Quote:
Originally Posted by ready2fly  Touching on what Zmiller said about how Eagle goes about assigning bases, I have no problem with that. I know from friends who are with other regionals that they didn't know their bases until the last couple of weeks of training (see: Colgan & Air Wisconsin).
Now THAT would suck!
At least with Eagle, my wife and I had over two months to start looking for, and find a house here.
True, you don't know what aircraft and bases are available until the first DAY of training , and true that the "old guys" like me got the pick of the litter, but that's how the machine works. |
Stan,
I know some airlines don't let you know your base until well into training (my current employer included), but you at least have an idea of what geographic area you're going to be in with other airlines that tell you what aircraft you're going to school for. And with other airlines, you at least have a chance to transfer bases--with Eagle, three out of the 4 A/C only have two bases each. That means restricted mobility, and without giving any advance notification of aircraft that can lead to the mass no-shows they've been seeing.
I admit that I made a bad decision going to Eagle. I should have been much more aware of the SJU possibility, which I downplayed in my mind because Saabs had been offered in every recent class. I gambled, thinking that it was really unlikely that I wouldn't get the Saab (which I wanted), and it came back and bit me hard.
I think that their current staffing problem (I don't know how bad it is in DFW, but it was atrocious on the ATR) are a result of three issues: upgrade time, abuse of reserve pilots, and the aircraft assignment issue I'm constantly bitching about. The last two are interconnected; they've lost a ton of people off the ATR who see it as the only way to get out of SJU, which causes them to be understaffed, which in turn causes more people to bail. I've talked to a lot of guys there who think they really need to change back to how they used to assign A/C--I believe they'd call you for a class for a specific aircraft, and you could only turn down one or two.
I'm really glad Eagle is working out well for you. I still have a lot of respect for the company; I just wish they'd sent me somewhere other than the Juan.