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PSA good and bad please!

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nothing new

Right now not hearing about a place is good with all the bad news out there. Its status quo for the moment. couple small classes in Jan i heard. Not much movement.
 
Could be better could be worse. Just about the whole airline is moving down to CLT could be a lot worse places to be based. Great city especially if you live here.

As far as whats happening here goes. . . who knows. No new airplanes that we know of not sure if we are going to lose any or not. There is actually a little bit of movement from attrition but thats it. Things of course change overnight.
 
I'm a newbie, but I'll give my opinion...

We're currently hiring. As skydork said, no news is good news. Right now the new hires are going to Dayton, but that could and probably will change very soon. I'm based in Dayton but live in Charlotte and I'm waiting until I can hold Charlotte. I've been on reserve for about 3 & 1/2 months and I don't see myself holding a line in the near future. My only complaints would be the fact that I don't like Dayton and the hot reserve we have at PSA. That means you have to sit at the airport ready to go. I know some people stay at home on hot reserve, but since I'm new I don't want to rock the boat. Usually you have to sit from 5am until 2pm or from 2pm until midnite. I'm not sure how it works, but I have friends from my class who've only done hot reserve 1 or 2 times, and others like myself who have about 8-9 times.

Most of the captains I've flown with are good people. I enjoy their company and they are quick to give subtle hints and pointers, but they don't overdo it. Most of our hiring is due to attrition and I haven't checked lately on upgrade, but I flew with a guy who upgraded at first chance and it took him just over 4 years to upgrade.

Indoc and systems are done in Dayton and the sim is in Charlotte. Once you get based in Charlotte you go to differences for the 700. I think that's mostly done in Denver, but I heard a rumor that we're getting another sim that can convert from a 200 to 700 and that will be in Charlotte as well. The instructors are good and the check airmen I flew with for IOE were very laid back and fun to fly with.

Hope this answers a few questions.
 
There were a few postings for CLT crashpads in the crew room down there and I think I saw a few in the DAY crew room as well.

Over all PSA isn't too bad of a place to be. I think they are starting 12 newhires in Jan and 6 in Feb so far. I would think that most new hires would be going to CLT now as they are trying to move crews down there. No word on the future as to more/less aircraft, but the way the industry is right now, no news is good news. Reserve in Dayton is looking like it could get long, but guys from my class that went to Knoxville right out of training were holding lines in 2 months. Go figure.
 
I've worked at PSA since '99. Here's the scoop.


The good:

Most people here are really cool and stay off your back. As long as you don't cause a delay or ding an aircraft you will never hear from your supervisor. I haven't worn a propper uniform or shown up to work ontime in three years and I haven't heard one word.

A lot of the crews are fun. Imagine someone giving you and your buds a 20 million dollar jet and saying, "as long as you keep on schedule and stay safe, do whatever and enjoy yourself." Don't get me wrong- there's a ton of responsibilty that goes with this job, but PSA kind of lets you be your own boss and doesn't get all up in your face. I have friends at other airlines that have to actually check in for work. Not at PSA. Not too much "big brother is watching" BS goes on here.

The equipment here is good. The planes are all pretty new and rarely do we take a MX delay. Most MELs are cleared quickly. The mechs in CLT are great and very helpful, same with the guys in MX control in DAY all good people.

The Bad:

Sometimes it seems like no one knows what the hell they are doing. Becasue pay and work rules are so crappy for many at US Airways Express, there is constant turnover amongst all employees except the pilots andmechs. Everyone you work with from gate agents, to crew schedulers, to FAs, to ramp agents, deicers, dispatchers, and ramp controlers all are new to their job and don't know what the hell they are doing. This is a training airline. Once someone gets some experience they bolt to brighter pastures. That leaves the pilots to take care of almost every detail of the flight and keep people from wrecking schedules and expensive planes. Sometimes as a pilot you feel very isolated, surround by idiots, and they all have a giant attitude.

This airline has the worst schedules. I've worked here since '99 and the schedules always, always suck. Our scheduling department is completely incompotent and you as a pilot are used like a very cheap commodity. One day you'll be warehoused in a Econolodge for 22 hours, and the next day you're flying 7 legs with all quick turns through PHL and DCA. Staffing levels are always wrong and you can expect 10 junior mans a year and an extension at least once a month. This airline can never seem to work out its scheduling problems and you are the one that has to pay the price for their mistakes.

The sorta good sorta bad:

We are small. That means if we increase in size, even a little, time to upgrade drops really quick. The disadvantage is since we are small there is little to no movement on the seniority list. Coming to PSA is a gamble if you are looking for quick upgrade. It could be a year to upgrade or it could be four and a half. Depends on aircraft orders. No one knows if we're getting more aircraft.

hope that helps.

good luck
 
Gofish said:
Hello...new Bluestreaker here...does anybody have info on KCLT crashpads...care to chime in?

Check the bulletin board in the crew room in DAY and CLT.

Sometimes it seems like no one knows what the hell they are doing. Becasue pay and work rules are so crappy for many at US Airways Express, there is constant turnover amongst all employees except the pilots andmechs. Everyone you work with from gate agents, to crew schedulers, to FAs, to ramp agents, deicers, dispatchers, and ramp controlers all are new to their job and don't know what the hell they are doing. This is a training airline. Once someone gets some experience they bolt to brighter pastures. That leaves the pilots to take care of almost every detail of the flight and keep people from wrecking schedules and expensive planes. Sometimes as a pilot you feel very isolated, surround by idiots, and they all have a giant attitude.

I totally disagree. Look at the rampies in DCA, CLT, and ESPECIALLY PHL. US Airways Express hires competent individuals with excellent interpersonal skills who are always willing to go the extra mile to get the job done.
 
EDUC8-or said:
I totally disagree. Look at the rampies in DCA, CLT, and ESPECIALLY PHL. US Airways Express hires competent individuals with excellent interpersonal skills who are always willing to go the extra mile to get the job done.
I think you forgot </sarcasm>

Actually, PHL has improved a little bit recently. I talked to a supervisor the other day and he said they had started firing people for screwing up. Rough, but if it fixes some problems, that's ok with me. It seems that CLT has been sucking badly recently. We went out of there the other day with the bags for the wrong flight.
 
Went into OPS in Albany the other night and read a message on their bulletin board stating: If bags end up on the wrong flight due to negligence you will be terminated. Guess what, our plane was fueled, deiced, and ready to go when we arrived with a GPU connected as well. It wasn't even at the gate and they were busy with a couple of other arrivals. That's how it should be!

Speaking of CLT sucking, we were overfueled there yesterday by 2000 lbs so some people had to take a later flight. Nice.
 
Just a thought. Seeing how Republic gave a ton of money to USAirways and then absorbed Mid-Atlantic is there possiblity the same will happen to PSA since Air Whisky gave a ton of money as well? They fly the same planes and would probably compete for same routes. Seems that any wholly owned regional is in trouble with the majors looking to cut their costs. Outsourcing is the new american dream. Country will be just one giant Walmart in 10 years.
 
There has been rumors of AWAC buying us for months (maybe years). It's one of those things that you can't predict so you can't really worry about. Also, Republic didn't give a bunch of money to Airways and then absorb MDA. They purchased their airplanes and MDA went away, or rather, is going away.
 
Like your mother always tells you, soon!

lowtimeguy said:
I sent my application packet in December. Any hope of upcoming calls for interviews?


Calls should be going out soon, Waiting on a CP to go through the Applications and seeing how 2 of us avoid dayton, that only leaves one CP! He was supposed to go over yesterday but didn't get to it! May have gotten done today!!!

Hang tight!
Good Luck,
PSACPSP
 
isnt flightinfo for all regional airline crewmembers? i didnt know they discriminated. anyhoo if you want people to join your site you should give away free pies. but here is the catch, underneath the pie filling ( which is only whipped cream) there are pictures of naked sorority girls. i've seen this technique work somewhere before.
 
PSAChiefPilots said:
Calls should be going out soon, Waiting on a CP to go through the Applications and seeing how 2 of us avoid dayton, that only leaves one CP! He was supposed to go over yesterday but didn't get to it! May have gotten done today!!!

Hang tight!
Good Luck,
PSACPSP

Now why would you want to avoid such a lovely place, especially this time of year?
 

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