Colgan thread

[BRA]

think twice before PFT here. I have a nice story. I am starting my day by cleaning the airplane, preflighting, checking all the seats, (this is your job here...no flight attendent) The captain is checking the weather, checking MELs, and write ups etc. This is the stuff we do an hour before the flight is scheduled to depart. The company requires we show up an hour before departure. While we are doing this, a chautauqua pilot comes over...said he wanted to check out the 1900, he had never been in one before. We were cool with this, we said he could look as long as he wants. The interesting part.........guess who was the only one getting paid in this transaction. The chautauqua pilot. They get per diem. Colgan does not. Two pilots are working to get a flight ready to go for free, one pilot is being paid to go sight seeing. We do a lot of things for free at colgan. A lot. The FO does 2 jobs at colgan, flight attendent, and pilot. You of course are barely paid to be the pilot though. remember this. If i lost this job tomorrow though i would beg to get it back. I do appreciate what i have. But i didn't pay 18K for it.

 

[Riddlebratt]

Bra what is the upgrade time looking like for you and how long have you been at Colgan. I also can say I appreciate the honesty in your statements on the board....Its nice to hear the real side from the real pilots flying the line. Although I wish I was there as well.

 

[chperplt]

The FO does double duty at every 1900 operator. Plus, what are some of the other 1900 FO pay scales out there? I bet if you add base pay at Great Lakes, Commutair, ect.. plus their per diem, it wouldn't be over your $20 an hour.

No perdiem here yes.. BUT, don't make it sound so horrible. $20 an hour as a first year Beech FO is probably the highest in the country. Still sucks... but the highest in the country.

 

[tittyjet]

Hey, BRA:

You forgot to tell him about sitting hot reserve in ManASSas on the sofa of the waiting room in the main office.

That's right folks -- you sit on a fugging couch with no TV, no computer, no peace to rest, and people coming and going all day long for TWELVE hours waiting on them to use you for a trip. BTW, don't even think about asking to be released early, or you'll wind up in the CP's office getting your ass chewed.

Or, how about having to drive (not ride in) a company van from ManASSas to Charlottesville (about 1.5 hrs) in order to do an afternoon round trip to LGA. IT'S AN ACTUAL LINE, PEOPLE -- it happens every day!!! (I will be fair, however, they do pay crew members for their time riding in the van). The other poor schleps who did the morning trip have to drive the thing back just to get home.

One more..... I have on very good authority that they sent out a fugging ALERT BULLETIN a couple of months ago saying that flight crews are not allowed to drink anything but bottled water in the cockpit. No coke, no coffee; not even with a lid!!! Air Line pilots not allowed to drink coffee to help them stay awake while in the cockpit during a fourteen hour duty day. They probably put that one on the 'joke-of-the-week' wall down at the Dulles FSDO when they read it -- what a hoot!

The morale has got to be one of the top five worst in the airline industry! Run -- do not walk -- away from that place! Everyone whom I know that is still there is fighting and clawing with all of their might to get out.

All my respect to my former comrade CHPERPLT, though; he seems to keep a good attitude about the whole thing. Good for him -- that's the onlty thing that will keep you sane around that palce.

Keep the faith, brother.

 

[BRA]

I am not comparing us to other 1900 operators. I am happy i have this job. Beats flight instructing. What i am saying is do you really want to spend 18K to work here. Do you want to spend it at a 1900 operator period. You could do a lot of things with 18K. Wine and dine your girlfriend with it for a few years. Save it. Learn another trade while you flight instruct. Become an EMT, a personal trainer, something! But don't give it to colgan without thinking long and hard about it. Once it's gone, it's gone. Wait a little bit and see if the UAL express carriers start hiring again. If airline hiring just gets worse, i would imagine the colgan PFT deal won't go anywhere. Commutair seems to be taking people the old fashioned way still. Low time guys too. The economy is showing signs of life. I would hold onto the 18K a little longer. Remember: no union at colgan, no APU in the 1900. You will freeze in the winter, and bake in the summer. Should you get the saab..upgrade will take forever. This is fact. Many of our beech captains bid saab captain, and many get it. Captain pay on the beech is less then 2nd year FO pay at Comair. Colgan Air "flying yesterdays technology into tomorrow"

Good things: flight benifits with mainline are great. And you can jumpseat. No flight instruction. Steady pay check every 2 weeks. 121 Multi turbine time. We often get just about half the month off. Multiple bases to chose from. The pilots you work with are all pretty nice people. They do give you a pretty good schedule at a lot of the bases. 4 on , 4 off for example. 1900 will give you a very good instrument scan.

 

[Mungusaurus]

Hey Bra!

Thanks for your positivity, I hope you and I get to fly together some time. Maybe we already have.
Yeah life sux but what'cha gonna do.

 

[BRA]

To answer the question...it is hard to tell my upgrade time. If we expand it will change for the better, if other airlines start hiring....pilots will leave here like crazy. But that would probably include me too. Before i got here..you needed 1000 in type, 2000 total, and have been with the comapny a year. When i interviewed they said you needed 2500TT, and 700 in type. In january they said you needed about 2000tt (seen all the seasons), and 500 in type. Need, and whatever they feel like are 2 different things. Colgan changes all the rules to however they fit them best. They may have hired all the street captains to keep insurance costs down...or they hired them because they had too many 500 hour gulfstream people here. You pick. So with that note...i could upgrade sooner because people senior to me just don't have enough total time. But by the time they do more upgrades, i would guess most here will have about 2000TT, with a lot of that total in the beech. So if upgrade was one year..just to pick a number....if you got in here tomorrow. it would be more then one year for you, because you are lower time. As of right now, i have been here around a year. My upgrade is no where in sight. It would be another few years. No sign of expansion, and many FO's senior to me. And upgrades are at a snails pace. But who knows what the future holds.......one year ago today...ACA was the hottest place to be. everyone was ready to kill to get an interview there. Not too many people knocking on that door now. And the ones that got in right around now......didn't last too long. If you could have paid 18K for that a year ago...it probably would have looked like a safe bet. Now imagine doing it at colgan now.

 

[tittyjet]

Mung:

Check your lexicon (know what that is?), sport, "positivity" is not a part of the English language.

If you cannot communicate effectively in this forum, how in the hell do you expect to communicate the merits of your King Air driving to BELOW minimums effectively in an airline interview?

You need to get a clue. BTW, do you have a twin sister named Eden???

 

[Mungusaurus]

To the Mighty Tittyjet

Get a life muppet boy!< I was trying to give Bra some support and you come in and take your slow lumbering whale driving negative trip. As for below mins, visibility is governing when commencing an approach so as long as I have the min vis I can start an approach. At night with a 100 foot ovc it is very easy to pick up the runway lights at which point I can continue another 100' and pick up the runway and land. Here endeth the lesson. And Lexicon, Ne Te Confundant Illegitemi, my old sock!

 

[chperplt]

All my respect to my former comrade CHPERPLT, though; he seems to keep a good attitude about the whole thing. Good for him -- that's the onlty thing that will keep you sane around that palce.

Tittyjet

Thanks man.. I sure as he!! try. Just got back from 3 days in LGA with 45 minute taxis, very little or no A/C, and 19 people that let me know their feelings about the situation along the way. Now I'm home for 36 hours before I have to go back and do it all over again.