Hired with Colgan!

So lets not beat around the bush, AMR, the parent company to American and American Eagle had to make a decision due to rising fuel prices. Their decision was that for AMR to start making some cash ($300 million dollar loss in the first quarter of this year,) they would have to ground planes. Between 70 and 80 plane, 30 - 40 of those planes are going to be Eagle planes. That comes out to be about 400 pilots. At the point this decision was made, they decided to cancel all future training classes. Which included my class.


When did I find out this information? Just after I had successfully completed the RJO course with Flight Safety I was sitting in LaGuardia, waiting for my connection to Washington I saw this on the national news. I then got a phone call from HR notifying me of classes being canceled. It was a pretty crap day.


Fast forward to 3 weeks later. I walked my resume into Chuck Colgans office. The outcome seemed fairly grim. Colgan had raised its minimums to 1000/100. I dont even come close to those minimums. Chuck and Cathy and I talked anyway, and I left feeling like I wouldnt hear anything. A day later Chuck emailed me with an invite to LaGuardia to interview and sim test. Well that was yesterday, and again I left feeling like I had not done my best.


This morning I received a phone call from my sister who works in Colgan customer service. She asked me how my interview went, I told her it went so-so. She said that Karen and Cathy thought it went really well. I said “oh really? thats good.” My sister then told me that I was hired!! I didnt believe her at first, I thought it was my sister just playing around. Chuck and Cathy apparently thought it would be a good/funny idea for my sister to let me know, and to be honest I thought it was great. If it was not for my family’s support, I wouldnt be where I am today.
I start Saab class next Wednesday and Im thrilled. In these dark times of aviation, the chance to even interview somewhere is an amazing thing.