Skywest SO's

[amelia]

Originally Posted by jr_lenz

, his IOE is for 4 days.

Wow, only 4 days of IOE! How many hours of IOE do they have to do in the Brasilia? For the CRJ, I think its 40 hours they have to do of IOE. DH had to about 3 trips on IOE when he was a new hire and as an upgrade. As you can see, ground school is also longer (1 week of all the new hire stuff and company stuff, and 3 weeks of actually learning the CRJ).

After sim, when DH did his check ride for the CRJ as a new hire, he went to Idaho somewhere I think. As an upgrade, he did it in SLC. But they do them all over the place and its only for one night. Fly out the day of, do the check ride that night and fly home the next morning. Then you get to wait for IOE!!

[amelia]

Originally Posted by TheWife

Thanks for all the info! I have a while to worry about it, but I was just trying to figure out if we should start trying to plan ahead for it. Although, he's not even hired yet and there is always a chance he won't get hired but I hope we don't have to worry about that. I did hear also that if you don't get your base choice, that it's usually not too long before you can change. I have a neighbor who was based in CA and finally quit cause he couldn't handle being in the crash pad, that was about 2 years ago, right after he quit, is when SKW really started to pick up and have faster base changes and more hires, so he would have probably got SLC if he had stuck it out, but oh well. We are hoping to be as lucky as dh's favorite instructor, who got right on at SLC, has had a great schedule, he's just started his second year, made $30K his first, and this year he'll make $39K, with a Wed-Sat schedule. That would be nice! Everyone else implies it's such a nightmare w/ the first year income being around $20K so we are hopeful that maybe it won't be as bad as it sounds from some people.

I think as an FO he can get SLC pretty fast. DHs last FO was hired this past Feb and was based in ORD. He got transfered to SLC starting next month. When DH got hired, he was based in Tucson. While in training he put in his transfer bid to Denver. He got it pretty much right away.

DH's first year pay wasn't so great. But DH also bid for time off rather than higher block. He could have made a lot more. Our roommate bid for higher block and made a good 5K+ more than DH that first year. He can also pick stuff up in open time and get time and a half for it (if its within 10 days). You can make good money if you are willing to work a lot.

[jr_lenz]

the CRJ training is different places, but the schedule should be close.

[jr_lenz]

they told us that it is 20 hours min, to 50 max. so this is first set, if doesn't get check off then I guessing that he has to get scheduled for more hours. to be honest, I am buried at work, so I am going off him, which believe it or not isn't the best source. Somedays I have no idea how he flies planes for a living. he will tell me that his schedule is such and such. and I will happen to check it and he is two days off. I have told my sectary that I am going to give her buddy passes for managing his flight schedule. LOL and he wants to have another baby... I already feel like I have two!!!

[Kristin]

Originally Posted by jr_lenz

Lance is finishing skywest training, he fly the brazilla, this is how our training went...3 weeks in SLC for ground school. Within your class you are given senoirty by SS number, both L and his partner where high on the list so the picked the second session of SIm training. Which means he came home for five days, the ones in the 1st session went straight to Sims from ground school (just a note, they were harder on the second group, b/c they had the weeks off, and they told them that they had better be more prepared than the first). Fix Sim was in fresno for three days, then to Long beach for 4-5 for full motion sim. Straight from SIMS in Long beach he went to St. George for a check ride/night flights. We just got the IOE date, he will have been home 10 days between SIM and IOE, his IOE is for 4 days. Then they give you a week to get to your base and get settled before you get your bid. Usually they like to do your IOE out of your base, from what we hear. In ground school, they let them bid for what base they wanted,noone in his class got thier choice, but they says it happens sometimes. We got FAT, that seems like the newbie base right now, so we will commute for awhile, but they *tell* us that its pretty quick move around time, and you usually get to where you want pretty soon, we really need to get Portland or SLC. Good luck, ground school is hard, but I'm hear for you girl. PM me if you want some details...

My boyfriend is just finishing up his ground school portion in SLC and will be moving on to Fresno and Long Beach in about a week. The only difference is he's going for a check ride/night flight in Bakersfield instead of St. George.
So I'm wondering, since you said that nobody in his class got their base choice, if anyone bid for Monterey? That was my boyfriend's first choice and I'm really hoping he'll get it. His second choice was Fresno. When did your husband find out where he is going to be based? It's the third week and we haven't heard anything yet. I also have a question about the buddy passes if you know anything about those. Does he get his buddy passes right away or do we have to wait awhile? Do you know if I can use the buddy passes when he's on IOE? Does everyone get a week off between IOE and they get their bid? Thanks in advance, I'm so new to this, so I have so many questions!

[Imachickadee75]

Michelle,

I'm sorry to jump in late but I usually only come here on the weekends.

My advice would be to wait until after the baby comes and you guys are feeling pretty established (if that ever happens LOL) Dh started in Aug of last year with SkyWest and it was a tough transition for me, DS and DH. Yes some of the training is there in SLC but he will be completely unavailable to you because of the intensity of the training. There were nights that DH didn't feel like he could talk more than 10 min on the phone! I think your husband would suffer too not having the opportunity to bond with new baby.

Then the schedule is difficult to adjust to as well. Even though DH worked 13-16 hour days quite a bit as a flight instructor, he slept in the same bed as me every night, was in the same town, could arrange his schedule as needed for appts, help with unforseen minor emergencies (dog killing poisionous snake and needing to be rushed to vet or things breaking in the house) etc. Having him GONE for 4 plus days at a time and becoming a single parent was a tough transition for me. I definately would not want to have a new baby in the house and have that going on too if I could help it.

There was/is also the financial aspect. While he will be paid during training, it won't be much. In addition to that, if there is any delay in his IOE, he will not be paid during that time. That happened to us as his IOE captain got sick, then they had trouble re-scheduling. It took over three weeks. NO PAY. There is also the insur aspect to consider. COBRA is very expensive and SkyWest waits at least three months for insur to kick in. For us it was almost four because he started 8/4, and they only start insur on the 1st of the month. So instead of starting in November 1 (just shy of 90 days) it didn't start until December 1 (90 days plus 27). This was a real prob when I miscarried.

In terms of ongoing pay it does vary by how he bids and is scheduled. If he is on reserve status, his pay will be very low. Once he gets a line, flies like crazy and is gone alot he will get paid better. However, with a family that is very difficult on everybody. Additionally, we've had much greater expenses than ever before. DH has to commute to CA from OK. You can not count on your husband getting SLC. DH's flights are free but, he has to have a place to stay, food to eat and transportation to get back and forth from where he stays to the airport the day before he's scheduled to fly and sometimes the night before he comes home. He only gets per diem while he's out over night. If he overnights in his base, he also doesn't get per diem and needs a place to stay and food to eat. Even when he's out and getting per diem, airport food is expensive. Dry cleaning is expensive, luggage and uniforms are expensive. It can be very overwhelming. There are ways we combat the situation like he gets the 50 cent peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of the crew room in LAX, and we found a unique living situation at his base but its been very rough financially.

I know flight instruction stinks. Our situation was pretty rough. But, in my opinion, with a family of small children and/or major life changes like a new baby, the devil you know is much better than the one you don't.

All in all, DH and I are happy with SkyWest. I think they are pretty fair in the first year. For example, whether you get the jet or the brazilla, you get paid the same. Seniority is based on SSN -very random. Their health insurance cost is very reasonable comparitively and I'm very happy with the coverage. Crewsupport (their schedulers so to speak) have been great when we needed. Like when I miscarried, they got him off work and flown home as soon as possible (read immediately).

However, they are growing very rapidly and seemingly falling away from their employee/family focus. DH waited especially for them because of their history of being oriented that way and has been a little disappointed. We're afraid it will only get worse.

Please feel free to PM me and my husband would be more than happy to talk with yours if he'd like. He had some great mentors and loves to give back so to speak. He's older -6 years USMC, nine years at the flight school as a student then instructor and now FINALLY at a regional (check out the announcements section!). So he definately knows the score.

Jackie

[TheWife]

Jackie thank you so much, that was a lot of insight. You are right about dh needing to bond with the baby, I didn't even really think of that part. I guess we'll have to see just how far we are when we get closer. Maybe by some miracle, he'll be to his hours and able to be all the way done w/ training long before the baby. Of course that would put him in training around Christmas instead lol. I think it would be a lot easier to not have to deal w/ this transistion until the baby is like a couple weeks old, but at the same time, I hope it doesn't really take till next March for him to get to SKW. I know we have a pretty small chance of getting SLC. That's one of my biggest stresses, but we'll figure out. We have $35K equity in our house and of course we don't want to touch it, but if we have to, we have to. I really hope SKW doesn't lose that reputation they have for being a great place to work!

[Imachickadee75]

Well as you know, you find a way. We've made it through the last year on the excess of my student loans. Better interest rates than a credit card I guess.

Really, don't hesitate to let me know if you and your hubby want to chat with mine. It does get better but this first year has been TOUGH!

Jackie

[christykay]

Originally Posted by IMACHICKADEE75

All in all, DH and I are happy with SkyWest. I think they are pretty fair in the first year. For example, whether you get the jet or the brazilla, you get paid the same. Seniority is based on SSN -very random.

At SkyWest your seniority is based on your SSN? I assumed every airline based their seniority on the birthdates of the pilots in each individual class. Interesting. Is this because they are non-union and can "make" up their "own" rules??

Yikes- that is REALLY interersting, a SSN varies by which state you were born in. I'm floored, I just find that really interesting.

[TheWife]

I guess it's no more or less random than using a bday though. I think they use the last 4 if I remember right, which will put my dh at the end.