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Thanks Guys this board rocks! Your answers are what I was thinking but you never know especially if you think you may be missing an opportunity. Thanks for everyone's input
 
If you decide to pass on SkyWest, I hope you tell them when you get your call for class (if not sooner) and not when they call you wondering why you are not in class. That would be poor form.
 
Precisly. That is why I am soliciting opinions now so I have some idea of what to say when they call. Skywest is an excellent airline. Everyone I know that works there enjoys their job and loves the company. I also like the way they fly. Unlike Horizon they tend to be airspace concious and will do things to expedite flow as opposed to clogging it up. Don't worry Mr. Niel, Camielle will be the first to know.
 
What were you saying about Horizon? Please elaborate...
 
I have numerous examples. Mostly the Dash guys. I was #5 for T/O in Redmond OR behind two Skywest EMB120's ,Ameriflight SW4 and a Citation. Visibilt was Clr and a mil. Watched the Portland Horizon Shuttle fly up the airway, the 30DME Arc to the ILS and land. Took him 10min. I don't think the tower guy realized he could let us go once he had him in sight, but he did try to coax them into cancelling. Another one went missed with a 2000' overcast in Lewiston Idaho throwing 5 aircraft into holding for 30 min. Skywest will cancel at any time if they are VFR and have the airport in sight to let aircraft depart or start appraoches. In 2 1/2 years of flying the northwest I have never seen any Horizon aircraft do anything but plug things up. I have friends there and give them constant grief about it. One of them told me they have a list of many things requires before they can cancel and sometimes it's easier just not to so they don't violate their op specs. Skywest seems to be eager and willing to get the job done safely and efficiently.
 
Uh, I believe most 121 operators will not cancel IFR just to allow someone else to T/O or to commence an approach. Perhaps I'm a minority but its not worth it.

This is a very common scenario. You are going into a field late at night. The tower is closed. It's much easier on everyone to just cancel IFR 10-15 miles out, right? So we do that and switch over to advisory. On landing we hit a deer (coyote, cow, wildebeast, whatever), veer off the runway and bend a lot of metal. Who is going to iniatiate search and rescue. Sure not ATC. They are done with us.

Same scenario, but this time we see the obstacle and go around. Now you're going back into controled airspace, trying to find a frequency, perhaps the weather is marginal, you're calling ATC, they're confused, you're staying low to remain VMC in unfamilier terrain at night. No, it's just not worth it to me.

There is a reason why an airlines ops specs are very restrictive about when you can cancel or depart VFR to get a clearance. Plus we all get paid by the flight time, right?
 
I agree. We aren't flying around a 172 anymore boys. We are responsible for the lives of paying passengers. Is there a time and place to cancel IFR...yes. But in 121 ops, many times it isn't justified. On the canceling note...at least we don't forget to cancel like some of the brand new 135 guys. Holding over the VOR at IMT at midnight at the end of a 14 hour duty day isn't exactly fun just because some new kid forget how to cancel after landing his Caravan. How many of you guys flying 121 have current VFR charts on board? At Lakes we almost always did but at Air Willy, no aircraft have them that I know of. Kind of hard to cancel IFR when you legally can't (ie no charts).
 
Talked to Plato at Air Inc Career Fair last year. For those of you who dont know who he is, he had just retired as Delta's head of HR. Said I had a pretty competitive resume pre 9/11 but since everyone wouldnt be hiring for at least 3 yrs what did I want to do? Every RJ captain was till building PIC jet time so what would be competitive? Did I want to keep flying middle of the night cargo, in funky equipment and wx? I got the call for class two days later and was in ground school two weeks later. Upgraded to captain in 8months. I love skywest! Best descision I ever made. Sweated out that first year FO pay though!
 

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