Pinnacle Airlines - Are they Hiring

[zafar7]

hi guys

i just wanted to know is it true that pinnalce airlines is hirng abour 2 classes a month with each class having 8 students which would make it 16 pilots a month until the end of the year.

Who are they hiring, are they hiring the NWA furlough guys first, or the gulfstream guys. Is is hard to get hired off the street to be a FO.


Also i heard the upgrade time for FO is about 3 years, is that true. Plus the FO in detroit usually fly reserve for 1 year. ALso that after all the 95 confirm jets come to pinnacle, they will stop hiring pilots. currently they have about 650 pilots, and i heard they want up to 1200 is that true also.

Is it a good company to work for, how is the moral with the management and the pilots.

Any insigh would be appreciated. DO they hire guys with time such as 1500TT and 1000multi ATP written, college degree, and part 135 experience, or is that to much or to little

which is the junior base for FO is it Detroit, can one get memphis if they like. Is it true you have to have to know a pilot to get a interview.

 

[DTWFO]

I'll try to answer your questions here, but many can be answered by going to the website at www.nwairlink.com

1. Yes they are hiring aproximately 2 classes of eight new hires a month. They are upgrading aproximately 8 FO's a month for the rest of 2003. Note: These numbers can change at any time and are just aproximations.

2. As far as I know they are still trying to fill each class with 75% NWA furloughs, then Gulfstream, then off the street. Usually there are some off the street in every class?? Note: This is just what I've heard.

3. The upgrade time right now is much longer than what I was told. This also can change as NWA changes their requirments of Pinnacle. I have heard as long as three years.

4. Reserve time in DTW is much longer than MEM or MSP right now. DTW used to be the junior base, now it has shifted to Memphis and Minneapolis. Reserve can be as short as 4 months to as long as a year and a half. Depends on your luck and how many are hired beneath you. You can bid for any base, but awards go by seniority.

5. Of course they will stop hiring when the planes stop coming because there won't be a need to hire crews for planes that aren't there! But who's to say that NWA won't allocate the rest to Pinnacle?

6. Pinnacle uses 5.5 crews per CRJ. You can do the math for the amount of pilots at 95 planes.

7. Go to the website to see the minimums for employment etc. Or contact Stephanie Grantham in MEM. You don't NEED to know someone, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt.

Pinnacle is a good airline to work for. Great people that do an excelent job. However, the pay is poor, the scheduling is poor, and the quality of life is also poor. You'll find this at every regional airline however......well, except maybe Comair. Depending on your base the moral is wide-spread. If you are an FO that has been hired since around March of 2002, then I'd say the morale is horrible (DTW). No one is flying etc.

Note: This post contains information that is accurate to the best of my knowledge. That does NOT mean that this information is fact or set in stone. It represents MY experience and should not reflect on any other Pinnacle employees.

Good luck to you and I hope that this helped you in some way

 

[JJJ]

As far as the staffing per airplane goes, right now they are using about 5.5 crews per airplane. Mgmt has stated that they want to have 4.3 to 4.4 crews per airplane which would be 817 pilots for 95 airplanes. (I seriously doubt that we'll see staffing this low). Then on other days they say there will be 1300 pilots by the end of '04. This works out to be 6.8 crews per airplane.

If I had to guess I would say there will be 1200 pilots by the end of next year. There are 650 on the list now. So if you are hired now, you'll be a senior FO for a while as the attrition is about 1 every 2 - 3 months.

 

[zafar7]

living condition during training

hey guys

i just wanted to know during training pinnacle doesnt pay you for rent or food. How much money do you think one should have when they come for training. I heard pinnalce has it own pilot pad that it rents out to pilots and it is very cheap. also they have a small cafeteria at the office in memphis during training. DO you think having 1000 dollars would be enough to survive during the 2 month training. And what are the hours for sim rides, is it true they do sims around midnight till 3 in the morning. How is the training at pinnalce. What to they focus on. Is the sim difficult, how should one prepar for training at pinnacle. any insight would be appreciated

 

[dondk]

questions, questions, questions...

What DTWFO and JJJ said I agree with for the most part. We are hiring, will it stay at 16 per month? All I will say is "all subject to change"

While we are "trying" to fill each class with NWA furloughee's, many are not biting at the 18 month lock to Pinnacle and others are not making it through the interview trials.

Each class is a different makeup, some have more G-Stream and furloughee's (note, we have taken furloughee's from other than NWA). Also, regular street people are being hired, although many are referrals in one form or another.


Upgrade is right around 3 years and will increase. I would guess we will top out somewhere between 3 1/2 to 4 years by the time the 95th jet hit's the property.

Hiring should continue through most of next year and both the company and union are quoting 1200-1300 pilots by the end of hiring.

The staffing here has never been too good, it is either feast or famine for a base or a seat. I would guess we will settle in the 4.8 to 5.0 crew category, anything lower is just a wet dream for management.


Reserve.. until March 2003 in MSP was over 18 months. DTW will drop down again once they (planning) short staff's DTW again, then the lines will increase and reserve will decrease back down to 4-6 months.

As for Pinncale having it's own pad.. that is a new one to me.. The offer assistance (in the way of a book and some pages) to find a pad. If you are creative enough you will usually find one cheaper than they can find one for you. As each class moves out of MEM there are always openings in one form or another.

$$$.. I came to training with 1500 and that was cutting it close, then again we were 12 weeks of training back then.

You need transportation, so you have to factor that cost in. Gas is not cheap in MEM (unless you go to Costco or Sam's)..


Sim training.. well, line pilots get the better slot's. I thought they stopped that 2200-0200 crap. As you are NOT an employee, plan on getting abused. Plan on either really early sessions or late evening sessions. Those prime time (0600-1400) sessions go to PT's and PC's.

I do not think you can prepare for the sim... Most of it is getting use to automation and knowing how to make the aircraft do what you want.

Ground training.. I have heard it has gotten much better than when most of us went through it. There is really no "one" focus, if you have been through 121 training before you will have no problem. If not, you will learn pretty quick what is important and what is not.

To answer if it is good company to work for?

No one is going anywhere anytime soon. No major will be hiring in the near future. So, as a company, they know that and we know that, you make the best of what you have. Some people are happy, some are miserable. It all depends on what your needs or goals are. Some will never be happy even when they move on.

Bottom line, we are a regional, how good do you think it ever will be?

 

[tittyjet]

I was just in HR the other day and saw the calendar for the classes. It looks like eight per month through the rest of the summer. There is no Pinnacle pad. The going rate is about $200-$250 per month in an established crash pad. There are flyers on the bulletin boards in the CEC (Corp. education Ctr). I found mine on this web site and was happy to stay in it even after training. There is no cafeteria, just break rooms with vending machines, a refrigerator, and a microwave.

I am very happy here. I came from Colgan a while back and the difference is like night and day. You will fly with very few a$$holes here. It is a fact that the interview process tries to weed them out.

We're having our growing pains, but they're worth it.

Before you go to class have your memory items and limitations down cold. Also, call AvSoft and get the CRJ quick study guide; it is $50.00, but well worth the money.

Best of luck!!

 

[SpocksBeard]

Just for anybody who might care - I had two walk ins at Pinnacle in March and haven't heard anything since. Not sure what that means but I am only a 1700 hour CFI so I'm not horribly competitive. I would assume that part of that has to do with alot of gulfstream and NWA guys getting in. I just got a 135 freight job so that should improve my chances when I have two more resumes walked in in a couple months. We shall see...
sb.

 

[tittyjet]

Nice move. you got me -- I'll remember to log off the computer at FSI next time.

BTW, pal, how is it swiping money when you're not getting paid any salary and you're paying your own health and dental right out of your back pocket through COBRA?!?! People take LOAs all of the time in this business.