R0GER BALL

Wow. A stop by my Alma Mater to see what's new and I see they created this agreement for presentation to new hires. Times have charged. I think it sucks they created this, but I think you guys have to sign it. A pathway to a sooner class date is a win no matter what. Only the seniority number matters. Trust me, I get it, you shouldn't have to sign as you've worked your butt off to get to this point. But. Only the number guys. Only the number matters. We are talking SkyWest. The strongest regional with the most options for you.

It's not like you get nothing. OO will be training you AND paying you. These pay scales won't last forever. By in large, it's a good training group. Definitely focused on success of the pilot. What's that worth? Jet training, 121 time. PIC opportunity. Great pay. Is it worth $80,000? Absolutely. No question.

If the opportunity to fly narrow bodies presents itself in the future, just pay the 80k. I'm two years into an ULCC and I'm on CA pay because of my OO training and logged time.

Anyway, bummer this is the choice forced on you. But really, as a guy looking back, yeah, I'd have signed it. Just sign it and get going. Figure out the rest latter. This is an awesome career in a sh**** industry. Good luck.

EELightning

You should have stayed at Skywest RB. Your selfish mentality is anti-union management's dream. I've been in this biz for 30 years. Right through the thick of pay for training. I never considered it for a second. I've talked to a lot of people over the years who signed crap like this - all regretted it. I guess the rest kept silent in shame.

trip

I disagree, I think it’s a terrible idea. What’s next work for free? Intern F/O the first year? Why not because the only thing that matters is a number and 121 turbine right?
This is nothing new, it’s the old pay-for-training scheme, albeit they forgive the amount if you stay 5 years and or give the PIC.

Vfly

Roger Ball up there sounds like he might be a SGU plant.

That being said, it's funny seeing people's opinions on this who have already come and gone from the regionals, or been in the industry for 30 years. It's just not the same world it was 2 years ago, there aren't hardly any jobs for fresh 1,500 hour folks and there's an incredibly large stock of fresh 1,500 hour folks. So yeah, companies are gonna start weeding through all of them to find the ones that don't mind a little forced loyalty for a few years. it's just business, they're not trying to screw anyone over more than they normally do anyways. And I would honestly be surprised if the started punitavely suing people that fail or drop out of training or lose their medical or whatever, they still want people to apply to work there. If they started dropping lawsuits like that it would scare away people from wanting to apply. And some of their recent policies like forcing the ERJ to CRJ upgrades and stuff, those depend on having a large stockpile of FO applicants ready to take the place of someone who doesn't wanna play along.

People love to bash on the non-union situation, but what would a union do for OO? Didn't Republic have a Union when they rolled out their contract? Doesn't Endeavor have a union? They're forcing upgrades and mandatory stays at captain before you're allowed to go mainline. Isn't Commuteair ALPA? And they allow long stretches of standalone airport reserve. OO doesn't have that anymore. People have just been so spoiled by decades inthe industry, or lucky timing they can't think before they spout a copy/paste opinion.

Even if hiring picks back up again, pretty unlikely it will come even close to the last few years, and with that you're most likely not going to move from OO or Republic to a major in less than 5 years anyways. Sure, you can hold out and you can do the Ol' resume wash jump to Southwest or Spirit or Atlas or.... wait. No you can't.

SIgn the contract and start working, or don't and stay instructing for an interminate amount of time? Wait 2 years and maybe the contract goes away then start? Maybe it never goes away and then you're looking at 6 or 7 years from now instead of 5.

amcnd

your friend lied….. maybe 10% needed extra training.. but 10% didn’t fail out…

ToTheTabs

I could see 4 out of 40 not making it through, especially if a couple of them had some outside pressures.
I think 3 of my class of 50ish didnt make it through. One kinda got screwed over, the other 2 were obviously never gonna make it. Doesn't take much to hit 10%. I agree it isnt the norm though...

somerisingsun

One of the last classes had 7 out of 35 wash out. So roughly 20%

followingdreams

I would ALMOST agree with you IF the contract stated 1. Its in effect once you are on the line 2. Maximum of 2/3 years regardless 3. If you lose your medical, it is not enforced. The risk for a 172 CFI to go thru airline training OR be on the hook for $80k is ridiculous! Hiring slows to a crawl, no more upgrades, you are at OO for 5 years and decide to leave for say a 135 or 91 job (since 121 isnt hiring), you are on the hook for $80k! You develop a hear murmur....Nothing will make up convert that Murmur into a heart attack faster than thinking you will not only lose your job but be on the hook for $80k. the risk reward is too great. In the 135 world the risk is usually $10-20k for a 1 year contract, way more paletable!

PropelFlight

Which airline do you currently fly for? I am 135 cargo captain with an ATP and ~2,000 hours. I have a CJO with OO currently. I have not signed the contract. From what I am seeing, most airlines don't care much about my 135 time, despite being a type-rated, multi-turbine aircraft.

PorkyMcFuzz

So that would be $560,000 owed to skywest from just that one class? Disgraceful.