shoelu

The word on the street from the SWAPA President is that the TPIC requirement will be lowered to 500 hours.

PDTGIMP

Background check is 10, PRIA is last five, per federal law....they will call employers back to 10...but PRIA request to 5....

a. PRIA specifically applies to the following:

(1) For the purpose of requesting records, any U.S. air carrier operating under 14 CFR parts 121 or 135, any U.S. air operator under 14 CFR part 125, or other person that is hiring an individual to be a pilot for their company.

(2) For the purpose of furnishing records, any U.S. air carrier operating under 14 CFR parts 121 or 135, any U.S. air operator under 14 CFR part 125, or other person, or trustee in bankruptcy for an operator that employed the individual as the pilot of a civil or public aircraft at any time during the 5-year period before the date of the individual’s employment application.

FlyinSailor

Will you elaborate on this? I'm interested in this as a guy on reserve. Thank you.

bunk22

Thank you sir!

Moonbeam

You should try to erase all your messages on that WheelsUp thread. You never know if SWA HR looks at these boards now that they can put two and two together. It was pretty entertaining though.

KPer

Sure. It's buried in Side Letter 17 of the contract (with all of the FAR 117 stuff). Middle of page 16 (paragraph 5.2.l). Can only do it in the current (lead out) month and you have until 0900 CST on the 24th to request it. Folks at scheduling knew and were very helpful when I called.

FLY6584

But what does a guaranteed RON on a lead out actually mean?

I start a 5 day reserve block today, the 30th of April. How could I have used this to help myself out?

KPer

Unfortunately, you're kinda hosed for two reasons. First, you have the make the request before the 24th of the current (lead out) mouth. Second, this protection/right is only if you end up with 6 day reserve block as a result of overlap... not 5 or less. You have to call and request this after the overlap is corrected (usually on the 12th of the month)... it does not happen automatically.

I misquoted slightly, you are allowed a NON-RON night on the lead out month. So what that basically means is that you are allowed one night in domicile during that 6 day block and only during the current (ie. lead out) month. The new month is the "lead in" month. If you are a commuter this protection really does nothing for you as I would assume you would rather be in a company paid hotel room on a trip rather than in your crash pad or in hotel that you are paying for out-of-pocket.

Tnkr

Congrats to all the new hires. Here's a couple quick pieces of advice:

1. Don't expect SWA training to be very educational. If you need the type then study the light and switch booklet you'll get. If you have the type, study the hotel bar menu.

2. Don't be too taken in by the propaganda of the first wk. There will be lots of dinners and videos and speeches of how great the company is (it is) and how we're a little upstart airline that's always fighting against the big guys (we're not-we are the big guys now). IMO all these things are to condition you to think you need to always be sacrificing for the company. Remember that this is a business and you are an important part of it. Act accordingly.

3. Enjoy your time to the max extent. There will be a lot of days where the instructors pack 45 min of information in an 8 hr day, typically topped off with a Schlotzsky's sandwich. Try not to get too down about things like that.

4. Keep the faith that SWAPA is fighting for you to have an amazing contract soon. That being said, you'll be on probation so try not to be too vocal about it during training. You never know who's listening, even at the hotels. Not talking conspiracy here, just mgmt types that stay at the hotels as well. I've seen this one bite some of the all-civ time guys that have gone thru strikes and whatnot at OAL.

5. While this isn't the airline of the 80's and 90's (according to the older CA I've flown with) it is still a great place to work, and the relationships between the work groups is still pretty fun IMO. Try to keep it that way.

6. Welcome to the team!


Without a heart it's just a job.

FLY6584

Ok cool. Good to know. Thanks!