Upgrade time to captain?
12-23-2018, 06:59 AM
#13
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Joined APC: Jul 2014
Posts: 812
I wouldn't recommend Spirit to someone without a lot of currency. 4 sims and a non AQP checkride is stacking the odds against you. The oral failure rate is 5% and then another 10% fail the checkride. When an airline is using another airlines study materials you need to reevaluate going there. A good friend went their after retiring from a flying role in the military and failed the ride. He owns it but it is a hard pill to swallow when you had a perfect record and were only going there as a currency builder.
12-23-2018, 07:31 AM
#14
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Thread Starter
Joined APC: Oct 2018
Position: E175 FO
Posts: 150
Spirit and Frontier don’t interest me given the pay and where I want to live. I’d try for Alaska or JetBlue before those if the big majors don’t show interest.
At this point I’m just doing research for long-term plans. This is all great info and I appreciate everyone’s engagement. First I have to get through SkyWest’s training and start flying the 121 line and living the life. So baby steps.
At this point I’m just doing research for long-term plans. This is all great info and I appreciate everyone’s engagement. First I have to get through SkyWest’s training and start flying the 121 line and living the life. So baby steps.
12-23-2018, 07:36 AM
#15
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Joined APC: May 2009
Position: The GF of FUPM
Posts: 3,073
The sooner you learn to embrace the suck, the easier the whole game gets. You'll initially wear a hole in the side of your scalp from scratching your head, but it will heal. The parking brake is your friend. 
12-23-2018, 09:26 AM
#16
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Joined APC: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,735
I wouldn't recommend Spirit to someone without a lot of currency. 4 sims and a non AQP checkride is stacking the odds against you. The oral failure rate is 5% and then another 10% fail the checkride. When an airline is using another airlines study materials you need to reevaluate going there. A good friend went their after retiring from a flying role in the military and failed the ride. He owns it but it is a hard pill to swallow when you had a perfect record and were only going there as a currency builder.
12-23-2018, 10:54 AM
#17
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Thread Starter
Joined APC: Oct 2018
Position: E175 FO
Posts: 150
12-23-2018, 11:04 AM
#18
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Joined APC: Dec 2005
Posts: 8,939
Any answer given is true for one bid and one bid only. Given current conditions it is likely to continue going down in years in the coming bids, but when the music finally stops it will likely go back to more "normal" levels, and those that make captain in 2019 or 2020 at the bottom will probably end up back in the right seat. That's how this industry works when times are good they are great, but when the economy turns watch out below because the airlines will shrink more than you think is possible.
The cycle has repeated itself at least a half dozen times since Wilbur and Orville first pinned captain wings on themselves over 100 years ago. If you're thinking about making it to the airlines in a couple of years and then wondering how long to make captain . . . don't . . . you'll only drive yourself crazy in ten years thinking about what could have been.
Sorry to play Debbie Downer, but them's the facts. What's happening today is NOT the norm in history, and won't last.
The cycle has repeated itself at least a half dozen times since Wilbur and Orville first pinned captain wings on themselves over 100 years ago. If you're thinking about making it to the airlines in a couple of years and then wondering how long to make captain . . . don't . . . you'll only drive yourself crazy in ten years thinking about what could have been.
Sorry to play Debbie Downer, but them's the facts. What's happening today is NOT the norm in history, and won't last.
12-23-2018, 11:22 AM
#19
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Joined APC: Mar 2006
Position: guppy CA
Posts: 5,171
Given how lean staffing is, furloughs can also be mitigated or even eliminated by lowering line pilots' block hours. In my mind, that's a much more palatable solution than having to furlough. Unfortunately, there are more than a few $200K+ pilots who live paycheck to paycheck and have to fly 100 credit hours/mo. Gotta pay for that mcmansion, private plane, boat, and stable of half a dozen high end European cars. I'm intentionally avoiding a discussion on the third F.
12-23-2018, 11:55 AM
#20
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Joined APC: Apr 2015
Posts: 491
Doesn’t matter. There are guys who are always going to only talk about all the terrible things that might happen and that’s their life. They are miserable and enjoy bringing people down. Guy on the crew van last week complaining to my new hire FO that he better be prepared to be furloughed in a few years and get screwed in an SLI because he got furloughed before the merger from CAL and believes he got screwed in the SLI.
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