Mesa--senority not required

[Big Air]

Otto,
Always hunting!

BTW Otto, I see that you have already flown the Dash?
Were you holding out on us or are you that confident you won't push the attriation rate to 80% ? Thursday is almost here...

 

[Rottweiller]

rott. you must be captain of the month in your shop huh? You sound just like the captain who told you to shut up in your past life.
by the way, nice avitar

Hey Jea, this whole business is a learning process and yes I try not to be like my past peers. Oh and thanks on the avitar. Now lets have another beer and nuff said?!

 

[I.P. Freley]

BTW, does Mesa use the old 1200/120 hour limitations for flight time? I know that at CommutAir the 135 time limits still applied even though they obviously had become a 121 carrier.

Seems like a 2-3 year Beech FO would have a minimum of 3000TT and would be eligible to upgrade into the Dash if they were willing to bid for an airplane they'd be seatlocked in... And were willing to move to the western half of the country. Am I to believe that NONE of Mesa's Beech FO's bid the Dash and they made street captains out of a whole class of newhires?

Am I reading this right or should I have another coffee and read this whole thing again?

 

[CitationLover]

yes we use 135 rest req's @ air middie, i think the far's allow it if the payload capacity is under 7000lbs or so.

the beech drivers and co-drivers can only bid beech captain or jet captain. we cannot bid over to the dash as per our wonderful contract.

 

[I.P. Freley]

Okay, I get it now. I think.

You can go from Beech FO to Jet CAP but NOT to Dash CAP?

Isn't that kind of odd? I mean, I'd think that they'd welcome the "middle step" of the Dash to the much larger jump from 1900 to a jet...

What is the rationale behind this? Some sort of "guarantee the Dash jobs to the J4J 'flowbacks'?"

I know a friend of mine left AirMidwest for another airline because of seatlock and longevity issues, to mention nothing of pay issues. I won't tell you where he went but it rhymes with TomAir.

 

[Otto Coarsen]

I.P.

Yea that's pretty much right....

As per contract, Jet FOs can become Jet captains. Dash FOs can become Dash Captains and/or Jet Captains. Beech FOs can become Beech Captains or Jet Captains... Anyone appointed a captain position at any time becomes seatlocked. 18 months for prop captains and 36 months for jet captains.

The "silo" as they call it is in place because management says that a lot of money was spent training and retraining people who jump around from jet FO to Prop capt and back to jet capt. The implementation of this policy has supposedly saved the company a bunch of cash.. (Who knows)

Anyhow, the Air Midwest guys and gals really get the poop end of the stick on this one, because AMW captain pay is consistantly about 10 bucks per hour less than Dash captain pay.. In fact Beech captain pay is really about the same if not a little less than JET FO pay after 2 or 3 years.. When one is hired at Mesa, they don't know what equipment they are getting assigned... In fact the only real clue is if your GS is in PHX you are going to either the DASH, CRJ, or ERJ. If your GS is in ICT, well then youo are going to the mighty beech....

Mesa has grown so much that with the increased capacity (and seniority) most folks who have been here a while have been told to expect jet capt spots soon, and have avoided seatlock by not bidding prop captain in their airplane.. This has created a demand for Prop captains on the Dash as well as the beech...

As you can see it gets really tricky.. The problem really isn't with silos in my opinion. I think the real issue here is BEECH pay is too low... I don't think there should be a huge difference like there is between dash and beech pay. (and I don't think we should meet halfway!) The beech drivers need higher pay period.... That way there would be encouragement to stick around and take the seatlock.

IP, by the way, I was the guy who left shuttle america to jump on this deal... I must say it couldn't have come at a better time, because I hear they are closing TTN... I lived like 25 minutes from there and was happy with the no commuting thing.. What is the word over there?? Good or Bad?

 

[CitationLover]

I think the real issue here is BEECH pay is too low... I don't think there should be a huge difference like there is between dash and beech pay.

is air middie the highest paid beech drivers out there? who else is there (colgan, great lakes, commutair, midwest express, am i missing someone (not the pft guys like tab either))?

the beech should actually get paid MORE as we can "fit" in with the jets and actually catch them while the dash plugs it all up and causes delays.

 

[I.P. Freley]

>>>IP, by the way, I was the guy who left shuttle america to jump on this deal... <<<

Leave it to me to NOT know who you are or even what you are talking about...

>>>What is the word over there?? Good or Bad?<<<

Didn'tcha know we're getting a Concorde?

Or maybe I heard that wrong, maybe we're going to the A CONCOURSE. One of those two must be true, huh?

Seriously, no news other than rumor. Time will tell, I guess.

 

[Otto Coarsen]

Otto,
Always hunting!

BTW Otto, I see that you have already flown the Dash?
Were you holding out on us or are you that confident you won't push the attriation rate to 80% ? Thursday is almost here...

Thanks Air! As if I didn't have enough to worry about!

I'm freakin buddy!


Anyhow I fly the Dash CPT daily..

PLUS, I know that dash drivers get all the chicks.... AND... I figured that with that on my resume (I aced the systems test in 15 minutes remember) I could pull in some serious gasheesh you know what I mean????



Right????


NIce...

 

[retire02]

I ahve been warned to steer clear of Mesa based on their contract practices. Are Mesa pilots really blackballed from moving to other airlines?

 

[WileE]

Short answer?

No.

 

[ChinaClipper]

Mesa pilots?

NO! Freedumb pilots, YES! They should be SKINNED!