joe hokie

Food for thought;

Take a look at what is happening at RJET, Republic Airlines, today. It lost half its market value (lost approx $230 million in value) because of the strength of their pilot group not to vote in a subpar contract and to their own admission a shortage of pilots willing to work for them at their current pay rates.

I think that Skywest pilots have more leverage left and that the industry will change drastically in the next three years, the term period of our current proposed agreement. I was on the call with SAPA this morning and they are selling this as a strong agreement, which I agree with, but the term period "could be" too long and maybe waiting six months for a new deal "might" be worth seeing what management will give.

Skywest needs growth and the ability to win and renew flying, management claims that low rates are required to do this. I think this statement is true as well.

Where is your line? My mind thinks there is more out there for the Pilot Group OR that a 1-2 year term is a better fit given current market.

Respectfully Submitted

JamesNoBrakes

ASAP does not protect you from a 44709, nor was it ever intended to. In fact, a 44709 may be the outcome/decision of the ERC. I've seen it many times, as well as ATP and commercial pilots getting reexamed. It's not out of the ordinary. It's not exactly common either, but not abnormal. A 44709 is not punishment/enforcement. A 44709 is not a revocation of a certificate, nor does it show as such. Most of the time, the certificate is not even suspended, that's usually reserved for someone that fails a 44709 when the inspector believes with training the applicant could still possibly pass on a 2nd attempt. Somewhere, there should be someone that teaches you this at the airline.

disillusioned

I thought that the most interesting part of the call was when they said SW wants an agreement so they can go to the shareholders and partners and show that everyone is happy. But SW doesn't want everyone happy, they just want 50% +1 happy. And by changing the bylaws so that everyone can vote day 1, it should give them enough to get it to pass.

They are playing the altruistic card of helping the year 1 guys, but I remember that same thing last vote and we see how well that worked out for us. But the same people that haven't learned from the past, will probably be the same ones that won't be able to see what a mistake this agreement will be if it passes. There is a reason it is being pushed so hard. Some can see it now, some will see it a couple months down the road.

I also loved the part about how SW doesn't want to set a precedence with paying retro in case the FA's go over on their contract. They pushed us back so they could see how some of the other regional pieces played out. I still can't get anyone to tell me why we are all of a sudden going to hire and have proper staffing now that we have to pay more. We are hiring as many as we can right now. 50 a month is what I think they said. Too bad we are losing 40 + a month so there is no real net gain. Maybe if IOE wasn't taking 6-8 weeks....

Cruz5350

Well there's no upgrades for the CRJ in Sept. so I'm guessing they're trying to get caught up on IOE.

velosnow

Appreciate the kind words, enjoyed working for the pilot group but as you say the cards were always stacked against us.

Nevets

Non-sole source AND one of the 3 criteria required to be excluded, right?

Plus, the pilots have 24 hours to file an ASAP from the time they became aware there was an error. It doesn't have to be the day after the event.

skypilot35

I think our MOU states the report has to be filed within 24 hours from the time the duty period ends in which the event occurred...I might be wrong on this but I have filed an ASAP and when we spoke to the ASAP rep, this is what I was told.

I think there are 5 criteria which consists of criminal activity, substance abuse, controlled substances, alcohol, or intentional falsification, aka the Big 5. I assume this is what you were referring to.

Check Complete

Don't think it was a sole source report, I would guess the crew declared an emergency and would have been reported by the controller?

I was told the FAA and the ASAP ERC listened to the CVR as thus was determined that steps were missed in the QRH.

Squallrider

I would think since it takes quite a while for the ASAP to be processed that the CVR recording of that flight would be taped over by then

Check Complete

The process of certificate revocation and re-issuance during a 44709 ride was told to me by an FAA inspector and a company DE and that it will show up on PRIA since the action is almost always preceded by an incident, accident, or violation. I was also told that SkyWest has had 2 such 44709 events in the last 20 some years until this last month in which 3 have been ordered by the CMO.

If that's not the case, great, but everyone I've talked to have said these guys are screwed?