Pinnacle upgrades

[dondk]

Space Cowboy and Flagshipper are on the money.. I forgot to mention the 1000 turbine.

There is no "hard" 500 in type.

Personally.. with the latest vacancy of 6 for upgrade, the only bet is a secondary vacancy and that itself should go to a line pilot and not a new hire.

 

[skeeter666]

I just got a call for a interview.....what is the latest on upgrade? I have 1480 in type with a rating.....I am looking to move back to Mem.

 

[Lear70]

The final on Vacancy 05-02 was due out on Monday... it's Friday now and no final vacancy in sight.

Until that comes out, there's no telling. It could be a dozen more Captains, could be none.

Best chances IMHO on getting a CA line now? Very slim odds - too many guys in ahead of you either just finishing class or already started who have the time and not many deliveries left.

Good luck!

 

[John_W_Thompson]

I was just in the CEC a few minutes ago and 05-02 final is posted. I was in Sept 27 new hire class. I have upgraded, & recently I was #1 alternate for MEM CA, but it is looking less and less likely now. I didn't write down the numbers, but I am getting further and further away.

 

[dondk]

Yesterday I was FS, while I did not see a final, I did see a bunch upgrades in various aspects of oral, sim, type rides for the next couple of days. If I had to guess, I would estimate about a dozen and they were all in the 1050+ range of seniority. There are about another dozen who are not new hires in the system as well.

Again, another guess.. the upgrade train may be at a halt for a bit. When it starts back up there should be plenty of in-house candidates.

 

[Lequip]

I just got a call for a interview.....what is the latest on upgrade? I have 1480 in type with a rating.....I am looking to move back to Mem.

Just get inline and wait your turn. You can plan on a long FO ride if you get hired at 9e now as their growth is coming to an end. You missed the boat a long time ago pal.

 

[Enterprise]

I saw the final on Thursday in MSP ops. The last captain was around 480 or so in MSP. I understand that 05-03 will have 24 CAs on it and after that who knows. Our last delivery comes in August and things are slowing down. Those folks who got captain in the 900s or higher are looking at a few years on reserve

 

[Lear70]

I understand that 05-03 will have 24 CAs on it and after that who knows.

That's about what I thought would happen; one last big vacancy with MAYBE half a dozen "street captain" positions (listed NHT - they may even be people who are starting class now), then that will be about all she wrote until this summer when we'll have an "adjustment vacancy" to basically switch some people around from base to base to get them where the company needs them.

One thing to consider: IND is an unknown factor and by all appearances SHOULD be a base (more than 20 crews there every night in the hotel). The only reason I can think it's NOT a base is so NW can attempt to kill off ATA then shift the flying somewhere else. IF that happens, there may be quite a bit more movement to other bases, depending on where they deploy those aircraft to. If the sport bidders sit tight when that happens, there MIGHT be a few more upgrades, but as previously said, by that time plenty of more senior people should have the time.

 

[skeeter666]

thats funny equip....Ive been on the boat for a while.....

 

[Lear70]

Lequip is always like that... don't take it personally.

 

[dondk]

the last thing I heard out of the kool aid factory...

3-4 more vacancies... 1 or 2 "larger" ones then small ones until Sep or Oct.

They want to run classes of 6-8 per class. If you look at the 1 class in May, I think it has 8 in it. Plan on 1-2 classes in june through Aug.

Bust rates recently are once again high.. From the sim it is 5 out of 6 bust the type. Class bust rate are averaging 80% lately.

With those bust rates, it may the reason for higher than expected next vacancy.

They are also hoping that they get some more guys taking the plunge before going to the street, the Indy Air guys are not panning out as planned.

I agree with Lear70, IND is becoming a factor. Make that a base and it will get interesting. Expect some more flying out of that location through the summer.

 

[PCL_128]

Bust rates recently are once again high.. From the sim it is 5 out of 6 bust the type. Class bust rate are averaging 80% lately.

Is that mostly the street captains or is it a good mix of both? I can't imagine that many guys busting the type if they have a few hundred hours in the plane.

 

[dondk]

Well.. it is mostly street guys, those who bust the Oral are street guys

The type bust rate has some guys who have maybe 3-4 months in the right seat (200-300 hours). Although it is still higher on the street side.

Don't know about the Fed/OE bust rates, although I had heard they were cracking down on those too...

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

.....

 

[Lear70]

They are also hoping that they get some more guys taking the plunge before going to the street, the Indy Air guys are not panning out as planned.

I agree with Lear70, IND is becoming a factor. Make that a base and it will get interesting. Expect some more flying out of that location through the summer.

That's really, really weird. I talked to a couple Check Airmen two weeks ago and they were RAVING about the Indy Air guys, saying how nice it was to not have to concentrate on basic airmanship and flying and be able to just teach how our operation runs...

Now if they were coming from FLYI F/O to Capt here, that's a different story. That can be a real ballbuster if you aren't near-perfect somewhere in the program (or if they get even a hint that you're pissed off or bitter about what's going on at Indy - anyone can be washed out if they really want to).

The only reason I can see IND not being a base is because they can't get a firm commitment on how long we'll be there from NWA. It would cost over half a million $$$ to displace 20 or 30 crews out of an IND base if NW suddently reallocates those aircraft somewhere else...