Pinnacle Continues Hiring and Lowering Standards

[honeycomb]

Nobody needs College to Fly an Airplane....

From Foreign Airlines. This is/was what is/was done. They test applicants early (high school/junior high) for aptitude. They Design a heavy math and science high school and college program geared toward aviation candidates. They teach them to fly here (mostly) in the USA. Then back to specialized training for the airline (due to the tt issue) and the a/c to be flown.

Then they have limits on when and how they get to fly the a/c. Like for example from 3000 feet (on the way up) and down to 10000 feet (or the approach/terminal area) until a certain tt and time in type. Then they may change to another a/c and with fewer limits on when they can fly. Most of the time the second a/c flown is flown from t/o to landing with limits and exceptions.

The airline pays for the education and flight training. Now this was from years ago. The rest of the World has a terrible aviation system. Therefore, they have fewer jobs. A premium is placed on overall qualifications well before they stepped day one into an a/c mind you.

Hey these are personal observations that I have.

I don't believe for a moment that Airline Mgmt. does not want the destruction of the Main Line Contracts and lifestyle (ie retirement/and pay/etc.). But, the overall impact of pilots paying for all of their training is a mouth watering issue for Mgmt. And, they love it.

As for College. Dude we both know that a 4 year degree is not required to do the job of airline pilot. Hence, I did not mention it. Having said that...if others have it...then airlines will use it to pre-select pilots as long as they have it.

A lot of WWII pilots did not have a college degree. Try Bob Hoover and Chuck Yeager for two examples.

Do you think they are chumps? Do you think with a degree you (anyone with a degree) would be a better pilot? I think not. I have flown with a lot of really professional pilots with ZERO college. And, I would take them over ANY Engineering Degreed pilot period.

Airlines have trained pilots from the ground up in years past. And, they went to Main Line. But, we live in a new age now.

Hey nobody is perfect. Including me...yep...I have been wrong before and I'll probably be wrong again in the near future.

Oh, for you engineer's....I am one too. Thank goodness that I started flying when I was 6. And, before I was told I knew it all.

Peace

 

[flyboyike]

Question for everyone: could it be that the reason management doesn't respect us is that we don't respect each other? I mean, I though it was supposed to be us against them. But it seems to me it's a lot more like us against us. Why do we feel the need to belittle each other all the time? Why is it necessary to bash this pilot group or that pilot group? Can't you see that all we have is each other? Until we realize that, management will bulldoze us to the ground every time.

 

[honeycomb]

Yep....why can't we all just get along?

The only way that we could get together that would scare mgmt is if WE ALL negotiate ONE CONTRACT for all US Airline pilots.

And, that was from a former UPS Mgmt Professional Negotiator who became a Pilot at a regional (when he was offered a pilot job at UPS, I thought how smart can the guy be to turn down UPS...but he had his reasons) that was bought by AE years ago.

He said that is the only way that mgmt would do anything we wanted.

He is a nice guy...I had a problem believe-ing he was former mgmt.

He had a heart ya'know!

 

[CX880]

Hey dudes and dudettes, where does it OFFICIALLY say 500 hours? It still says 1000 on their site.

 

[bigbenno]

So 9E is now 500 TT... BIG WHOOP!!!
Express Jet's is 600TT.... I know guys who got in at Eagle with 500TT.

 

[OPECJet]

With that BS written test during the interview, why would any self respecting mid to higher time applicant subject himself to that misery for a low paying PCL job?

I just don't need to know what the shoe size is of the guy who designed the valve stem of the left main gear to fly get through training.

 

[Smarta$$]

Not yet. When "airlines" like 9E wise up and start hiring qualified applicants I'll be done. But until then, the truth must be told. Thanks for your concern though.

Then you need to include Mesa, Trans States, Expressjet, Wisconsin, Eagle and ASA just to name some airlines that will hire with 500 or less in many cases. Just to be fair you can't pick on just Pinnacle. Had Mesaba actually started delivery in full force for there CRJ's, you cant say for certainty that they would not have to lower there mins or develop a bridge program to support there needs for pilots.

Also, If the bastard redtail is successful in ruining the wages at your airline(which I truly hope they are not), then Mesaba may need to reduce there mins just to get pilots to come to class to support the growth that would follow.

I hope if that happens that you come back and assault Mesaba in the same way.

 

[Jpilot23]

If pilots would stop getting college degree's the rest of us would not have to spend four years of time and money. We could go straight to flying and have four more years of income!

Quit paying for and attending college! Pilots don't need it to fly professionally!

CAN I GET AN AMEN BROTHER!?!?!?

 

[Smarta$$]

I do agree that the minimums are too low for all the airlines I mentioned. I just don't agree with only picking on one of them. The standard 1000 and 100 should be the minimum qualifications.

Low timers argue that they get better training at these bridge programs. Maybe there is some truth to that, but it is NOT a guarantee. you should still have to have the minimum hours. If you go to these program schools and then also get your time on top of that(1000-100), you would just be that much better. I know their are people in classes at regionals that have less then 400 hours and dont even have the CFI much less a II or MEI.

So they dont have the advanced CFI ratings or even a CFI, and they dont have the hours, many have had NO flying job ever outside of college! So what do they have other than a check book and 12-18 months of time invested.

It is no wonder that they dont have to pay Sh!t to FO's

If you want to pay for those supposed fantastic programs that turn out super pilots, then go ahead. But get your advanced ratings and go teach your trade for 6 mos or a year. That should be the requirements of the job.

 

[ricecake]

I don't agree that the problem with our pay is due to bridge programs. There are simply not enough guys to make that big of a difference. Really its management and the guys who work at outfits like Gojets that is the source of that problem.