Shuttle America Interview

[Vref75]

To Anyone who works for Shuttle America:

Where are the domicles for SA and where are the Senior/Junior bases?

How is like working for the company?

How's the pilot/employer atmosphere?

I am interviewing with them in the second week of April and any help is greatly appreciated.

Please email me at [email protected]

Thank you very much

 

[Vinman]

I don't know that much myself, but I just interviewed there the 19th and had a letter offering me a job for the apr. 22 grnd school in the mail on the 20th.

Bases are BED (Hanscom Field, Bedford, MA), PHL, and TTN (Trenton, NJ). They told me they were also opening three new bases as well. I think they were PIT, CLE, & Toledo???.

Hope this helps.

 

[cws]

hey Vinman,

I may be in your class on the 22nd. With your time, I was wondering if if you were going in as captain? I was interviewed on the 12th of March and received a offer 6 days later, but no class date until I called. When I called, they said to be ready for the 8th of April but most likely the 22nd.

Hope to see you soon

 

[Vinman]

CWS,

Glad to hear it. My understanding is that their contract does not allow street captains, but that if you have the qualifications that they will train you for CA in initial training and send you to the right seat initially. Then, as staffing needs exist, move you to the left seat. I believe that they also said that their contract also required 3000 hrs total time for CA.

Lastly, the letter that I received stated a class date of Apr. 22 (subject to change). This class should be in CT, but subsequent classes may be in the new HQ wherever that may be.

 

[I.P. Freley]

"Street Captains"

Yep, they do hire street captains... They are short right now. 3000hrs plus and you are hired to go straight into the left seat and a type. Really. Trust me.

Bases... Trenton, Bedford, Cleveland, Pitt, and Toledo.

 

[Vinman]

I P Freley,

It sounds like you know first hand. What more can you tell us? Where are the junior bases? Are they having problems with green-on-green (both CA & FO with not enough time in a/c, 75 hrs for either or) or did they get exempt? At the bases, are there crew houses or do a lot of crewmembers live there? Tell me more please.

 

[I.P. Freley]

I understand they did get the exemption, so green on green isn't a consideration... Though it may have expired by now.

As for the bases, Cleveland, Pitt and Toledo are brand new and haven't even been staffed yet, as I understand it. A lot of the senior people are going to rush over to Pitt, or so the story goes, so I would bet that Cleveland and Toledo will be junior... But right now it doesn't matter how junior you are, there's plenty of flying to go around... to the point of people timing out. If you want to fly, this is definitely a place to consider.

Oh, if you get Bedford, they have a deal with a hotel local to the airport for a cheap room. I am not personally familiar with the SPECIFICS of the deal, but it's much better than finding a place of your own out there. Unless you live there already, you can't afford it... Not on FO pay, not on Captain pay.

 

[English]

Got the official word today...in the April 22nd class! I'm looking forward to getting back into the Saab (never thought I'd say that!). Somehow it just grew on me.

Thanks to everyone on the board that helped with answering questions.

 

[Vinman]

I P Freley,

When I interviewed, they said that Bedford would probably end up being senior in the CA seat for a bit. Is that what you would expect or has PIT helped that out? I live outside Worcester, MA and BED would work out great for me, but I also have 3000+ hrs and will probably go CA quickly. I currently commute to ORD so commuting isn't a problem, but I would also love to be home all the time. By the way, does the SA pilot contract have a commuter clause, and is the Teamster union Local 747?

English,

I will also be in the 22nd class. I guess I will see you there. Any idea how large of a class it is supposed to be?

 

[Vinman]

By the way, anybody know how many aircraft SA is up to now?

 

[I.P. Freley]

Vin,

The answer to almost all of your questions would be pure speculation. What's senior, what's not senior... All is about to change with the three new bases. Many of the senior people will head out to Pitt, I imagine, as that is a place that two out of two of the senior captains I have discussed it with have said they'd go if Pitt opened. Bedford is likely to stay senior, too, but you may squeeze in at the bottom.

I imagine much of it will depend upon your seniority within your class, which is determined by age. I understand the bulk of your class is going to be captains, and if you are the youngest, you could end up with six or eight people above you right off the bat.

The union... Well let's just say that the only reason I even have a contract is that I photocopied someone else's. Four weeks in Hartford and they never bothered to come meet us or send us a packet of any kind. I sure hope this isn't an indication of what the union "does" for us.

Things change rapidly around these parts, so some of the above might be obsolete by the time you start class.

I will give you the following hint... If the left seat is in your future, you'd better be prepared to do a LOT of studying. The type ride is NOT easy and more than one person going for the type has not passed either the ride or the oral. The person who does the examining is not swayed by the company's dire need for captains and doesn't "dumb down" the examination (thankfully, depending upon how you look at it). The training doesn't necessarily prepare you to answer the oral questions... The oral is very involved and goes into the kind of detail that really presumes you have a full working knowledge of the airplane, which with no prior experience in the airplane, you won't have. You'd better know it inside and out, and if you are hazy on anything, make sure you figure it out before you head off to the man who can hand you the pink slip. And he WILL hand you a pink slip if you don't know it. I think you might meet an individual that meets this description in your ground school, as a matter of fact (he's going back to do systems again). I'm not saying it's impossible to do, but you'd better know your stuff before you meet "the man." You will get your systems book the first or second day of class, which will give you about two weeks to read it before you go to systems class... Start early and you will have a step up on the machine.

As for how many of those machines are on property, well, I can't say for sure but I think it's 11. Pure guesswork.

 

[Vinman]

I P Freley,

Thanks alot for the info. It helped put a candle in the room of darkness I am headed toward. I have been trying to get ahold of the Tng Dept to get any manuals early, if you have a good number I can try send me a PM if you would. On the whole, it almost sounds like training at my current company though. With grnd school being about four weeks long, that should be a fair length of time though (mine was three weeks). Is a company man that does the checkrides or the FAA? Once again, thanks for the info and hopefully I will see you on line pretty soon!