Pinnacle Sampler Platter

[TurboAWD]

I do believe no Airline Pilot should be paid less than $40000 a year. Maybe ALPA should approach the congress to have that passed into law.​

Well, I agree that a year one FO should make $40k, but was that thing about ALPA getting congress to pass a law a joke?​

I worked with people who have more integrity in one finger of their hand than some of the noise makers on this forum.

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Please tell me what you are basing your evaluation of the "integrity" of your fellow flightinfo posters on.​

Losers who can not be successful in this industry and just bitch and spread negativity to aspiring pilots.

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Losers who can not be successful in this industry? What the heck are you talking about?​

Being an Airline pilot or a pilot is a great job and we must work to improve our work conditions industry wide and not just at 9E.

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Uh, being an Airline pilot CAN be a great job, but there are MANY downsides, particularly if you take a longer term view of the total career vs. the job. I enjoy flying, and I feel that this job is a good fit for me, but make no mistake, it is a job, and I am in it for ME and MY FAMILY, not for the flying.​

I am not interested in a lateral move.

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Me either. But for people just starting out, I stand by the opinion that unless you live in base, other airlines are a better choice for most people and that Pinnacle is a inferior employer to most other airlines. Actually, even if you live in base, I would suggest Mesaba, even though they are not the airline they used to be.​

Turbo​

 

[PCL_128]

And I would not give up my job for just any major airline. It has to be better than my present job people.​

Every major airline job is better than your present job.

 

[woog315]

I like Pinnacle's ad on climbto350 today

"you MUST meet the following requirements:

1000TT
200ME
100inst
ATP written

However, anyone below the time requirements will be reviewed by the pilot board."

haha... you MUST (capital must! very important!) meet these requirements, but if you don't its not a problem.

 

[Windsor]

I like Pinnacle's ad on climbto350 today

"you MUST meet the following requirements:

1000TT
200ME
100inst
ATP written

However, anyone below the time requirements will be reviewed by the pilot board."

haha... you MUST (capital must! very important!) meet these requirements, but if you don't its not a problem.

Yeah...... the Jet U'ers dont have much more than 200tt let alone 200ME. Those min's mean nothing. It would be impossible to find enough qualified candidates if those numbers were hard numbers.

 

[dondk]

Reserve for new captains will not be more than 2 years if we keep hiring and upgrading new guys.​

In my 6+ years, 9E NEVER had "street" CA reserve less than 3 years. Right now guys are being offered CA in new hire class or within weeks after completion of OE, they are "basically" street Captains.
The "mentor" program is designed to eliminate the need to upgrade so quickly. Once the Mentor program comes into full swing (about 2-3 more months) reserve will once again grow. Some DTW CA's who have been on reserve for 2.5 years will see that come back their way soon. Take a good look at the FO seniority list, how many FO's are left that are senior to you on that list?

Maximum days off in some companies are 14 days. We have 21 day off lines of flying.

One of my comment was that the schedules are not too bad at Pinnacle, the most days off I ever saw was 22 days off and that was in DTW in '04. Also note, that the guys who hold these lines are the most senior FO's and CA's, or basically lifers. Anyone who thinks they will hold the same it will take years to get there, years...

Great medical here better than a lot of major airlines.

I sort of agree with this statement. The medical benefits is dependent on where you live and if your Doc's are on the new plan. In some parts of the country the Pinnacle Medical is actually very good, if you live in other parts it is actually very poor.

I believe we have one pilot where the nearest "in plan" doctor is 115 miles from his home.

 

[dondk]

Yeah...... the Jet U'ers dont have much more than 200tt let alone 200ME. Those min's mean nothing. It would be impossible to find enough qualified candidates if those numbers were hard numbers.

they can't find qualified candidates, that is why they use JetU, UND, ATP, RAA, CAPT and all the other programs.

the pilot review board is a joke, they barely meet and when they do they got a stack of hundreds and they get through maybe a couple of dozen. Once the QA guy does a risk assessment, most of those are nixed and sent a note of "we are interested, but you need to go to a "bridge program".

I would not be surprised if it came out that CS had his hand in the pot again and getting kickbacks.

 

[liv'n_on_credit]

I started Pinnacle over 3 years ago, now I am a MSP based Captain, born and raised in MSP.

Many people would give their left arm to be in my position...a CA based in their home town where they live. Everyone who knows/flies with me knows I am a easy-going/always happy guy, but, I am so unhappy at Pinnacle that I am leaving for Compass, where I will be an FO for a few months before upgrade. Yes, I am that desperate to get out of here that I am willing to be an FO at another regional to do it. That's how bad things are here. Here's a few reasons:

-My paycheck is ALWAYS short, usually off by $100-$200. I don't mind once in a great while, but every month is rediculous.

-Our Pref Bid is terrible...this month I asked off for 3 days, and NOTHING else. I told the system I would do ANYTHING(reserve, CDO, ANYTHING) just give me these 3 (non-holiday)days off. I got only one of them off, and 4 people junior to me got all 3 of those days off. I even had a pref bid trainer person help me and show me how to do it.

-I'm sick of seeing that our contract negotiations are going nowhere. It's been over 2 years, and no end in sight. That scares the h*ll out of me.

-With Colgan on board, I feel that management is just dying to let them do our flying...especially now that they turned down ALPA. Our management is way more cruel and corrupt than any other airline.

-I'm sick of seeing so many people get disciplined for NO GOOD REASON. They've tried discipling me twice for something I didn't do wrong.

-I have called in sick 1 time in over 3 years. 0 missed trips, 0 lates, 0 delays that were my fault, 0 call-in-honests, 0 extension refusals...You think I can ever drop a single flight? Nope. Forget about it. One time, the scheduler even admitted they had 14 people on reserve with no flights or open time to fill, and they still wouldn't let me have one out-and-back off when my wife got sick and wanted me to come home.

-I had to do the carpet dance with the base manager once because they tried junior manning me ON MY VACATION days! I should not have to explain to them my reason for not flying during my vacation.

I could go on and on, but I won't. I have plenty of friends at XJT, Air Wisconsin, Horizon, Chataqua, etc...NONE of these things happen there.

 

[Speedbird34]

Well spoken folks.
I feel our collective growl for better work rules.
Hopefully management and shareholders would get the message as pilot retention in companies become more difficult.
So keep the fight going!, but new guys realise that everyone must do what is best for him. if you get a job at any regional with low time. Take the job and run with it till you can get to the majors. Hopping from regional to regional chasing a few dollars more may not be worth it.
Do not get caught up with the small fish frying in a pan and not liking it.
The truth about this brutal business called Airlines
" It was designed to make shareholders profit even if Pilots were made extremely unhappy".
Livin on credit sorry to hear about your woes. Use your extension refusals. I do and it makes me feel more in control. I have not gotten into trouble for turning stuff down yet.

 

[Ghetto Sled]

Anyone willing to email me the contract you guys work under?