Silver02ex

So that's crew planning fault? because you don't know where you are going next month? read the awards that's what it's there for. I think there's more to it than "they keep moving me around." If you bid for a base and get award that you will stay there unless you put another bid in. You should know where you are going to be base during ground school. Do you not remember putting your bid in during ground school?

You expect them to hold your hand? It's not hard, we found out where we were going be based within the first 2 weeks of class. There was never "I wonder where they want me next month"

If you are on reserve they can DH you to any base but you still start out and end at your base and they are are not going to tell you to commute here and there.

FNFAL

Believe me you aren't the only guy that had a tough flying job before pinnacle. Not everyone that works there came in with 250 hours and no other experience. I pulled 30 hour duty days in part 91 and stayed awake for days at a time sitting "on call/rest" and 10 hours of flying/14 hour duty day in the middle of the night flying on a pager in freight.

You're actually at a disadvantage being worn out by another job before getting to pinnacle. You will need all the energy you can get. Before you make the jump make sure you do alittle research on "continuous duty overnights aka high speeds".

RedGuy

Oh, I know I'm not the only guy who's had a rough job, and like I said, I know there's worse jobs out there than even the job I have now. When I started flying freight it was the best job I could get with my measly 900hrs. And to tell you the truth I think I gained valuable experience from it that you'd be hard pressed to get anywhere else, but I definitely don't want to do this forever. It would have been nice to have the opportunities that fresh commercial pilots do these day when I got my license, but that's just the way the chips fall.

BTW I have heard of high speeds, but am only vaguely familiar with them. Basically from what I understand it entails flying out on the last flight of the night, going to a hotel for a couple hours and then flying the first flight out in the morning.

Spooled

Give him a break. We were all new at one time.

TheProfessionalPilot - PM if you have specific questions about vacancy's or anything for that matter.

Silver02ex

I understand but I never went around and blame crew planning because I don't know how things works, I sat down and read my contract and learn from other pilots.

plasticpi

All of your complaints apply to Colgan, too. Almost identically. Just got off the phone with a good friend of mine from ExpressJet, and he had the same complaints.

My dad has flown for countless corporate companies, a couple "commuter" airlines, and now Continental for 21 years. He has the same complaints. (maybe not about pay anymore, but that's the only exclusion. And even so, many of his co-workers complain about their pay. Boat payments are expensive, apparently )

I'm not saying anything other than this: if the things you are complaining about are so terrible for you that you can't take it any more, then get out of flying. I don't know if you've ever worked an office job, or construction, or service, but I have, and I can tell you without a moments hesitation that I would much rather deal with airline problems than my previous lives' problems.

Scheduling can be frustrating. Lack of communication galore. But put yourself in their shoes. If you had to keep up with where everybody is, where they need to be, all the legal issues about duty, etc., you'd be bound to make mistakes too. Same goes for dispatch.

Money doesn't come automatically, I don't care what field you are in. The only industry I'm aware of that really did pay well right out of the box was, and I emphasize *was* computer nerdery in the late 90s. Now, that has normalized too.

I wish you well in whatever you are doing, but I urge you to keep things in perspective. You have a lot of perks you are overlooking. Don't get so caught up in the negative that you forget to see what you have going for you.

nicholasblonde

Dude...you act like everything should be handed to you on a silver platter, as if us pilots are not expendable. There are hundreds of Jet U wannabes right there ready to take your job...so no one really cares whether you upgrade or not. In fact, I don't care, because it seems like you're the type who wants everyone to do everything for you.

Why don't you close your g.d. laptop, stop wasting time complaining on ACP, and read your friggin PBS packet. Go sit in at the SOC, and teach yourself all these things you were too lazy to read about/learn about/call people to learn about in groundschool.

Yeah, they don't teach you a lot that you need to know. But that's no excuse for not putting yourself out there and figuring it out on your own.

There aren't too many employers on Earth who go out of their way to walk you through every little detail of your life or your job. Pinnacle is certainly no exception.

If you want hours with the mentors, you have to man up and do whatever it takes to get on trips with them. You have to go out of your way. Find out who they are and make friends with them and maybe they'll do you a favor and use PBS to get on trips with you.

nicholasblonde

PS> I hate to continue ranting, and I'm certainly not defending 9E, but a lot of guys here tend to forget that this is what it is--a regional job.

If anyone on here came to 9E thinking this was a career airline, they should've done their research and gone to Skywest or AirWis, where they could spend their whole life flying CRJs (and upgrade much longer than 9E, btw). Personally, I don't want to spend my life at any regional. Yeah, that might backfire if stuff slows down here, but that's no excuse to not man up and try to get into that left seat and get T.F. out as soon as you're competent to do so.

I know some dudes who bid ATL FO, where they're not getting many hours, and they said they wanted "QOL" and "interesting routes." I laughed at that, beacuse they're certainly not in the right mindset for this stage of this profession--you should be here to get in and out and upwards as fast as you can.

I know, I know, our company thrives off people who come here just for the TPIC who don't stay long enough to strike and make it a better place. I'll go on strike if we have the opportunity, because I feel bad for the guys with a wife and kids who can't make it on 2K/month, or for the guys who for whatever reason seem to want to work here long-term.

No one (not even mgmt) expects you to "like" working here, because they assume you're only here for the TPIC anyways. If you're not, you made a huge mistake coming here. And if there is one good thing about 9E, it is the fact that they are desperate for capts. There are dudes in the bottom 100-200 numbers holding captain everywhere but MSP.

higney85

nicholasblonde- Great post.

PCLCREW

This is my 4th airline in 8 years... I attended various failures Midway/Indy Air to name a few. Does Pinnacle suck? Hell ya, but I knew that going into this dump and it sounds like you did to. Either deal with it or dont. I wouldnt tell me worst enemy to come to this place. Who ever said Pinnacle is like Mesa only 10% better was pretty right on...

Now that being said, when a new contract is voted in (ya ya I know it could be 5 more years) I cant wait to see the thread for how great Pinnacle is blah blah blah...

Man every company goes through Sh%& times... Look Express Jet is throwing COLA's out there, which may soon lead to fourloughs if that dumb a$% Express Jet airlines doesnt start picking up, and its not gonna.

Do your job and go home... Lateral moves suck take it from someone who has done 3 times...