skywest salary REALLY!

[Newbee]

I have an interview on the 19th with SkyWest and would love to hear from some of you who work there about working conditions, realistic pay, overtime availability, and domiciles.

I admit, I am way behind on my research, so anything would be helpful. I would like to know what hotels you stay in. Do you pay for everything and fill out expense forms? How much can I really make that first fatal year?

My wife and I like to eat and with our mortgauge and student loans, I may not be ABLE to accept a job if it is offered. I hope I am stressing out over nothing.

All in all, I am impressed with what I have found so far and excitted to even get an interview!

Fly safe!

Newbee

 

[Two-9-9-TwoSet]

just hang tight

Andy Neill will be here shortly, I promise !!

 

[SkyWestCRJPilot]

You don't pay for anything while on trips except your own meals and tips for the hotel van. But to compensate you for that you get $1.60/hour per diem. (I think that number is correct) First year FO on either the EMB120 or CRJ is $19.02/hr. A reserve line holder is guaranteed 75 hours per month so at a minimum you'll make $1426.50/month before taxes. If you hold a line then line holders have an 80-hour per month minimum, $1521.60/month. The average line though is probably around 85 hours/month, $1616.70 but it may take you a few months to get off reserve and even hold a line. We stay at all kinds of hotels: Holiday Inns, Hampton Inns, Embassy Suites, Marriotts, Hiltons, etc. I've never had to fill out any kind of expense report for reimbursement, that's what the per diem is for. If you go on a trip away from your domicile then per diem isn't taxed. If you go on a local trip and come back that night, or if you do a stand up where you're on duty all night but back in the morning, then that per diem IS taxed. Working conditions at SkyWest are very good relative to what I've heard at other regionals but most of the work rules are hard to explain unless you are working in the airline industry right now. Regarding domiciles there are many. EMB domiciles are: SLC, DEN, Fresno, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Portland, Palm Springs, San Diego, Monterrey. RJ bases: Sacramento, DEN, SLC, Tucson, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Fresno. They are not in any particular order and I may have missed one. Your best bet is to go to www.skywestpilot.com. That website has some great information on it though I don't think they have updated the part about you not being paid during training now. They will pay half of your hotel bill during training or you can share with another pilot and therefore it's free. Good luck and hope to see you on line.

 

[Andy Neill]

SkyWest also has the remians of a Brasilia domicile in SMF and a CRJ reserve domicile in DFW.

Just trying to keep 29992set's promises.

 

[Newbee]

Thanks CRJPilot

Thanks for the info! Good news about the per diem. Is that for a 24hr period? What are the odds of getting a F.O. spot in the CRJ to start? I thought they started everyone in the EMB.

Any more info about schedules? I know if probably varries but do you see a lot of 4 on 3 off weeks or is it more like 7 on 2 off? Not much info on the pilot schedules on the website.

As for the no pay at trainning? Not that big of a deal to me. Certainly an inconvenience but in this day and age, I hope I can have the opportunity!

Thanks to all for the info.

I will definetly recognize your face if I see you on the line! (might be different in uniform..... I hope!)

 

[Andy Neill]

Per diem is paid from the time you are to report at your domicile until you are relased from duty at your domicile. If you report at 0800 on Monday and are released at 2000 on Thursday, you get 60 hours at $1.60 an hour tax free in per diem.

Trips in the Brasilia run the range of single, 2, 3, and 4 day trips while in the CRJ they are more along the lines of 4 and 5-day trips. On a weekly basis, we are talking 3 or 5 days on and 2-4 days off.

We will be running CRJ newhire classes this year as the need arises. We have on in session nownd should have another in a couple of weeks. I expect that we won't run any for most of the rest of the spring but will crank them up again in early summer. We plan to run Brasilia newhire training throughout the year.

 

[Newbee]

TRAINING?

First, Andy- Thanks for the post. The per diem makes the job a bit more appealing.

Where is the actual training done for both aircraft? Does the company have it's own training facility in SLC or do they contract to FSI?

Any other bits of info on work environment, schedules, pay, etc...?

Newbee

 

[KFFA]

Andy,

What does it look like for newhire classes? I know one started yesterday with 30? what does the nex few months look like? What about newhires going into the 717

 

[SkyWestCRJPilot]

Regarding schedules. Like Andy said 4-day trips are very common on the RJ, 4 on 3 off with 3 night away from home. There are also 5-day trips but they are more like 5 on 4 off. There are a few (maybe 10% of the scedules) that are 3-day trips (these are very senior), 3 on 4 off with 2 nights away from home. This month I have a combination of locals and 2-day trips. My locals start at 14:00 and end at 21:45. On the local I do two roundtrips and I'm home at night. I also do a different local that starts at 18:00 and ends at 23:30 with just one roundtrip. The two-day I have starts at 09:30 with one leg then layover all day. The next day we report to the airport at 08:30 and do five legs and end at 18:40 that night and I go home. Then I come in the next day and do the same 2-day again. Then I'm off for 3 days. This line pays around 84 hours but I was able to pick up another 15 hours of local trips on my days off for a total of 99 hours. The extra pay really helps. A standup (which are very senior) is when you report for duty at the airport around 21:00 and fly one leg to the destination, sleep for 5 hours and then fly back on the 6:00 am flight to get off duty by 08:30 for example. You're home all day long and would do 4 or so of these a week. At my seniority I normally end up with 4-day trips mostly like the majority of pilots here but this month I got lucky with the two-day and local trips. All lines have a minimum of 10 days off a month with the best lines having 17 days off and the worst having 10 days off. Reserve lines are generally 5 on 2 off, where you are on call from 06:00 to 18:00 or 09:00 to 21:00. You have 1 1/2 hours to report to the airport if called. Also reserves are called out based on seniority if they have "Call First" on their schedule. If they don't have "Call First" they are called based on inverse seniority. Before I came to SkyWest I didn't know anything about the kind of schedules regional airline pilots fly so I hope this helps some.

 

[Andy Neill]

Newbie,

Ground school for each of the aircraft is at Salt Lake City. CRJ also does FTD and sim in SLC. Brasilia FTD is in Fresno and the sim is in Long Beach. The aircraft checkrides are basically anywhere in the system where SkyWest can match up a checkairman and an overnight aircraft. All FTD and sim training is done with SkyWest instructors.

KFFA,

SkyWest has scheduled newhire Brasilia classes every 4 weeks for the rest of the year. From time to time SkyWest will also be holding CRJ newhire classes as needed (not enough SkyWest pilots bidding the jet who are qualified/available for transition). Crystal ball shows no activity on the 717.