Shuttle America

[FlyBigE]

Does anyone here work for SHuttle? If so, what can you tell me about the company? I have an interview coming up and I am looking for info?

I know they are currently flying the Saab 340a. Any jets in the near future?

What is a typical shedule?



Time to upgrade to captain?



Thanks

 

[canadflyau]

I ran into someone who claims to be on the inside at Wexford who said all the larger jets are headed SA'a way instead of CHQ.

Anyone confirm or deny??

He also mentioned the CHQ Union reps knew this already and were working on a back room deal to get the larger jets and the SA pilots under thier umbrella...

Again.. anyone confirm or deny?

 

[blott]

CHQ will never run anything other than the 135/140/145 AC because of costs-they want one type of fleet. Managment has said this many times. Republik will fly the larger jets-or someone else as implied above...


B

 

[I.P. Freley]

>>>You got to be kidding me right? Who at SA is going to fly these or for that matter any jets? I'm not knocking the pilots at SA man, but these young people for the most part just upgraded to turbo-props for C421's and other piston acft!<<<

Unlike, say, Pinnacle, Air Wisconsin, Eagle, Horizon, Mesa, etc., all of whom only hire retired SR-71 drivers, astronauts, and blood relatives of Chuck Yeager. I've heard you can't even get an interview with any jet regional these days unless you have 10,000 hours and four type ratings.

Let's get one thing straight... The people I have worked with here give up absolutely nothing to any other pilot group. If 800-hr CFI's could be trained to fly Jungle Jets at CoEx a few years back, I figure the 2000-10,000hr. Captains at Shuttle can be shown how to work one, too. I imagine the 1500+ TT new-hire FO's could even be taught how to fly a Canadair.

And we all know how much harder it is to fly an RJ than a 20 year-old Turboprop. <----*sarcasm alert*

Heck, I'll take a guy with 1000hrs of night cargo time, single pilot in a Baron any day. They know how to fly an airplane, which most of us in 121 work have practically forgotten how to do... And never you mind that outermarket's "knowledge" of Shuttle is not very knowledgable at all, since the fact of the matter is that we have quite a number of pilots from the last few classes that have plenty of turbine time, even PIC turbine time, and gosh, many even have JET PIC time! Fancy that!

If Wexford, in their infinite wisdom, sees fit to send RJ's Shuttle's way, I don't imagine there'd be any training problems. Well, except for trying to train ME to fly an RJ, I only have 2000 PIC in 121 TP's, two type ratings, and I'm knocking on the door of 5000TT, so I only have half the qualifications required to be a jet pilot, right?

Amazing, truly amazing, how ExpressJet could hire sub-1000TT pilots to fly the 145 and all was right and good with the world, but we can't hire people with twice that time and have any hope of being able to train them. They're only prop pilots and prop pilots are hopeless.

Gimme a break. More flamebait from my current favorite Anti-Shuttle poster. The only thing about this post that makes even a little bit of sense relates to the cost of training the pilots... THAT is the hurdle, not whether or not they can "cut it".

 

[canadflyau]

Outermarket- your post is laughable.. CHQ, Eagle, TSA, COEX, Skywest, and Wisky have made a practice of taking bugsmashing CFI's into the right seat of an RJ...

So the only question or comment I got out of your post was did he mean Republic?? I specifically asked that and he reitterated, "NOPE, like I said SA."

He couldn't answer when I asked why CHQ was considering to ask Midway to dance...

Hey Flightinfo is scuttlebutt/rumor HQ and wanted to throw it out there.. Outer may be correct and the guy is full of it, just thought the idea/scenario was interesting..

 

[dispatchguy]

Its iggy time

I just discovered that you can ignore the posts of any poster, and when you open a thread that contains their posts, they wont be displayed.

Cool eh?

 

[I.P. Freley]

I'll bet you are the only person on the planet that read the term "larger jets" (not large jets, as you erroneously suggested) and assumed that meant "75's" and, errrr, "744's".

I think the rest of us were smart enough to read it the way it was meant to be read, in which "larger jets" means "larger than what CHQ is presently flying". Since the concept of "context" is as elusive to you as the concept of "sarcasm", let's just read what canadaflyau actually said:

"I ran into someone who claims to be on the inside at Wexford who said all the larger jets are headed SA'a way instead of CHQ"

Anyone who "knows" as much as you claim to know would read that as "SA will be getting the 70-seaters, not CHQ."

It appears your reading comprehension is in need of a little tweaking. One might even say you are "not operationally smart", but of course that is an inside joke, isn't it outermarket?

 

[void]

SA is in a similar position as CHQ was about 4-5 years ago.

CHQ had an all turbo-prop fleet consisting for J-31's and the very same Saab's that SA has now.

Wexford came in and put Bedford behind the wheel. Despite what your opinion is about Bedford, either pro or con, he did change CHQ from an all prop airline that was hurting to an all jet airline that is profitable.

I don't think it would be a very big leap of faith to think that Wexford could do the same thing with Shuttle America, and/ or the possibly newly acquired Midway.

The big question is: Will they do it?

As for the pilots. CHQ was hiring 250 to 300 hour pilots from Purdue straight into both the Saab as well as the ERJ. I don't think that the current group of pilots at SA would have any difficulty transitioning to Jets. I also don't think there would be any shortage of qualified candidates applying to SA if they announce they will get new jet aircraft and start to grow.

 

[efiscompmon]

Of course they can fly them! Saab ground school os slot more intense than anything you will get for a CRJ/ERJ.

It is worth noting that CHQ's profitability is due entirely to the fact that they are subleasing the underperforming a/c (the saabs) to Shuttle--leaving them holding the bag while CHQ and the Republic Airways holding company have more attractive prospects for their IPO.

If Shuttle went away tomorrow, I wonder if CHQ could afford it's current expansion? Something to think about while you bash those pilots....

 

[void]

efiscompmon,

Outermarket might be bashing pilots. I am certainly not. I was trying to make the point that SA's pilots are no worse than CHQ's.

I think you are right on the money with the point of CHQ's profitability.

 

[TWAER]

efiscompmon,

Outermarket might be bashing pilots. I am certainly not. I was trying to make the point that SA's pilots are no worse than CHQ's.

I think you are right on the money with the point of CHQ's profitability.

Some of CHQ profitablity might come from the "transfer" of Saabs to SA, but give me a break. We happen to run a fairly good airline with or without the Saabs. Do we make more money now without them? Hell, I don't. Without proof, don't act like the savior of CHQ. If it were up to most of us at CHQ, we would take em back if we could.

 

[void]

Savior of CHQ? What are you talking about?

The Saab's are old and have constant mx problems. The way CHQ was flying them was not a fee per departure like they currently get with the jets. It doesn't take a lot to figure out they weren't making a lot of money, if any at all with those aircraft, at least the ones they were using for US Airways.

Besides, who are you to think that CHQ would take back the Saab's if they could?

 

[TWAER]

Savior of CHQ? What are you talking about?

Where have you been. Claiming the only reason CHQ is profitable is because SA took the leases from us. Like I said, we may have not been AS profitable as we are now, but we would still be making money hand over fist. Did you know when we got rid of the Saab we were only breaking even with them? Even without a pay for departure fee. Bedford wanted one type of AC and did that with the RJ. He wanted to Make money and not just break even.



Management will never take back the Saabs. Many pilots here would. Hate to say it but them the facts void.

Don't take this a slam against SA pilots. You guys are just as good pilots as we are. Like I said, flying the Saab is a lot tougher than the RJ. Flown them both for years. I would like to see ONE seniority list for SA and CHQ. It would help out your situation and bring more flying to CHQ. But those are decisions well above my head.

Good luck to ya!

 

[void]

TWAER,

I think you like arguing just for the sake of arguing. I say this because I think you are missing some or all of what I am saying and what other people are saying. I also think you are a little defensive.

I didn't say that CHQ is profitable entirely due to SA taking the Saab's. I do agree that it certainly helped significantly.

CHQ was breaking even with US Airways Saab's. However, what is the point of flying aircraft if they are only breaking even year after year? On the other hand, the TWA Saabs were making quite a bit of money because they were also on fee for departure. It's too bad that American opted to dump them.

It's obvious now that Bedford wanted an all RJ fleet from the very beginning.

More than just management would not want the Saab's back including pilot's. It's a moot point regardless, because as you said management doesn't want them, and unless something happens to change there plans, they won't be back at CHQ ever.

Both pilot groups will most likely not come under the same seniority list any time soon. If it were to happen, it would most likely be after the Saab's are retired. A single seniority at this point would link the two companies a lot more than Wexford would like, and would hurt another IPO offering that they have wanted for quite some time.

Lastly, don't assume I'm anywhere.

 

[TWAER]

It is worth noting that CHQ's profitability is due entirely to the fact that they are subleasing the underperforming a/c (the saabs) to Shuttle--leaving them holding the bag while CHQ and the Republic Airways holding company have more attractive prospects for their IPO.

If Shuttle went away tomorrow, I wonder if CHQ could afford it's current expansion? Something to think about while you bash those pilots....

Wasn't talking about you Void. When I see a post like this, I have to respond. Need I say more????

 

[void]

You quoted me in one of your posts, so I thought you were referring to me.

Looking back, I need to check my posts for grammar and spelling before I post.