Need 411 on Empire Air

[refplusnone]

How about we make it a threesome?

To quote the GPS on 729. "You dirty little mother Fokker."

 

[thunderworm]

Ummmm....nope. Wrong again!

we all know the others are pilots are you ashamed of your position?

 

[blingair]

Ummmm....nope. Wrong again!

Who ever you are your certainly arent a line pilot and I couldn't care less. Just when you think things cant get any worse, they get out a shovel and start digging deeper. Every day my fellow pilots and I are treated like the white crust in the corner of a dry mouth and literally every day we lose some sort of benefit which reduces our already meager earnings. Almost forgot, no life...ever. We travel/move constantly away from our loved ones and home. Forget about trying to plan a day off because as soon as you do you will lose it. 3 days off in the last 90 days for me. ALL HOLIDAYS AWAY FROM HOME AND FAMILY. If I hear that Empire is a moral, familiy style business again I'll puke. Think this is just me? Nope, every pilot and mechanic (they feel worse) hates how they are treated. The I dont give a fuk attitude among employees is palpable. F/Os are trying to fly as much as they can (trip trade) to upgrade and move on and the PICs (the true whipping boys) are trying to get their 1000 ASAP! With such a good group of pilots, the amazing job that they do and the dispicable way their treated I wonder how some people sleep at night. I know I dont- because I'm always working.

 

[general_sline]

blingair,
I have resisted replying to this thread for a long time, but I really feel sad for ya. I remembr earlier you telling me that you were going to stay the course and make Empire the place to be, or at least your place to be. You have got to pull yourself away from the edge. Based on what has been put on here it seems the management of Empire has choosen to value itself and the company more than its people (now you say the mechanics are unhappy too). This is too bad, when a small company takes itself more seriously than it should it loses, everytime. There is simply no reversing it. As a pilot you should not be as worried as you are. You, along with the mechanics, are the lucky ones, you have a marketable skill. I know it may not seem that way, but find some pilots who have been furloughed or had their company go away, if they made an effort pretty much all have ended up on their feet and many have ended up in improved situations. Just look at all the ex-TWAers at UPS and FedEx. My advice is keep fighting the good fight, but take a step back and understand most of those you are fighting with, middle managers, paper pushing HR types, and dispatchers, have less possibilities for their future if Empire doesn't work out and this puts you in an enviable position from their viewpoint. Get you time at Empire and start looking for an airline with at CBA, that requires a union, and a place you can make a life at.
Good luck and feel free to pick apart my grammar, my spelling, my lack of intelligence or whatever else, but I hope you can find some peace. That OE will taste less bitter, if that is possible.
sline

 

[blingair]

Thanks man. They made it pesonal when they starting messing with my sick mom and christmas time. Basically the last straw. Just waiting for my union card in the mail.

 

[fokkers&beer]

Just one pilots opinion, but saying DP in dispatch is a real champion for the pilots is like saying MK in HR is a real sweet lady and just wants to help.
The one example I can think of this is when we started to get short on pilots, they would pull them out of SEA and when I asked why we were working away from home, and flying so much he told me that the SEA pilots had more time off and were at home more than any other base. (This was right after they had to pull me off a JNU turn to have enough time left to go to CWA and fly for a week without going over 100 hours that month.)
The only reason per diem and things changed around there in 2000-01 was because they just couldn't get pilots to come and stick around there. If dispatch was involved somehow in making pilots comp packages better it was because of benefits they would have received. IE more reliability and enough pilots who stuck around to be upgraded. As you know that came to a screeching halt on 9/11.
Please do not misunderstand me. I really enjoyed working there and the people in COE for the most part were fair to me, and like I have said in the past that when I left it was time for me to leave.

 

[fokkers&beer]

I don't know how to edit the posts anymore. I guess I should say that Julyabee if your initials are DP (but your bdays in Dec) or if you are in dispatch and are a JP or DB, I take back what I said. You never treated me wrong, and you know more of the inside goings on and what you say I do truly respect.

 

[blingair]

F & B, hey brother. Dude, we do nothing but travel. Bases mean very little.
We travel (hotel, rental car, per diem etc.) to cover a base so they don't have to pay six day pay. I only fly four days in my base this month not to mention we always fly Captain on Captain which is incredibly dangerous in my book.

Oh yes, almost forgot. My posts here have been printed off and handed to my bosses. Aparently free speach is yet another benefit we've lost.


Take Care,
Richard.

 

[illanoise]

Im curious to know how Fedex feels about a feeder group unionizing.

 

[illanoise]

F & B, hey brother. Dude, we do nothing but travel. Bases mean very little.
We travel (hotel, rental car, per diem etc.) to cover a base so they don't have to pay six day pay. I only fly four days in my base this month not to mention we always fly Captain on Captain which is incredibly dangerous in my book.

Oh yes, almost forgot. My posts here have been printed off and handed to my bosses. Aparently free speach is yet another benefit we've lost.


Take Care,
Richard.

Long time listener, first time poster.

I ran into some of your guys in MEM a while back and I must say things sound very bad at Empire Airlines.

How do they know who you are? Without any proof, taking action without knowing who someone is would be very hard to prove. If they fire you I would get a lawyer and sue for slander. Nothing would push a group more into the arms of a union than terminating a good employee for speaking his mind.

Good luck. It sounds like you pilots need a union.

 

[Lionofzion]

Lionofzion, I know this is moving a little fast for you but try and keep up. I'm...not...the...chief...pilot... and if you read it again you'll see I'm not bashing our pilots. Our guys over all are a great group to work with. I was defending Dan who catches crap from every direction. Including guys like you all.

Sorry EA didn't work for you. But the places you worked at before EA didn't work for you either. So move on.

Are you in the Brady bunch, "MOVE ON , MOVE ON, MOVE ON, JUST KEEP IT MOVING ON DOWN THE ROADDDDDD." I cant move on until I pay my redickulos training contract off. I can smell the rat weasel chief pilot from here. Talk about a no count loser who is going to get two of his pilots killed some day soon. Heres a thought stand up for your peeps and you might gain some respect. I am suprised that no one has called the FAA on him for his just take the airplane as such attitude. Total tool.
Recap- if you are stupid enough to go to EMpire you cant leave for at least 2 years because of the slavery contract. Just so you know, dont go.

 

[dillfer]

Hey Lion--Not enough drama at your current job? For one thing you ought to keep personal opinions about ex-colleagues and bosses to yourself. Pretty unprofessional. Yah, maybe Empire treated you bad, we've all been listining to you wine about it for a while. If the contract was so unfair maybe you shouldn't have signed it. You left before the contract that you signed expired. Don't get me wrong, I dislike contracts as much as the next guy, but nobody put a gun to your head. It's an 18 month contract not a two year by the way. The pilots and management are having many issues right now, I have no doubt that we'll get through them. But I happen to agree with July on this one, you need to move on... since you uh...moved on.

 

[blingair]

LOZ, put down the scotchguard and baggy. Its going to be o.k.

Illanoise, as bad as things are here I dont think they would fire anyone for speaking their mind. The whole group is pretty much feeling the way I do but I've been personally working very hard to make Empire a better company through organizing both the pilot and management groups into speaking and listening together. I've proven myself to the company that Im dedicated and loyal and willing to do what it takes to work throught the differences but at the same time I must insist that the group and myself be treated decently. I believe in the Golden Rule. Plus, under Idaho state labor laws Im protected from hostile terminations because of my membership in a organized labor group; the EPG (Empire Pilot Group).

For clarification about being gone for holidays: our company has a policy that you must live in your base. Im not from my base and my family and house is in another state. So when I work or Im on reserve I must be in my base. With our understaffing its getting pretty rare getting home on a regular basis. So technically we may get the actual holiday off but due to travel time its impossible to make the trip home to see the family and kick the squaters out of my house. So yes we may get the holiday "off" but most are spent alone in the crashpad watching TV and eating at Dennys. The problem is that sometimes on the schedule we may get the days off to travel, so we buy a ticket home (too hard to jumpseat during the holidays) but at the last moment our days off pulled, so we cant get home and we have to eat the cost of the ticket. Thats the rub.

 

[Lionofzion]

Hey Lion--Not enough drama at your current job? For one thing you ought to keep personal opinions about ex-colleagues and bosses to yourself. Pretty unprofessional. Yah, maybe Empire treated you bad, we've all been listining to you wine about it for a while. If the contract was so unfair maybe you shouldn't have signed it. You left before the contract that you signed expired. Don't get me wrong, I dislike contracts as much as the next guy, but nobody put a gun to your head. It's an 18 month contract not a two year by the way. The pilots and management are having many issues right now, I have no doubt that we'll get through them. But I happen to agree with July on this one, you need to move on... since you uh...moved on.

Der Der Der I feel like putting a gun to my head for signing it. Dont remember the part about paying 12% intrest. The contract is a blank form that you sign. They fill in the rest later. Sounds fair huh? Two years or 18 months? One month of being a dirty diaper is to long. If you ar ethinking about going to Empire you will be sorry trust me and every ex pilot.

 

[illanoise]

What is happening over there? Im not too familiar with your company but I could not believe what is on you Empirepilotgroup.org open forum. Frankly Im shocked. At one time I actually was thinking about leaving MAC and going to Empire. Once again, I hope you and your company come out the other side intact.

 

[blingair]

Is that Illinois by chance?
Pilots are just venting right now on the O.F. you know kind of like a therapy session.
The company is going through a transistional period and I'm optimistic that when the dust settles it will be a far improved and stronger company, one that we will all be proud to be a part of.

 

[DZ BUM & EFS]

F & B, hey brother. Dude, we do nothing but travel. Bases mean very little.
We travel (hotel, rental car, per diem etc.) to cover a base so they don't have to pay six day pay. I only fly four days in my base this month not to mention we always fly Captain on Captain which is incredibly dangerous in my book.

Oh yes, almost forgot. My posts here have been printed off and handed to my bosses. Aparently free speach is yet another benefit we've lost.


Take Care,
Richard.

Hey Bling, As in "Richard M. Nixon?" That belongs to me. You know that I do share. Blue Skies.

 

[blingair]

Im not a crook.

 

[blingair]

Oh'Yes Nixon- funny when you think back and catch yourself thinking "man, only if we had a president like Nixon. Those were the good old days."
Had a dream last night that I bought a Glock "8". It was soooo small and was chambered in a weird triangle shaped mean looking .45. I also dreamt that I bought a cool little Chinese looking .32 that looked like a pair of pliers. Its a single shot, breach loading piece that you fire by pressing the two handles together like a normal pair of pliers. I think it would be extremely inaccurate but a great very close-in piece. The Belt-Buckle Derringer comes to mind. Maybe I'll stop swinging gear and start building firearms. American Gunnars perhaps.?

 

[NWaviator]

So, I guess the question is: Apply or don't apply? It seems that nearly everywhere is having some issues. I live in SEA and would liked to get based out of here. Would this be better then flying for Eagle or Horizon?