Pinnicle Air

[another cfii]

Man, and i thought the west coast is boring! I'm just a starving CFI, so I'll probably hang around walmart a lot!

I didn't even know the CEC will be closed for a whole week. Well, i'll have time to catch up on materials then. BTW, last i checked, not much of reserve in MSP and DTW? With us newbies here, i mean, is gonna make reserve almost non-existent, right?

 

[HAZ-MAT]

If you want some good BBQ in MEM, go down Beale St. (downtown) and go to Blues City Cafe, by far the best wet ribs i have had. Or nearby the training center (kinda) is Corkey's BBQ, they have good Pulled Pork sandwiches and ribs too. I 3rd that chineese place, tore me up, and couldnt wait to get to my first destination to drop the Cleveland Browns off at the Superbowl.
I have a fellow graduate friend that should be down here around the same time as you all... so if anyone drops me a PM, and you want some food or BEvERages on the days off, i wont say no.

 

[mainah]

Rendezvous downtown. Great dry ribs!

 

[dondk]

Man, and i thought the west coast is boring! I'm just a starving CFI, so I'll probably hang around walmart a lot!

Welcome to Pinnacle.. You REALLY did not expect them to tell you THAT... It is in the contract, no training from the 24th to I believe the 2nd (depends on when it falls on). The pumped in a recurrent class (usually tues to fri) that starts on the 20th and ends the 23rd. I think parts of the CEC are still open, but depending on when you start it may not give you the bang for the buck you'd like.

Personally... hanging around the nearest Walmart to the CEC.. Wear a flak jacket and I hope you were a track star in high school, if not.. you will be one

BTW, last i checked, not much of reserve in MSP and DTW? With us newbies here, i mean, is gonna make reserve almost non-existent, right?

Uhhh.. I would not go THAT far... According to the awards for Jan and March I counted some 40+ FO's for EACH base as new hires.. It would depend on WHERE you fall in that group...

Reserve will go short for a period of time next year, don't know for how long.. I have been saying DTW is due to get back down to the less than 6 months for a while.

 

[another cfii]

Thanx for the warm welcome. I know PCL has a great bunch of bafoons (as Parker puts it, and as long as I can survive the groundschool, i know i'll love it here.

I just wish to get the groundschool over with, 2+ mo. is a little grilling for me. Oh well, more time to enjoy the Graceland

Fly safe.

 

[dondk]

Thanx for the warm welcome. I know PCL has a great bunch of bafoons (as Parker puts it, and as long as I can survive the groundschool, i know i'll love it here.

Parker I think is referring to the rampers in MEM...

I think there has been maybe 3 people who have failed ground school in the past 3 years... Ground school should not worry you.. the sim on the other hand...

Don't worry you will be taught by the finest Pinnacle has to offer..

Just remember to get the bad chicken on the ground, One is one, two is two, and there's five in the aft equipment bay. Suck it up cupcake and...............

Folks, folks, this is eeeasy!

I was just a ramper when they told me to teach CRJ ground school.

if you can do that.. your in...

 

[Lear70]

You forgot three:

"Memory Items and Limitations, folks. That's all you need to know."

"Be the duck."

"I used to jump out of airplanes and kill people."

By the way, when they tell you to know your memory items and limitations cold before you walk into class (they send them to you in your new-hire packet), they mean it, it will save you a LOT of grief and I think there's still a quiz on it the first or second day of class.

As far as people washing out, we had one of those in our class. Great guy, he just simply couldn't speak the english language well enough to keep up in the sim. The other two I think were attitude problems... "Cooperate to graduate" and as one of our senior check airman told me as he signed my checkride form, "STFU and just fly the f'ing airplane. FNG (pronounced Finjee)".

 

[another cfii]

**CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**, that was funny..

I already got limitation and callout by heart... Any other tips?

Can't wait to smell the CRJ

 

[JJJ]

Know the systems well enough to pass the written and the oral. You don't have to know how to build the airplane. Some people get so wrapped up in systems that they don't even look at the profiles and manuvers until the day before the first CPT.

Starting on the first day of class take a few minutes and start to look over the proflies and manuvers. Study in groups and quiz each other on systems, memory items, and limitations. Don't forget to practice the walk around on the computers. Also don't hesitate to ask questions. There are always people willing to help, you just have to ask.

Good luck.

 

[another cfii]

For those of you based @ DTW or MSP, how you like it there? Is the cost of living decent? Is there much to do while not flying? Which would you pick and why? I don't intend to commute often.
Thanks for any advice.

 

[Lear70]

Been based in both. More to do in MSP on your off-time, but also a LOT colder than DTW in the winter!

DTW is cheaper than MSP, but not by much. Average crashpad at both runs about $150, you'll need a car in MSP or you can use the van service to the Barrington (most popular crashpad apartments) for about $75 a month extra if you don't want to worry about the car.

Commutability will depend on where you live. I live in Nashville and have 5 flights a day on NW, 4 flights a day on SW, all nonstop. MSP is harder to get to, but still doable.

Commuter policy isn't very friendly. You have to prove 3 flight attempts to make your show time or they will Missed-Trip you. A few of those and they show you the door out... permanently. But that beats moving to DTW - it's kind of a hole unless you live out in Ann Arbor or up in Birmingham / Grosse Pointe (half hour or more to work).

Good luck...

 

[dondk]

another cfii

Lear 70 is on the money..

I though Another CFII you were from the west coast? Most of our West Coast people commute to MSP.. A very few do DTW (just to hard).

Commuting (if even thinking of ) to MSP takes a bit of seniority to do it with little to no hotel expense, but it can be done! DTW has more times when it is more commutable than MSP.

YOu may be lucky to see some vacancies for MEM when you are almost done... It can be a bit cheaper there, but will definatley require transportation.

 

[another cfii]

Thanx for the advice. I don't intend to go back to the west coast often, and I know there's quite a few flights from DTW->MSP everyday, so that shouldn't be a problem. I would like to know what's life is like based in DTW. However, i do have my brother based in MSP.

I never thought about MEM because: 1) Probably maybe early next year before they keeping FO in town, 2) the flak jacket thing, 3) harder commute to MSP, then to the west coast. Other than that, I would love to keep my toes warm during the winters, and save a few bucks during my first few years here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[de Pez]

Candidly, I understand how this whole Pinnacle "thing" seems attractive. Finally into a jet and all..However I had a friend there who just quit because he felt that he was being put in the position to be violated by some unscrupulous/unsafe Captains... Sounds harsh, but I believe what he says. He's been a turboprop Capt, and has some A-320 time, and was making $20/hr to put his career on the line.

The whipsawing NW has done between the Pinnacle and Mesaba pilot groups is just criminal.

Not that my opinion would make you rethink your decision, but at some point we have to draw the line regarding this "lowering of the bar." Regardless, good luck, and fly safe.

 

[Lear70]

After being here 2 1/2 years, coming from the left seat of a Boeing for another Part 121 company, I think I have maybe ONCE had to question the safety of another pilot, and that was simply someone having a bad day who needed a little reality check, and all was fine. You're going to find that at any company whether it's 91, 135, or 121... If you keep your wits about you and stand up when someone makes a bonehead mistake after their 4th high-speed (CDO), you'll be just fine.

As far as worrying about wearing your flak jacket? You have to worry about that at most of the crashpads near the DTW airport as well. Also, about those flights running between MSP and DTW: they run about 98% most of the time and often leave people at the gate, as do the MEM-MSP and MEM-DTW flights. Harder to commute between the domiciles (a lot of other big NW crewmembers do the same thing and they'll bump you every time).

Any other questions...? =)

p.s. Happy Turkey Day to everyone! On reserve in DTW and the company had both lunch and dinner catered into the airport for the crews working... they do it every year (as does Mesaba I believe). Cool base managers, not a corporate-ordered deal.

 

[dondk]

However I had a friend there who just quit because he felt that he was being put in the position to be violated by some unscrupulous/unsafe Captains...

As MUCH as I hate to say this.. I have worked at two other regionals before Pinnacle.. We had similar Captains there too.. it is an unfortunate way of life.

Regarding violations and captains.. most of the guys I know do not want to spend ONE extra day here if they can. Why get violated? that means many more days at Pinnacle. The motto I hear more often than not.. "lets do it as safe as possible, screw everything else"
Have I sat at the gate to make sure numbers were "right" on Highspeeds? Yes..
Have I sat at an outstation for some obscure maintenance reason when I have a flight to commute home on? yes..

most of the guys I fly with do it by the book or **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** close to it, I have yet to fly with one I would not want my family to fly with.. I am sure they are out there, they are at ALL airlines but to suggest we have more than another is just.. wrong....

 

[fly4ever]

And then there is the ongoing investigation of the crew that fell asleep and didn't wake up until after Polar coming into DTW. When they did wake up they were staring at a couple of F-16s. Safe? I think not.

 

[dondk]

And then there is the ongoing investigation of the crew that fell asleep and didn't wake up until after Polar coming into DTW. When they did wake up they were staring at a couple of F-16s. Safe? I think not.

I was tempted to post the response from our own personal board...

Anyway, in a nutshell the statement above is just PURE RUMOR, it was really good until the F-16 part was added.

One thing Pinnacle is REALLY good at... starting rumors... We have had some really juicy one's over the past year to get not only our own group fired up, but Mesaba's and even lately COEX. We have had rumors that also involved MESA and ACA. We have a select few who really have defined the "art" of rumors.

 

[Lear70]

This started out from a crew who missed their hand-off coming into DTW and therefore missed their crossing restriction over Polar by a few thousand feet. Sometimes coming over the lakes our radios get kinda scratchy and fade, especially if you're IMC in precip - thankyouverymuch Bombardier. Company had to ACARS them the new freq and by the time they checked in, they just simply couldn't make the restriction... It didn't cause any conflicts, they filed a NASA report, end of story.

Some people who will remain nameless started the rumor - since I'm on the communications committee it was easy to find out it was just a rumor but when I called those who started it, they asked me to shut up about it just to see how far it would go for fun, so I actually helped perpetuate it (seemed harmless enough at the time) since I spend so much time on ready reserve in the crew rooms and EVERYONE wanted to know about it...

Unfortunately, the rumor got a bit out of hand (case in point, someone from another airline is pointing fingers without any hard facts, evidence, or firsthand knowledge and citing safety concerns), so I put the kabosh on it on our private message board and our Safety Chair substantiated the basis of the rumor as described above.

dondk is right, I've worked at a lot of places before this, and Pinnacle has developed rumor starting into an ART FORM! The problem is, there's often SOMETHING going on which is true, which makes it harder to separate fact from fiction!

 

[fly4ever]

I stand corrected. The info came from one of your own. I'm sure there will be all kinds of rumors coming from our end of the hall after next weeks "negotiations" (as the company likes to call them). I hope you guys will support us any way you can, I'm sure we'll all be needing hip boots to wade through the company propaganda.