Q400 Makes a Visit to Manassas

[v1valarob]

Originally Posted by Seggy

'hey Moooooooooooooooooooooooon'

That was a quick edit. hahahaha

-Rob

[sleepy3528]

What are you guys getting paid to fly them? I know your excited to fly them but the pay is horrible. If Colgan is going to fly large regional aircraft then they should be demanding large regional pay. I hope you guys understand that and are willing to fight for it. Union or not the payrates and practically non-existent work rules need to change. good luck. nice looking airplane.

[OldComputerGuy]

It's called STPS.

[v1valarob]

Looks like the Q is all settled into EWR. Saw it take off today, sounded nice and quiet. Barely used any runway either.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CJC3490

-Rob

[greaper007]

Originally Posted by sleepy3528

What are you guys getting paid to fly them? I know your excited to fly them but the pay is horrible. If Colgan is going to fly large regional aircraft then they should be demanding large regional pay. I hope you guys understand that and are willing to fight for it. Union or not the payrates and practically non-existent work rules need to change. good luck. nice looking airplane.

Have you met any Colgan pilots on here that disagree with this? We're all doing what we can but even if we were getting paid the same as Express Jet pilots our pay would still suck. We lost our union drive by 4 votes, what are you going to do?

In the meantime lets hope age 65 and a possible recession doesn't completely screw all of our chances of working at a real airline.

[desertdog71]

Originally Posted by Seggy

Just found out today I was awarded a Q Captain position.

Should be in the school house mid-April/mid-May.

Congrats I think??

Originally Posted by Cruise

Sellout! Come over to a real airframe! Give up the GA one you're on now and don't go to the completely-automated poor-paying one that is Colgan Q. All the cool kids know the Saab is really where it's at!

Yeah, but then he would have to switch controls 5 times on the takeoff roll and we know how he feels about that.

Congrats Mark, I am sure you will miss the 1900, but I think this is a step in the right direction.

[nwa757]

Everyone is giddy about how big the airplane is, but that will rub off. The sub-standard wages and work rules will still be there a couple months down the road.

I can only hope that Colgan pilots would stop settling for less. Or at least that 50% +4 of them.

[Rocketman99]

We can all say that til we're blue in the face but it doesn't change the fact that we Colganites have absolutely no say in the matter other than not flying that plane or leaving the company. Such is life when you have no union and only some sham of a management organization called the CPG to "negotiate."

[SmitteyB]

This pilot group is not comfortable with those payrates, NWA757.

We are trying.

[Cruise]

Like others have said......most pilots here at Colgan understand the payrates for the Q are insulting (at best). Many, like me and others here on JC, are doing what we can to continue to promote the next union drive. Changes need to be made, that much is certain. We just need to promote the union positively. STPS is certainly running rampant amongst many new-hires....but the only people who have direct contact with them until they're on the line is management....so what do you expect???

Keep the faith.....the whole Pinnacle thing was a complete surprise to everyone here. The management kool-aid was flowing freely during the last drive and hopefully things will continue to change around here to prove what management was selling was, in fact, nothing but KOOL-AID.

[dingo222]

yeah, just about everyone at colgan knows the pay needs to go up. That's beating a dead horse. They will never match large regional aircraft rates like a E-170 or something. T-prop rates have always been lower for some reason. Even at horizon, those rates are a bit lower than a comparable jet. Even if we voted in ALPA last time, the rate would most likely be the same today. We would be several months closer to a real contract if we had a union though! Remember where the pay rates came from. The colgans took the negotiated contract rate from other large t-prop carriers and did an average. Mesa was the lowest, horizon the highest. TSA was the rate that really did us in. Their old ATR rate was $49 an hour. We all know that Trans states hasn't operated the ATR since like 2000, but the rate was still on the contract. IT's not TSA's fault. Our mgmt found a way to stick us and they did. Now it's our turn to raise the bar and I doubt we are going to have the lazy attitudes that we did last time. CPG?? haha, they aren't even legal. They haven't even applied to the NMB to represent colgan pilots. The second they try to collectively bargain on the part of the colgan pilots they will get sued. Just to play devils advocate, I'm curious what the teamsters could do. They did pretty well for the NJA guys and the horizon pilots in their last contract. MGMT here said they would negotiate with anyone but ALPA. Something is better than nothing at this point.

Seggy, congrats on the q man!

[SmitteyB]

I would be completely for Teamsters.

ALPA or not, representation is needed.

If the Colgan pilots knew half of what I know about the CPG....well....PM me for more.

[Baronman]

Originally Posted by v1valarob

Looks like the Q is all settled into EWR. Saw it take off today, sounded nice and quiet. Barely used any runway either.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CJC3490

-Rob

Any empty airliner, be it a Boeing, RJ, Dash whatever will barely use any runway on an empty 300 mile leg.

[SmitteyB]

And the XJT bitterness rears it's head again.

Relax bro.

[v1valarob]

In my FBOs hangar today, pre-flighting a cessna for a lesson and I hear a low rumble, but the engines sound bigger than normal aircraft at Manassas. Walk out the door to the ramp and the Q is taxiing around.

Im guessing the MX guys where practicing taxiing the thing. They crossed both runways and came over to the opposite side of the airport to where colgan is. Went up and down the taxiways, and then went into the run-up area that we use and shut down the engines. We did our run up right next to it. It actually is beginning to look kind of small compared to what I first thought about it.

Also looks like they are taking it EVERYWHERE:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CJC3490/history
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CJC3491/history
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CJC3492
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CJC3493/history


-Rob

[grnclvrs]

Probably proving runs.