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Life at Skywest??

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sloflyin

Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2002
Posts
12
I've been at Air Wisconsin for 3 years trying to stick it out for the upgrade, but it doesn't seem like that's really going to be happening any time soon,...so I'm thinking of trying to go to Skywest to be based back at home in Chicago. I was just wanting to know the realistic quality of life there. Are there day trips or 2-days or stand-ups for people that live in base? About how long on reserve? When you get hired, will you know if you get the Emb or the CRJ...or do they not tell you till you get there? What's the chances of getting ORD for a domicile right away? Upgrade time?

Thanks so much in advance for any advice....i'm in need!!!
 
They tell you which airplane when they offer you the job.

Reserve would probably be short right now, I'm guessing 1 month.

Don't know what the pairings look like, but stand-ups go senior at SKW due to work rules.

Generally QOL of life is good, and ORD is junior, so if you want to stay there you will progress quickly. Jet upgrade is currently about 1.5 years in ORD.
 
Anyone know at which regional it has been consistently good? How about a major...

You are prime for day trading.... chasing those short term gains....
 
If you've really been with AWAC for 3 years you'll probably upgrade within 6 months...but if you want to make a lateral move to start at the very bottom of a pilot group with well over 2000 pilots, more power to you and I'd appreciate the bump in seniority. At least then you wouldn't have to commute...
 
I've been here in ORD since Oct... I did one month reserve and my Jan. schedule is all 2 day trips.
 
Kinda ironic thinking about working for the company that low-ball bid AWAC with it's crappier payscales, and essentially helped kicked AWAC out of ORD.
(generally put)

But living in base is half the battle. I wish you luck regardless of what you do.
 
relief tube said:
Kinda ironic thinking about working for the company that low-ball bid AWAC with it's crappier payscales, and essentially helped kicked AWAC out of ORD.
(generally put)

But living in base is half the battle. I wish you luck regardless of what you do.
Click to expand...

Low-ball bid? PFT is worse, and thats basically what your company did to get your US Air flying. I'd rather earn the flying than buy it. AWAC management and UAL kicked you guys out of ORD, not SkyWest.
 
relief tube said:
Kinda ironic thinking about working for the company that low-ball bid AWAC with it's crappier payscales, and essentially helped kicked AWAC out of ORD.
(generally put)

But living in base is half the battle. I wish you luck regardless of what you do.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same situation. RAH, Mesa, Skywest, TSA, etc all low balled ACA/Independence and here I am now.
 
sloflyin said:
Thanks so much in advance for any advice....i'm in need!!!
Click to expand...

With your experience you'd have no trouble finding work in a quality corporate flight department or with one of fractionals like NetJets, FlexJet, or others. I'd look beyond the regionals. No sense making a lateral move and starting over at the same type of job you just left.
 
Thanks to all who took the time to reply. I do realize it's a lateral move which is making my decision so hard (as well as the $20K/yr pay cut!), but my long term goals involve getting senior enough to be able to live in base bidding "local" trips...just was wanting some insider info from people already there so that i had the true picture....and not the "grass is always greener" mentality in my head. Thanks again and any continued info is always appreciated!
 
Looks sorta late for a lateral move. I made mine with less than a year at my last place. Live in domicile now. Can't beat going to parking lot and then driving home. Much less stressful life ecspecially with high load factors we've all seen for the last year with no hope of added seats anytime soon.
 
sloflyin said:
I've been at Air Wisconsin for 3 years trying to stick it out for the upgrade, but it doesn't seem like that's really going to be happening any time soon,...so I'm thinking of trying to go to Skywest to be based back at home in Chicago. I was just wanting to know the realistic quality of life there. Are there day trips or 2-days or stand-ups for people that live in base? About how long on reserve? When you get hired, will you know if you get the Emb or the CRJ...or do they not tell you till you get there? What's the chances of getting ORD for a domicile right away? Upgrade time?

Thanks so much in advance for any advice....i'm in need!!!
Click to expand...

Dumbest think I have seen all day!!!

Leave a perfectly good airline which you will upgrade in at least another year to go to the bottom feeders of the Industry.

Lord knows if you work for skywest you will probably never get hired anywhere else after they have $hitt on so many different pilot groups. Why would you want to be involved in that?
 
Skywest has a open house in ORD on the 10th.. Go check it out it cannot hurt. Ask the questions about bases and trip quality, after all if you leave AWAC and take such a big hit $$ then you should feel confident you are making a good choice. I ride Skywest all the time on the jumpseat (thank you SKYW) and they seem well run and for the most part a nice pilot group.

I hear you on the ORD base and I too came to AWAC for Chicago.


And to the others who think AWAC bought our flying with Airways I think the proper statement should be ... our owners Stole AWAC employee's money to buy stock options at Us Air. What employee here at AWAC had the choice in the matter?? I think the Us Airways move was a smart one on our owners part but they did it the wrong way by lying to the employee's. For that I am bitter and will never trust this place again!
 
Last edited:
Skaff said:
Low-ball bid? PFT is worse, and thats basically what your company did to get your US Air flying. I'd rather earn the flying than buy it. AWAC management and UAL kicked you guys out of ORD, not SkyWest.
Click to expand...

dang your sharp.

Wasn't one of the terms in Skywest buying ASA a contract with Delta that kept them from putting your flying up for bid.

Same thing...get a clue.....

Trust me, anyone with half a brain here does not blame Skywest for where AWAC is today. Our "We Are AWAC...our terms or nothing" mgmt is to blame for that.
 
Last edited:
sloflyin said:
I've been at Air Wisconsin for 3 years trying to stick it out for the upgrade, but it doesn't seem like that's really going to be happening any time soon,...so I'm thinking of trying to go to Skywest to be based back at home in Chicago. I was just wanting to know the realistic quality of life there. Are there day trips or 2-days or stand-ups for people that live in base? About how long on reserve? When you get hired, will you know if you get the Emb or the CRJ...or do they not tell you till you get there? What's the chances of getting ORD for a domicile right away? Upgrade time?

Thanks so much in advance for any advice....i'm in need!!!
Click to expand...

I was a 3 year FO at a US Airways Express carrier flying RJ's also, left for Skywest last summer and have never been happier. Living in Base in Chicago makes this a whole different job!!
There are 2 day trips and stand-ups for people that live in base and the guy who said they go senior doesn't know what he's talking about quite frankly. I have been here for 6 months and have held stand-ups and local trips in the 700 since finishing training. home everyday. Can't beat it. Most of the guys I fly with are commuters and they prefer 4 day trips over short standups.

This month coming up I have 65 hrs of block time with 100hrs credit due to flying standups and locals (min daily guarantee) all month. Our of my class in July NOBODY was on reserve for more than 4 days and that was just the one guy. The rest of us have been line holders since IOE. The class I was in was made up almost entirely of guys from TSA, Eagle, Mesa, Skyway, PSA etc...

ORD is junior by nature because a lot of Skywest folks live out west. Lately though a lot of guys were getting SLC out of training due to the expansion out there. I don't think that will continue though, in fact MKE may become a domicile soon... we'll see. As for upgrade times, that is subject to change of course but even if you don't upgrade in a year and a half a lot of guys above you will and so you will get seniority in ORD fairly quickly. I know several senior FO's here who fly 3 days a week - all local trips and are home every night with 4 days off a week so being a senior FO here is not too bad either.
(the latest upgrade award was for a guy hired July 7th 2005 - CRJ). If you want you could take an upgrade to the brasilia in probably 6 months. Obviously you'd have to commute to SLC or DEN or somewhere though.
 
airtime42 said:
Dumbest think I have seen all day!!!

Leave a perfectly good airline which you will upgrade in at least another year to go to the bottom feeders of the Industry.

Lord knows if you work for skywest you will probably never get hired anywhere else after they have $hitt on so many different pilot groups. Why would you want to be involved in that?
Click to expand...


Obviously you failed the interview in the essay question part. balloon knot
 
If you get hired into the RJ and want to bid emb CA, is there a seat lock? is it waiverable?
 
How many hours do you need to upgrade? 4000 tt here
 
how many ORD FO's have that 2500TT, 1000 crew. Just cause you have the time doesn't mean you'd upgrade any quicker than at AWAC. Even if you have the time, you'd still be in line behind every other skywest FO that does.
 
airtime42 said:
Lord knows if you work for skywest you will probably never get hired anywhere else after they have $hitt on so many different pilot groups. Why would you want to be involved in that?
Click to expand...



Honestly man - that's really ignorant. Yeah, I wouldn't leave air wisky after 3 yrs either, but your comment? Not too bright.

"Pilot attrition is averaging 21 pilots per month. We lost a total of 243 pilots in 2006. (99 RJ CP’s, 79 RJ FO’S, 39 EMB CP’S and 26 EMB FO’s)"


Where do you think they're going? G*jets?
 
OK, enough about flying, let's talk about me. I gotta' hard-on for the Bro out of SBP for my future-self. No SJS here. I draw the line at fat.... well, not too fat chicks. How hard is it to get based there (if my future-self is hired, of course) ??
 
8KCAB said:
OK, enough about flying, let's talk about me. I gotta' hard-on for the Bro out of SBP for my future-self. No SJS here. I draw the line at fat.... well, not too fat chicks. How hard is it to get based there (if my future-self is hired, of course) ??
Click to expand...

As an FO, it's easy to get anywhere in a few months on the bro right now due to movement. CA is more senior, a couple years I think.

FAT is easy, either seat

Will you get hired into the bro? If you have 121 or turbine time, probably not, but you can ask. Also, you can upgrade from CRJ FO to EMB CA if you want to.
 
Sloflyin,

I understand the frustration at the never ending steam of bad news or at the very least, not so good news but if you've been here 3 years then you must have bypassed the upgrade. The lowest CA on the list was a Mar '04 hire.

There are about 10-15 guys that have handed in their 2 weeks or are going to this month. To go to another regional after 3 years and when you're so close to upgrade would be a bit nuts.
 
T-Gates said:
Is the EMB a hard plane to get a type in cold-turkey? I've done two other types with no time in the airplane, but I hear the EMB is pretty whacky. Good training dept. at SKW?
Click to expand...

Just like anyother turboprop. If you can fly guages, and juggle, and chew gum (all at the same time, of course), you'll be fine.

Kidding aside, there have been quite a few guys go the EMB upgrade thing within a few weeks of finishing newhire ground school. Its been a few years ago, though. The training dept. is great, and they'll get you through if you really want it.

The bro is a different animal, but it is an airplane. Flies like an SUV. Makes you think like a Brazilian. Boosts your ego like no other when you land with a 40 kt xwind component.
 
8KCAB,
SBP is generally on the junior side for F.O.'s. I think SBP trips are all locals so it's not friendly for commuters and cost of living is on the high side. Sounds like you might already be familiar with that. As far as upgrading there, it depends on how many F.O.'s plan on bidding it as a captain. It might take you a while to get in as a Captain. Fresno is pretty junior for everything except for RJ captain.
 

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