Skyway Delta Thoughts

[General Lee]

That would be interesting, and I am sure management would LOVE to hire new guys at new wages to fly the planes as the more expensive older guys leave....



Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[SYXDude]

Long time reader, first time poster.


A few thoughts about SYX:

If you had a newhire class postponed, understand there are many variables regarding the Delta deal. It may or may not come to fruition - the ball isn't in our court right now. Keep looking for other opporutunities. SYX may call when you least expect it.

The pilot group is solid. When flying the line, give 100% effort, be humble, have a positive attitude, and learn all you can from the Captain regarding your respective aircraft. You want a good rep on the line!

Finally, do NOT, under ANY circumstance, sit in Ops and complain/whine/comment about having to sit reserve for more than a month. There are pilots who've sat reserve for three years. It seems some newhires have already been overheard doing this and it has not been well received by more senior pilots. You don't want to alienate anyone that you may fly with in the future. "Loose lips sink ships".

Later

 

[Goldeneagle646]

Do NOT, under ANY circumstance, sit in Ops and complain/whine/comment about having to sit reserve for more than a month.

Ditto

 

[vagabond]

SYXDude Whoah is Me!

What gives a pilot the right to think that they have had it tough, or crummy luck to sit on reserve for years on end. Just remember there are a lot of new hires that have probably had it a lot worse than you. For example I know someone who has sat reserve many other times at other airlines, and been furloughed twice. I think that anyone who has the opportunity to be flying for an airline these days should be thankful. Just because there are new hires at your airline that talk about how they are on reserve and really arn't flying that much doesn't mean that they dont understand that its to be expected being new. From what it sounds like, there are quite a few new hires that i know for sure appreciate their new opportunity to work at SYX more than you. Nobody has the right to complain about anything. We all signed up to do this for a career, and we should all accept what comes along with it. It doesn't matter if you have 10 years seniority or 1 month, if you started on the beech 1900 or the DOJET, if you sit reserve for one month or 4 years, we all deserve it just the same. If you complain and have 10 years at the company, your just as guilty as the person that complains who has 1 month. Everyone just needs to shut the F____ up and do their jobs. WHOAH IS ME!

 

[WillFlyFoCookie]

Relax Vagabond

I think that all SYXDude was trying to say is that new guys more than anybody don't have the right to complain especially in front of everybody else at OPS. I am one of those new guys and I agree. I can at least understand more when the guys and gals that have been here a quite a while through thick and thin want to vent a little. We, the new guys, weren't here when Skyway pilots (to the best of my knowledge) were the first regional pilots ever to go on strike (about ten years ago?). We were not here during the years of contract negotiations to get our current working agreement. We were not here last summer when the pilot group banded together and aggreed to hold off on their hard fought new rates for a year to help save the company. We were also not here when the pilot group lost two of their own in a heartbreaking car accident a while back (new guys probably only know Travis and Michael as nameless pictures above the bid box).

Skyway pilots are a very close group and are going through some big changes right now with all the new guys and gals. I flew with a Captain yesterday that said he saw a guy wearing four bars on the Beech and had no idea who he was. He had never seen him before which was a huge shock because this guy was already a Captain. We are hopefully going to have many more changes with Cincinnatti opening up. Because this pilot group is so close, it is important that we all work extra hard to get along, to do a good job and not give the veterans a bad impression of the new pilots.

I, like SYXDude, have heard stories of new pilots complaining in the presence of their co-workers and that saddens me. Does anybody have the right to complain? Maybe not. We all know that their are Billions of people on this Earth that are far worse off then us. The bottom line that SYXDude was getting at is that new pilots at Skway Airlines in Milwaukee, WI definately don't have the right to complain.

 

[jobear]

Nice thought willfly

I just tell every Captain Beech/Jet that I flew with over the past year thanks for taking the pay cut for the FO's. One less beer for Ken anyway, eww Labatts .
Have a great week all.

Jobear

 

[AirBoard]

That would be interesting, and I am sure management would LOVE to hire new guys at new wages to fly the planes as the more expensive older guys leave....



Bye Bye--General Lee

General, I thinks its awesome you guys have mananged to pull those rates in all this time. With all the crap that's happend and all the CH 11's, to be even making industry compettive rates is good but yours.......Even if they have to pull the trigger and go Ch11 at least you've (hopefully) bankrolled your gains so you can wait out the 'lean' times to come.

 

[General Lee]

Airboard,

I would not brag about it, but yeah, it is nice to still have the wages. But, I would trade it in for some stability. Don't get me wrong, I think we ALL deserve higher wages, but not right now. I think Dalpa is holding the cards and will fold them when everyone agrees to give, and that hopefully will be soon. I am saving my money, though.....


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[ShadowFlight]

Whoa, Vagabond, chill out!

I agree with SYXDude, GoldenEagle, WillFlyFoCookie, and Jobear. I think SYXDude was only reminding newhires to be appreciative of the opportunity. If it wasn't for the sacrifices/hardships the senior pilots made, SYX wouldn't have the current agreement and could quite possibly be out of business. Like Jobear said, we should thank those pilots for their commitment.

From what it sounds like, there are quite a few new hires that i know for sure appreciate their new opportunity to work at SYX more than you."

I'm very grateful for the opportunity to fly for Skyway.

I'm sure if you'd ask SYXDude, he would say the same.

Don't rush to judgements about someone you don't know.

Peace

SF

 

[Justino]

I think we all need to do a raindance to ensure DAL does not file! How about we all meet at Ho Chunk Casinos ? jk

Have a great weekend!

Justino

 

[standaman]

Not trying to start a war but

Not trying to start a war but. November 1st is approaching quite soon for the airbus at Indy. Is this deal really going to go through. Let's assume for once that delta will not be in bankruptcy before Nov 1. Why have I seen no movement yet. Any thoughts from Skyway folks.

 

[Goldeneagle646]

I'm pretty sure the deal will go through. It's sounding like the Dorkjets are in pretty bad shape and will take a while to bring up to the high and mighty skyway standards. Just my .02

 

[Thunderchief]

Slyway's high standards?!?!? Ahhhahhhahahahahhahahaaaa.....

 

[Birddog]

The repetition of "the aircraft were in such bad shape" begs the question of, if they were so bad off that they need another 6 mos the get them ready, how could they have been flying the line up until now?

 

[SMOE]

Its my understanding that the Dorkjets themselves are not in bad shape just the maintenance logbooks. Apparently the record keeping left much to be desired and need to be cleaned up before Skyway accepts the planes.

Latest rumour says flying may start in Nov without a contract in place...

 

[House_X]

Its my understanding that the Dorkjets themselves are not in bad shape just the maintenance logbooks. Apparently the record keeping left much to be desired and need to be cleaned up before Skyway accepts the planes.

Latest rumour says flying may start in Nov without a contract in place...

How many pilots do you guys have ready for Nov. 1st. The word going around over here in "the nasty" is that you guys lost the financing. And I heard you can only staff 10 airplanes. You guys were going balls to the wall for our sim time in May and June, then you stopped. With the closing of DFW for Delta, they can transfer CHQ, ASA amd even SKW to cover our routes.

As far as how good or bad of shape the ships are in...what do you expect...everything is made out of plastic and held on with velcro.

 

[Justino]

I talked to HR at Skyway. from her mouth to my typing:

Skyway is waiting to c what happens with DAL and DALPA. If things work out then they are going to expect the jets online in March. Training dates could range from this Nov through Feb to start. Nothing is set in stone but looks very good. I hope it works out!


Justino

 

[metroplex]

good thing thunderchief knows what is going on at skyway and how they do the mx. hey thunderchief, furloughed yet ?

 

[ShadowFlight]

How many pilots do you guys have ready for Nov. 1st. The word going around over here in "the nasty" is that you guys lost the financing. And I heard you can only staff 10 airplanes. You guys were going balls to the wall for our sim time in May and June, then you stopped. With the closing of DFW for Delta, they can transfer CHQ, ASA amd even SKW to cover our routes.

Again, the issue about IAD sim time not being used as much is directly related to the level of training we received at that facility. From an aircraft perspective, the instructors were top-notch. But, SYX was/is having an issue with the instructors not being well-versed in our policies/procedures. As I've written before, our primary sim is Dallas with Dulles as the secondary.

Financing? There has never been talk about SYX not being able to finance anything. The issue isn't SYX's financing abilities but DL's overall financial situation. SYX was not the initiator in requesting implementation be delayed until early next year. It has been mentioned DL is paying all newhire training costs (post March 1 class) and I'm pretty confident agreements are in place for DL to repay SYX for associated non-training costs in the event the deal is not finalized. Confidentiality agreements may have been signed by those involved with the negotiations which prevent them from discussing the status of the deal. When a deal is finalized, I'm sure information will be publicly posted regarding all the details.

As for the number of crews, SYX was to only get 10 airplanes originally with the balance delivered over the course of 15 months. Why pay for training to immediately staff 30 airplanes when 10 are being delivered in the beginning? There has been some talk DL will only use 20 DoJets in CVG and SYX would get the other 10 for Midwest Connect growth.

As far as how good or bad of shape the ships are in...what do you expect...everything is made out of plastic and held on with velcro.

However true that may be, SYX mechanics have done an outstanding job of maintaining our planes. It's a testament to their abilities to "think outside the box". Having come from an operation where maintenance was questionable, it's great to know we have airplanes that are well-maintained by a group of dedicated mechanics.

Peace

SF

 

[StaySeated]

The mx log book story does seem a little odd. The FAA has huge woodys for cr@p like that and they would have handed out an insane fine if the books were that jacked up. Whatever the case, i hope indy works for the aca guys and delta connection for skyway. With that being said, I found it interesting that DCI is scheduled to have 100 less departures as of Feb05 according to DAL's "big plan". As previously mentioned, ASA has over 200 departures a day in DFW, those are going away and asa is picking up new flying all over the system including CVG. If Midwest were smart, and they are really really not smart, they would drop the whole DCI idea and just buy ten of the dorks outright and use them for midwest connect. Once the DAL BK or concessions are agreed to the fee for departure isn't going to be worth d1ck anyway. Just my opinion, good luck everyone, oh wait, and whoever the he11 is complaining about reserve for one whole month needs to shut the fack up! Poor little baby, just sit in the corner and eat your pb&j with the crust cut off. Ok, I feel better.