AWA new hire class?

[bigsky]

I was wondering if anyone has heard anything? My friend told me the chief pilot walked into a recurrent grond school class and said they would have a class of 29 in about a month. My other friend said he is in airbus training said they were telling them if they knew anyone to tell them to send in their resumes.

On the other hand I must admit the thought of quiting a fairly stable job to go there with the economy still bad, a chance that we will go to war with Iraq and everything that goes along with that seems a bit risky. I dont have any warm fuzzy feelings about being furloughed with no one else doing much hiring.

 

[Wiskey Driver]

AWA doesn't take unsolicited resumes so you have to have an application to go with it and they are not passing those out right now. I got a application last month at an airline convention and turned it in within a week with three LOR's and I still don't I will get a call with all of the furloughs on the street with 100,000tt 90,000 pic turbine. The idiot in DC about to plunge us into another war will most certainly send us further into a recession. I think that I will stay at AWAC and upgrade sometime before 2005. Atleast I will be employed...

WD.

 

[acaTerry]

Keep yer politics to yourself

Do us all a favor and keep you opinion about the president to yourself before this string turns into a political debate. You almost got me to bite.....

 

[Wiskey Driver]

I have an even better idea since this is a forum for aviation and debate, how about if this hurts you little feelings you don't have to respond but who do you think you are to tell anyone to keep anything to themselves???? Working for ACA I am assuming that you are an adult but then again we all know what happens when we assume don't we?

WD.

 

[temcgrew]

Didn't the price of crude oil go down during the gulf war? i thought that would be a good thing for an "airline pilot"!!
Just an assumption.......

 

[bigsky]

Im not sure about the price of oil during the gulf war- and am not that familiar with the particulars as I was still working on my ratings at that time...but it seems to me that all of the airlines were pretty much tanking in the early 90s. I could be wrong but I assumed this was directly related to the gulf conflict. War, terrorism and uncertainty never seem to be that good for the airline industry...although I hope I am wrong!

 

[Wiskey Driver]

UEJ500,

The price of oil did come down, but let me draw your attention to the state of the airlines in the early 90's it was not too pretty many people could find work, many stuck at regoinals that they had no intentions of staying that long with. If memory serves me correctly, during that time the whole pay for training deal started. I won't go into that one because it really is a whole different debate and string. War and airlines don't mix period.

WD.

 

[jon coqtoestone]

I have heard that internal references are being accepted by the CP's office -- only if the candidate is likely to stay. (How that gets determined, who knows . . . I do understand that big-3 furloughees will be regarded with EXTREME suspicion.)

The crystal ball is very cloudy here in the desert. First of all is contract negotiations. There is a very strong belief that we will have to strike to get a reasonable and fair contract (our current contract is the joke of the majors).

Another consideration is the out-sourcing of our routes to "Express," and the effects on job security. (Why the very word "freedom" makes pilots in PHX cringe.)

So, if you've got a good gig going right now, it might be safer to stay where you are until this whole mess shakes out. Then again, as with any risk, you might be able to come in at the beginning of a wave of growth. (Wave of growth? I know, sounds peculiar during these troubled times, but the way the industry is beginning to "collapse like a wet taco" there may very well be some excellent opportunities here.) Who knows? I'm just a dumb FO who's been in the sun too long. I'm sure your buddy in recurrent can give you his best guess.

I am extremely lucky to have been furloughed and recalled in a relatively short time span. And I'm very happy to have the privilege of flying again with some of the finest crews in the industry. But, my warm-fuzzy gets a little prickly when I wonder how long until the proverbial "other shoe" drops, and I'm on the street again.

As another forum member suggests: this really is no more certain than a roll of the dice.

Cheers!

 

[bigsky]

Definitely a tough call. I moved to Phoenix when I had a class date in early 2001-right before they cancelled it. Since then we have built a house and love it here so AWA would be perfect for me. I personally think they are going to do ok and I have heard they plan on expanding while everyone is cutting back....could be a good thing! On the other hand for the time being I have a pretty good job making 80k as a f.o. on the 10---kind of hard to leave this and go to the bottom of the seniority list there with all that is going on in Iraq and wallstreet. Things change so quick, its like"do you feel lucky punk, well do ya?"

 

[Wiskey Driver]

I feel the same way you do Big sky good job secure not making 80K though but doing ok. AWA would also work well for me I too live on the west coast and need to make that final career move, just not too sure about the dice though what happens if we roll snake eyes????

WD.