CommutAir Hiring Question

[AftCG182]

After finishing another great day of flying at the DZ, I'm reminded of another reason for holding out for CommutAir. I spoke with a CA Captain a few months ago who said that he was "not discouraged" from flying jumpers in Florida to make extra $$ while he was a modestly-paid FO. I would really like to keep hauling jumpers, it's too much fun to give up. Plus, rumor has it we're getting an Islander next spring. Hidden agenda? Naaaaaaaaah.

 

[Quillpig]

Plus, rumor has it we're getting an Islander next spring.

That's great. At CommutAir, we've just agreed to replace our 1900s with Twin Otters. "Positive Rate - Gear up ... Never mind."

 

[NEDude]

FWIW, here is my unsolicited advice.

If you live in the Albany area, CommutAir would be a good choice for you. We have had our share of ups and downs, and right now we are very down. But it is a place you can get good experience; and have, at times, a relatively quick upgrade.

Nimitz is correct in saying that nobody is going to come banging down your door at 1000 hours turbine PIC. On the other hand, you can't even start a paper trail at Southwest without it. You can't start a paper trail at AirTran without 500 hours 121 PIC. Long and short, without the PIC time, you have little to no hope.

This industry is cyclical, and I do believe that the majors will return in some fashion. Northwest, Continental and United have all been recalling pilots. Southwest is growing like a weed, FedEx and UPS are hiring, and ASTAR may be hiring soon. America West, AirTran, Alaska and Frontier have all hired off and on over the last few years. So I believe there is some hope out there. I saw this same sort of environment in the 90s as well. Tons of furloughs, a few big airlines going out of business, pay being cut, etc. But by the mid 90s, recalls began and some airlines began hiring slowly. And we all know what happened by the late 90s.

As for CommutAir itself, well it has all been documented pretty well on here. Pay is not the greatest, certainly not enough to hang around long-term. Most regionals pay second year F/Os more than CommutAir pays second or third year captains. But as I stated, you will get good experience here and have a relatively quck upgrade. Don't expect any hiring before spring though. Many people question what the future holds for us.

BTW, does anyone know of a good solid regional, with decent pay, and secure future? What is going to happen with CHQ, TSA, Mesa and all of the wholly owneds if USAirways goes under? Why can't Air Wisconsin get United to give them more flying or land another codeshare? How will Comair, ASA, CHQ and Skywest be affected by a possible DAL bankruptcy? What is going to happen with ExpressJet when other airlines can begin bidding for CAL flying in two years? Seems to me every regional has some big questionmarks in front of them right now.

 

[shamrock]

I'm reminded of another reason for holding out for CommutAir.

"holding out for Commutair"

Now I've heard everything.

 

[AftCG182]

Holding out, waiting for, WHATEVER. All I'm looking for is a little insight into the hiring situation at CA. The only downside to hauling jumpers is that I'll need to find a winter gig in a month or so. Thus, the hiring question.

 

[shamrock]

Sorry Aft,

No offense intended. Just thought the choice of words was interesting.

Don't know what the new developments are at Commutair, but I spent a year and a half there bitching and complaining and it isn't (wasn't?) that bad a place.

 

[AftCG182]

None taken, shamrock. Last winters deal was plowing & snowblowing driveways, so you can probably understand why I'm a little anxious. Made some GREAT cash from plowing, so I really can't complain. There are all kinds of ways to supplement first year FO pay... all I need to do is become a first year FO!

 

[CA1900]

Don't know what the new developments are at Commutair, but I spent a year and a half there bitching and complaining and it isn't (wasn't?) that bad a place.

Yeah, we know you did. Heh. That's OK, I was bitching right there with you.

If it's any consolation, this place has gotten MUCH, MUCH worse since you left. It hardly resembles the company you worked for, which wasn't TOO terrible when you left. Believe me, there's nothing left here for you to miss. Nothing at all.

 

[elguapo9]

Good place to cut your teeth

QOL is my main factor with wanting to stay in ALB. As far as I can tell, only CommutAir and Colgan have domiciles at ALB. I would guess that, on average, new hire F/O's spend a year on reserve. That means moving again. If it can be helped, I would rather not move out of town. Might be time to pack my bags one more time.

Commutair is a good place to cut your teeth on 121 OPS and turboprops. If you wanna stay in ALB, it would probably be ideal for you. Just be prepared to put up with alot of mickey-mouse crap from MGT, and understand that you will be working for a little 'mom and pop' shop. Most of the people that stay at CA do so for QoL issues.

I really enjoyed my time there, and felt like it prepared me well to move on. The people are great, the plane in fun. Just don't expect it to be like many of the airline jobs you have heard about. I.E. no contract, scheduling jerking you around, etc.

 

[1900cpt]

shamrock.....leave the poor guy alone!

 

[shamrock]

I didn't mean any thing by it and have apologized. Jeez, I thought I'd at least get some points for saying something, uh, non-negative, about Commutair.

Don't you have a TA to vote down or something?

 

[Justino]

Does it look like CA will be hiring soon?

 

[CA1900]

Does it look like CA will be hiring soon?

Not likely, but we're always the last to know. A memo we got a few months ago indicated we were overstaffed, but probably wouldn't be furloughing because the pilot group would "right-size itself" -- in other words, enough people would quit anyway in prettty short order.

But hey, don't be surprised if we have another hiring rush because of all the people leaving. (All to fractionals and other regionals, I might add.) I guess they did their job TOO well to "encourage" the pilot group to shrink, because they're fleeing like rats from a sinking ship.

Sad that management can't see that a pay raise would mean a substantially lower training budget and actually SAVE money, but they don't see things long-term like that, I guess.

Too bad, too. It really used to be a fun place to work, but it'll be a hard road to get back to that point.

 

[shamrock]

So when are you leaving, CA?

 

[CA1900]

So when are you leaving, CA?

At this rate, when hades freezes over.

At this stage, I don't really want to jump to another regional and effectively start over after riding this place out. I'm hoping (assuming they stay in business) I can hang in there until someplace substantially better hires me. I'm patient. <grin>

That said, I'm hoping my co-workers are interested in another union vote, so we can start reversing this downward trend here! We'll see.