xrayojilp1
Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2004
- Posts
- 21
Guys,
I've been at Pinnacle for too long now and I've flown with plenty of Gulfstream pilots. I haven't had any problems, most people welcome them as people and pilots. There are issues that come up because of extreme low time, but overall the program seems to work OK for us. Why do we have to hire so many low time guys though? There is some sort of agreement obviously and kickbacks notwithstanding, Pinnacle is simply the worst regional airline to work for.
Sure Mesa makes less and Mesaba and others don't have the growth, but if you look at the way we are treated by managment and overall quality of life at PCL, we are the worst. Most guys who have other airline experience or who are still early in their career do not stay long at PCL. They do not tolerate it at all. They don't want to have to worry about being fired for getting sick and worse.
In fact Pinnacle is hiring at this time, but you will certainly not be upgrading any time soon, and if you did get one of these proposed new hire captain slots you would have to realize that its not because things are moving fast. Its because we have HUNDREDs of First Officers who have the seniority but not the time to upgrade (3000 hours with 500 in type at the company or 3500)you would not get off reserve for at least five years. Pinnacle already has over 100 jets and we are only getting 129. Yes there are options but if you know what just happened with negotiations and you realize that we are six months from officially starting our 'bargaining process' you will realize that those options are simply carrots for them to hold in front of us. Our pilot group is unified and furious at management for the way we are treated and we will get an industry leading contract after our strike (which is probably 3 and a half years away) Until then you have to realize that managment will attack and abuse its pilot group as has never been attempted before in this industry.
Expect ten days off for the next five years and reserve, you will fly every day but not get many hours. Also expect very soon that managment will start to build schedules that stagger days off so you never have more than 2 days off in a row. Don't get me wrong, it has always been like this to some extent but they will start to do this intentionally, as they have at times in the past.
Do you have an interview here? Sure show up and get the experience, but for god sakes unless you are really in dire straits you would be doing yourself and your family a hugh favor by turning the job down. If you do take the job expect the worst training and the highest failure rate in the industry (some of this is due to low time). You are risking throwing away your entire career for one crappy job. Also realize this isn't just the ramblings of one disgruntled guy, I'm also speaking for many furloughed pilots, experienced guys who have come to Pinnacle after years of experience with other regionals and/or majors. I have never talked to anyone who did not agree that we are the worst regional in this industry.
Sure that CRJ is a shiny cool jet, but I hope that is enough for you. Whatever you are looking for, Pinnacle ain't it.
_________________________________________________________________
P.S. If you guys are interested in a contract update: Our managment approached our MEC about 3 months ago and asked us to start negotiations early. They said they were interested in completing the negotiations process at the earliest possible opportunity (for the sake of furthur growth). As you may have heard managment broke off negotiations a few days ago. I have several friends who are in the LEC's and one who was actually there. Apparently they started on the training section, needless to say they made absolutely no progress and after about 5 sessions on this section managment said basically, either agree to everything we propose by 1800 or the talks are over. What did they propose you may ask? Was it somewhere in between the cheapest alternative proposed by managment and the improvements over the current contract? No!, with arms folded, managment demanded that we roll back every protection offered by our current contract(believe me there aren't many) and basically bend over. Our guys claim publicly to be bewildered by this episode, but its understandable based on our current management.
They wanted to waste three months of our time, get the attention of our negotiators and union officers, get them in a conference room with suits and ties, lean across the table, and say F U! We hear the message loud and clear and you will never find a more unified and a more militant pilot group.
Airline negotiations at their worst! Yep, expect a long dirty three years and a long strike!! Industry leading contract or shut the doors!!!
I've been at Pinnacle for too long now and I've flown with plenty of Gulfstream pilots. I haven't had any problems, most people welcome them as people and pilots. There are issues that come up because of extreme low time, but overall the program seems to work OK for us. Why do we have to hire so many low time guys though? There is some sort of agreement obviously and kickbacks notwithstanding, Pinnacle is simply the worst regional airline to work for.
Sure Mesa makes less and Mesaba and others don't have the growth, but if you look at the way we are treated by managment and overall quality of life at PCL, we are the worst. Most guys who have other airline experience or who are still early in their career do not stay long at PCL. They do not tolerate it at all. They don't want to have to worry about being fired for getting sick and worse.
In fact Pinnacle is hiring at this time, but you will certainly not be upgrading any time soon, and if you did get one of these proposed new hire captain slots you would have to realize that its not because things are moving fast. Its because we have HUNDREDs of First Officers who have the seniority but not the time to upgrade (3000 hours with 500 in type at the company or 3500)you would not get off reserve for at least five years. Pinnacle already has over 100 jets and we are only getting 129. Yes there are options but if you know what just happened with negotiations and you realize that we are six months from officially starting our 'bargaining process' you will realize that those options are simply carrots for them to hold in front of us. Our pilot group is unified and furious at management for the way we are treated and we will get an industry leading contract after our strike (which is probably 3 and a half years away) Until then you have to realize that managment will attack and abuse its pilot group as has never been attempted before in this industry.
Expect ten days off for the next five years and reserve, you will fly every day but not get many hours. Also expect very soon that managment will start to build schedules that stagger days off so you never have more than 2 days off in a row. Don't get me wrong, it has always been like this to some extent but they will start to do this intentionally, as they have at times in the past.
Do you have an interview here? Sure show up and get the experience, but for god sakes unless you are really in dire straits you would be doing yourself and your family a hugh favor by turning the job down. If you do take the job expect the worst training and the highest failure rate in the industry (some of this is due to low time). You are risking throwing away your entire career for one crappy job. Also realize this isn't just the ramblings of one disgruntled guy, I'm also speaking for many furloughed pilots, experienced guys who have come to Pinnacle after years of experience with other regionals and/or majors. I have never talked to anyone who did not agree that we are the worst regional in this industry.
Sure that CRJ is a shiny cool jet, but I hope that is enough for you. Whatever you are looking for, Pinnacle ain't it.
_________________________________________________________________
P.S. If you guys are interested in a contract update: Our managment approached our MEC about 3 months ago and asked us to start negotiations early. They said they were interested in completing the negotiations process at the earliest possible opportunity (for the sake of furthur growth). As you may have heard managment broke off negotiations a few days ago. I have several friends who are in the LEC's and one who was actually there. Apparently they started on the training section, needless to say they made absolutely no progress and after about 5 sessions on this section managment said basically, either agree to everything we propose by 1800 or the talks are over. What did they propose you may ask? Was it somewhere in between the cheapest alternative proposed by managment and the improvements over the current contract? No!, with arms folded, managment demanded that we roll back every protection offered by our current contract(believe me there aren't many) and basically bend over. Our guys claim publicly to be bewildered by this episode, but its understandable based on our current management.
They wanted to waste three months of our time, get the attention of our negotiators and union officers, get them in a conference room with suits and ties, lean across the table, and say F U! We hear the message loud and clear and you will never find a more unified and a more militant pilot group.
Airline negotiations at their worst! Yep, expect a long dirty three years and a long strike!! Industry leading contract or shut the doors!!!
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