with relatively low time and got the call soon after when I've been trying so hard for so long. Its good to hear that people are getting called though.
Thanks.

 

[chperplt]

It's frustrating to hear that somebody just recently filled out the application with relatively low time and got the call soon after when I've been trying so hard for so long.

People with low time who get called generally have Beech 1900 time and or military time..

 

[SpocksBeard]

Ahhh...Now it makes sense. I'll just hurry up and wait then.

 

[jayspilot]

to all of those that applied to my thread, thanks.. I have an interview this comming week and am looking foward to it. I appreciate the info everyone has provided

 

[chperplt]

good luck