How is Colgan?

[Capn Lucky]

I'm trying to be positive....

There is one thing Colgan, and several other carriers, can do which would make me believe they care about safety. That is to dump the 135 exemptions and treat Beech crews like a 121 carrier IE 30 in 7 and 100 a month. Any thoughts out there?

I feel better now

 

[chperplt]

dump the 135 exemptions and treat Beech crews like a 121 carrier IE 30 in 7 and 100 a month

But that would mean more pilots which would mean less options on the buffet line.

I think it's a great idea but will have to come from the FAA after a few more commuter (<19 seat) airplanes crash.

 

[av8n4life]

You all are freakin' unbelieveable. At one point (even if you were called by Colgan) you came to work for them...now maybe your gone and good for us. There is no reason that anyone out there should be flying an a/c that isn't airworthy. If you are, shame on you. As I have said here before, it is the crew that does the pre-flight and post flight inspections along with run-ups....the Captain has to agree that the a/c is airworthy. Reguardless, any pressure someone feels to fly an aircraft is put on by themselves, b/c you got the fars to back you up.

So, bottom line. Colgan is a great place to work especially if you want flight time and lots of it. Yes, the schedule may stink but what do you expect, you aren't a 15 year employee at mainline and with you attitudes you never will be...sorry kinda harsh but truth hurts!!!

 

[350DRIVER]

You all are freakin' unbelieveable. At one point (even if you were called by Colgan) you came to work for them...now maybe your gone and good for us. There is no reason that anyone out there should be flying an a/c that isn't airworthy. If you are, shame on you. As I have said here before, it is the crew that does the pre-flight and post flight inspections along with run-ups....the Captain has to agree that the a/c is airworthy. Reguardless, any pressure someone feels to fly an aircraft is put on by themselves, b/c you got the fars to back you up.

So, bottom line. Colgan is a great place to work especially if you want flight time and lots of it. Yes, the schedule may stink but what do you expect, you aren't a 15 year employee at mainline and with you attitudes you never will be...sorry kinda harsh but truth hurts!!!

well said my friend, I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Those who b!tch, whine, complain, etc, really are not conveying any points nor would I take any of it to heart if I were a new hire there or looking to go there. Last time I checked the FAA had not pulled their 121 certificate and they were in good standing.

Those who sign the release with equipment that is not airworthy can only blame themselves for accepting that aircraft. I would say some of this "bitterness" is probably coming from those who have moved on only to go to another regional, I surely wouldn't be overly happy and can see where this attitude is coming from but the bashing is pretty childish.

I would only hope the majority can see the big picture here. I spoke to a pretty senior captain there recently and he even said the place is no different from any other regional with regards to mx, procedures, etc, so take this "bitterness" that you are seeing with a grain of salt.


If you don't like it then leave, very simple and requires very little thought if any. I would have no problems putting family, friends, or myself on a Colgan flight.


3 5 0

 

[chperplt]

I would have no problems putting family, friends, or myself on a Colgan flight.

Why don't you then.. Hop on one of the 1900s and then tell us about it. Bring your whole family while your at it.. Well, you might want to leave at least on at home.

 

[350DRIVER]

Why don't you then.. Hop on one of the 1900s and then tell us about it. Bring your whole family while your at it.. Well, you might want to leave at least on at home.

I would have no problem doing so, been on them quite a few times in fact. I am still here to tell ya about it so guess they must not be that bad.

3 5 0

 

[Capn Lucky]

You all are freakin' unbelieveable. At one point (even if you were called by Colgan) you came to work for them...now maybe your gone and good for us. There is no reason that anyone out there should be flying an a/c that isn't airworthy. If you are, shame on you. As I have said here before, it is the crew that does the pre-flight and post flight inspections along with run-ups....the Captain has to agree that the a/c is airworthy. Reguardless, any pressure someone feels to fly an aircraft is put on by themselves, b/c you got the fars to back you up.

So, bottom line. Colgan is a great place to work especially if you want flight time and lots of it. Yes, the schedule may stink but what do you expect, you aren't a 15 year employee at mainline and with you attitudes you never will be...sorry kinda harsh but truth hurts!!!

That's pretty much what I said up front. However, those who have been piling on Colgan also have some valid points. I am not a disgruntled former employee. I left the company on good terms and I remain on good terms with people there. As I've said many times, Colgan was very good to me. However, Colgan is very comparmentalized and "senior" Captains in Maine have no idea what goes on in Pennsylvania because of the base structure. Also, until recently, Saab crews had no idea what life was like for Beech crews. That is changing with transisitons for beech cpt's. There are a few people who are still upset over the events of last August. I haven't formed an opinion because the final report has not been issued. They have a right to their feelings. For the record, every flight where I was a crew member was legal. I saw a few Captains have to talk to people in Manassas because of a write up, but as stated earlier, the FAR's prevailed.

If Colgan has offed you a job, take it. I hope you had half as good an experience as I had.

 

[BRA]

With 1300/400, you can probably apply anywhere. That seems to be pretty good time right now. By the time december is here the whole industry will look different. We may all have a better idea of the USair situation by then. For all we know colgan may have people on furlough by december...or it may be the place everyone wants to interview at. You never know. Over the past year every airline has been the hot airline of the month. (except allegheny) Comair was hot, now it has faded. Chautauqua was hot, then they furloughed people, then they got hot again. Skyway was on a bunch of threads, now they have faded. Now comair is the topic again. COex and eagle were no where to be seen, then they exploded. (1 year ago threads were talking about people quiting eagle to go to comair) 2 years ago i swear half the threads were about ACA interviews, pools, odds of getting the CRJ vs prop, and bases. Shortly after the threads were about how far back DOH was ACA going to furlough. Now aca is called independence and they still have people on furlough from 2 years ago. I suggest dice or coins for your decision.

 

[Justino]

Thanku

Thank you all for your words of advice they are surely appreciated. I am also considering going back to instructing full time with maybe a Mesa Pilot Dev school to teach students MEL SEL stuff. I figure this would bolster my credentials even more and get me back into the "swing of things" within flying. Man so man y decisions and fewer choices! All I know is that I would be so happy to be back in the cockpit even if it was a c-152 again or a Pa-44 (as long as it has a GNS 430) ! (joking of course)

Any advice on a good school to instruct at?

Thanks

~J

 

[jetops]

freakin' unbelieveable

You all are freakin' unbelieveable. At one point (even if you were called by Colgan) you came to work for them...now maybe your gone and good for us. There is no reason that anyone out there should be flying an a/c that isn't airworthy. If you are, shame on you. As I have said here before, it is the crew that does the pre-flight and post flight inspections along with run-ups....the Captain has to agree that the a/c is airworthy. Reguardless, any pressure someone feels to fly an aircraft is put on by themselves, b/c you got the fars to back you up.

So, bottom line. Colgan is a great place to work especially if you want flight time and lots of it. Yes, the schedule may stink but what do you expect, you aren't a 15 year employee at mainline and with you attitudes you never will be...sorry kinda harsh but truth hurts!!!

Well in response to what you say. There were people in the company (dispatch,managment) did pressure pilots to take unairworthy a/c before august (03) There were many times that I know there were a/c that had rigging problem that were flown for the rest of the day . Then have the crew ferry the a/c to MX BASE (HYA ALB HEF) @ night to fix it. This was a common occurrence prior too august. This was pretty common in the year of your absence from CJC. After The August crash they to10-20 cxl every day for mx problems for atlest 4-6 weeks that I know of Colgan Biggest problem is MX on the Aircraft. Too may a/c @hya, mnz, alb too few mechanics and aircraft parts to fix the aircraft’s. If the pilots did not go with mcjr plan for what he want to happen, They would find a way to pay them back IE(schedules , day off )and some how some cpt failed there check rides. And they don’t work for the company anymore. So to say that that type of stuff did not go on @ CJC is a bald-faced lie.

My take on what I seen @ CJC will probably be different from you and all the other people on the Flight Info Board. So I guess it all perception on it. I know most people blame DR,DN for a lot of the problems there but there just puppets .It goes higher than them for some of the decision that are being made on day to day problems . The bottom line is the Colgan Upper Management cares only about the completion rate of the daily flight. To say chperplt has an attitude problem kind of harsh considering that he is speaking the truth about what he seen @CJC.

My personal opinion it a ok place to work as long as you don’t rock the boat .The minute you start rocking the boat they will start making your life more difficult i.e. (day off schedules and brow beating you to death on insigant details that don’t matter ). After about 4 months after the accident it was back to normal status quoe as far how they treated Mx problems and carrying them through the day to the end of the night .Then repo to mx base. Also to spelling Nazi I could care less if you find any mistakes in this post . This is not a collage term paper

 

[chperplt]

To say chperplt has an attitude problem kind of harsh considering that he is speaking the truth about what he seen @CJC.

Well, the fact is I do have an attitude problem when it comes to Colgan.

av8n4lifecan say all she wants that we weren't pushed to fly unairworthy aircraft. The fact is we were, and as a result people are dead.

av8n4life

You probably don't remember a conversation we had over the radio one night going into RKD. I was an FO at the time and it was a typical summer night in Maine. Thick fog covering the approach end of the runway with strong gusty wind shooting down the wrong end of the runway. We gave it the college try and after we missed, went into holding over knox. There was no way we were going to get in with the tail wind and low ceilings.

We called the station and through the station manager talked with you that night. I distinctly remember being asked, told, browbeaten (call it what you will) to give the approach another try. After a few minutes of nonsense, the captain got on the radio and was pissed. He said something about you dispatchers not having a clue about the weather in Maine and that if you got your asses out of your office and actually saw some of things we're asked to do, you'd have a better understanding of why we say no at times. Anyway, he didn't use very nice words and the previously mentioned station manager had the microphone up to the telephone and you heard the entire rant.. Ring a bell at all???

How about the countless times I got penalized for refusing to shoot the ILS into ACK at minimums with a 25 knot tailwind. Were the station personnel lying when they said dispatch wants you to try the approach. You won't try the approach... ok hold for an hour before going into HYA.

Let's not talk about being asked for fly broken airplanes all day. The fact is you weren't asked.. you were expected to do it and be happy about it. My favorite is when I had a flight control problem (aileron jam) going into LGA. After the mechanic determined that both control pulleys were bent and binding, I was expected to ferry the airplane to MNZ.. After I said no and got the wrath of DR and DN, they tried to goat rope another crew into doing it. It was only after I told the other crew what was really wrong with the airplane that they refused. Rather than fixing the airplane in LGA, DN and TB flew the airplane back to MNZ..

Or how about the time I was in ALB (before it was a maintenance base) during a blizzard. On the way back from ISP the FOs attitude indicator failed. After I wrote it up, I was told I was going to ferry it to MNZ. I said sure.. once it's VFR and the entire flight can be done in VFR.. I got a call from DN, DR, JB, and Jr. trying to get me to fly the thing as is..

My list goes on and on... I know I wasn't the only captain that got phone calls like this. How about the United guy who got so sick of the crap he left the airplane in MHT and quit on the spot, or how about the Saab FO that got fed up with the crap in LGA that he quit between a LGA-PWM turn.. Or how about Steve and Scott who didn't like to say no to flying broken airplanes so they didn't have to get those phone calls.. How about them?? It seemed that dispatch knew the airplane was going to get work done on it.. It seemed that maintenance knew the airplane was going to ALB to get work done on it.. It seems odd to me that the crew was told they were dropping the airplane off in ALB for another crew to pick up a revenue flight.. Seems odd.. So what about it.. What about Steve and Scott?

 

[CTS]

Putting Colgans working conditions aside, the origional questions was would you recommend going to work for Colgan. I would not start at any airline connected to US Airways at this time because of their financial situation. If you already are there then that’s a little different. Of course all majors are having problems at this time, but US Air is by far the most desperate.

I had problems with dispatch as mentioned above. We just handled it differently. We started the approach and broke it off just after the FAF. Then flew the missed followed by a call to ops saying we tried again but couldn't get in. Worked every time.

 

[halfmoon]

pro's-
lots of flying, fast upgrade (<2 years), home every night, 15+ days off month

con's-
you voice your opinion you'll bust you next PC, just say YES and management will love you till you screw up then you'll bust your next PC, remember to be professional even though the company doesn't treat you like a professional or your bust your next PC.......the list could go on

 

[English]

Chperplt,


Good for you for finally speaking up.

I do have to ask, though...did you ever make any reports of your experiences to the FAA? I think the confidential whistle blower number is 800-FLY-SAFE.

 

[Jetmech41]

Good for you Chper!!

Good for you dude! Jason fwd'd your email that you sent him in regards to the LGA Flt.Couldnt beleive it when I heard it. People will learn to keep their mouths shut when their friends die in a Colgan plane. Steve and Scott would be proud of you for speaking your mind. Hope the new company is treating you well. Take it easy.

 

[Rally]

Thanks chperplt

Thanks chperplt,

Good for you to speak your mind. I worked for a different company that claimed I kept making mx problems up, I quit too. I've flown some junk before but never until I got to that company did I ever feel REALLY REALLY uncomfortable. And never in my prior job did I ground airplanes for silly reasons. Out of five places I've worked I grounded airplanes in all five of them. Never got any flack except for two of them. One of them later had a maintenance related crash. One time I grounded a plane because it kept missing and such puffing black smoke etc. Next day a guy with 300 TT and 10 tailwheel went out same EXACT thing happen to him as me he landed (thinking he was on fire) and ran off the side of the runway and nosed over hitting the prop (luckily he shut it down on short final). On another one that kept making STRANGE noises up front, I landed and grounded it. Of course they kept flying it but I refused to fly the particular plane, two weeks later they found the crack firewall that was flexing and making all that racket. I know I will never send my resume into Colgan, I have no tolerance for mx problems at all. This job is hard enough and can be dangerous enough without dealing with MX BS.

 

[chperplt]

I do have to ask, though...did you ever make any reports of your experiences to the FAA?

Yes I have

 

[jetops]

It seemed that dispatch knew the airplane was going to get work done on it..

[font=&quot]As far dispatch knew it was good to fly revenue. It was going to ALB to run ALBBUF afternoon flights. The crew (Scott &Steve ) were suppose to fly a another broke aircraft back to HYA to have maintenance fix it.[/font]