EMPLOYMENT: First Officer- SkyWest Airlines

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crew4jets

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crew4jets
Re-posted with permission from www.AviaNation.com:

Company Name: SkyWest Airlines

Position: First Officer Pilot Description: Requisition Number 09-0544
Post Date 12/22/2009
Closing Date 1/23/2010

Minimum Hiring Range Will discuss at interview
Department Flight Operations

Description CLICK LINK FIRST to learn more about; Minimum
Requirements, Training, Pay, Reserve, Domiciles and the Interview
Process. Then click on the link below to complete an application.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Assist the PIC in conducting the flight safely and efficiently
Assist the PIC and/or passenger service personnel as needed to
ensure a prompt departure
Assist or relieve the pilot-in-command (PIC) in manipulation of the
flight controls of an aircraft while underway, including taxiing,
takeoff and landing of such aircraft

Requirements Minimum Requirements:

Certificates / Ratings: Commercial/Instrument/Multi engine

Age: Must be at least twenty-one years of age

Flight Experience:
1,000 - hours total time
100 - hours multi engine
100 - hours instrument (Max 20 hours simulator)
Recency of experience will be considered

Medical: Must possess a current FAA Class 1 Medical Certificate.
Must pass FAA mandated Drug Test

Authorization to work in the United States:
Must have established authorization to work in the United States

Driver's License: Must possess a valid United States Driver's
License

Education: Graduation from accredited, four-year college preferred







URL: http://www.skywest.com/careers/skywest-airlines-jobs.php
 
Pay in training will consist of a guarantee of 60 hours per month. Once you begin IOE you will move to a 75 hour guarantee per month. First year pay is $22.00 per flight hour regardless of aircraft flown. Perdiem is currently at $1.60 per hour.

http://www.skywest.com/careers/pilot/pilot-payscale.php

Wow, that's almost $16k/yr...and lookee at the per diem! A whole $1.60/hour...


Trapper John
 
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Dean said:
The baggage handler makes more than the pilot!
Click to expand...

20 years from now the baggage handler will still be slinging bags (and breaking guitars) at a bag handler's wages. The $16K pilot, if he sticks at it, could be making ten or more times $16K.

Dan
 
Dan Thomas said:
20 years from now the baggage handler will still be slinging bags (and breaking guitars) at a bag handler's wages. The $16K pilot, if he sticks at it, could be making ten or more times $16K.

Dan
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That's true, but after 20 years the bag handler is retired and the pilot is still working to pay off his student loans, that is if he makes it to 20 yrs.
 
Dan Thomas said:
20 years from now the baggage handler will still be slinging bags (and breaking guitars) at a bag handler's wages. The $16K pilot, if he sticks at it, could be making ten or more times $16K.

Dan
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Or he is at the wrong airline at the wrong time, sometimes even several times in his career, and is still at the bottom.

A family friend of ours worked his way up through the regionals and finally decided to move onto the majors. He was in training at a major when Sept 11th hit. 8 years or so later and he is still seriously struggling with minimum wage level pay, in his 40s, and has several kids. Not good.
 
Trapper John said:
Pay in training will consist of a guarantee of 60 hours per month. Once you begin IOE you will move to a 75 hour guarantee per month. First year pay is $22.00 per flight hour regardless of aircraft flown. Perdiem is currently at $1.60 per hour.

http://www.skywest.com/careers/pilot/pilot-payscale.php

Wow, that's almost $16k/yr...and lookee at the per diem! A whole $1.60/hour...


Trapper John
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Actually, that is pretty typical for first year. The telling number is the pay in the second year.
 
Dan Thomas said:
20 years from now the baggage handler will still be slinging bags (and breaking guitars) at a bag handler's wages. The $16K pilot, if he sticks at it, could be making ten or more times $16K.

Dan
Click to expand...

Nope, those days are long gone. He may make that in his last year before retirement, if he ever gets that far.
 
Henning said:
Nope, those days are long gone. He may make that in his last year before retirement, if he ever gets that far.
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Actually , those days are here and now . I dont know what the next 20 years will bring but consider this ; If a 25 YO took this job 20 years ago he/she would be 45 today and ( Provided normal career progression ) would be a domestic narowbody captain at most of your major airlines ( Granted , probably at a junior base ) . If you look past the wages themselves and consider the benefits package , a buck sixty is not unrealistic and with some overtime it could be exceeded easily . If he/she lasts another 20 years to age 65 , they would be flying international on a widebody and cracking 200K . Another thing to consider are fractionals such as Netjets who offer starting salaries that are much better than the airlines and they have a meaningful DC plan . The pilots I know personally over there have had quick seat progression and IIRC are all into six figures .
Dont ask how I know any of this :D
 
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Alice R said:
Actually , those days are here and now . I dont know what the next 20 years will bring but consider this ; If a 25 YO took this job 20 years ago he/she would be 45 today and ( Provided normal career progression ) would be a domestic narowbody captain at most of your major airlines ( Granted , probably at a junior base )
Click to expand...

Too many variables to try and predict anything, or even look back. You have to want to fly, because the career has become a job.

Close personal friend is a 45 year old with 17 years at a major AMERICAN airline and is still an FO with one furlough during that time, about a buck twenty with lots of overtime, making the same wages as in 1991 (real dollars, not adjusted), still 1000 seats from the most junior captain job. But, on the bright side, still employed.
 
Alice R said:
Actually , those days are here and now . I dont know what the next 20 years will bring but consider this ; If a 25 YO took this job 20 years ago he/she would be 45 today and ( Provided normal career progression ) would be a domestic narowbody captain at most of your major airlines ( Granted , probably at a junior base ) . If you look past the wages themselves and consider the benefits package , a buck sixty is not unrealistic and with some overtime it could be exceeded easily . If he/she lasts another 20 years to age 65 , they would be flying international on a widebody and cracking 200K . Another thing to consider are fractionals such as Netjets who offer starting salaries that are much better than the airlines and they have a meaningful DC plan . The pilots I know personally over there have had quick seat progression and IIRC are all into six figures .
Dont ask how I know any of this :D
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Or their airline goes under and they start at the bottom of the ladder again...Or they get laid off..Or they take huge pay cuts...etc. The above has happened to a lot of career airline pilots in the last 10 years.

All it takes is one disruption in their company and they're making 16k all over again.
 
catmandu said:
Too many variables to try and predict anything, or even look back.
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I agree. I know people who tried to follow basically the same career path as each other, some of whom are captains for large airlines and others who are now furloughed for the second time.
 
Everskyward said:
I agree. I know people who tried to follow basically the same career path as each other, some of whom are captains for large airlines and others who are now furloughed for the second time.
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Luck of the draw. Today's premo airline to work for is tomorrow's scumbag outfit.
 
catmandu said:
Too many variables to try and predict anything, or even look back. You have to want to fly, because the career has become a job.
Click to expand...

Not to argue but I was mainly responding to the " Those days are long gone " statement . You have variables in any career . As far as looking back , I learned to fly during the fallout of deregulation . Alot of people told me I was nuts ( Which I probably am ) to pursue a flying career back then . I will tell you that everyone I knew back then who wanted to be a commercial pilot , and actually stuck it out , is today .
And yes , I make less $$$ than I used to .
 
Alice R said:
I will tell you that everyone I knew back then who wanted to be a commercial pilot , and actually stuck it out , is today .
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I'm willing to bet that a lot of people who didn't stick it out were more or less forced out because they were laid off/furloughed and couldn't find another job. Either that or they couldn't find one good enough to make it worthwhile.

I also was a new pilot in the wake of deregulation although that didn't mean much to me because I didn't follow the airline path. It always amazed me that back in the early 1990s I was making much more flying a C-206 than my friends who were pressing me to go to the airlines. Then during the wave of hiring in the late 1990s I was again chastised many times for not trying for the airlines. This group of pilots seemingly ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time, newly hired at the majors right before 9/11. I ended up in business aviation which, for a while looked like a great alternative to the airlines. However, the industry has been hit hard over the past couple years and while I still have my job I know a lot of people who don't. So really I agree that it's just a crapshoot. I have been unusual in that I have had a steady but not spectacular career all along which is probably better than being a falling star.
 
One conclusion that might be drawn from your post and others is that it's not impossible to have a decent career, but the supply/demand ratios will always work against the profession and those who choose to be part of it.

Among my tests of the plausibility of any prospective career are:
1. Some chance for significant financial upside (a home run) for at least some of the participants.
2. Those who don't get rich can at least look forward to stable employment and reasonable opportunities for advancement.
3. Based on what we know now, they can look forward to some latitude and financial freedom as they get older.
4. Minor physical and or emotional problems are not career-threatening events.

I've never known anybody who got rich by sitting on a sheepskin seat, and wouldn't let any of the grandkids chose a pilot career if I could prevent it. I'd be at the airport early every morning to teach any of them learn to fly, however, because I know first-hand that the benefits can be huge. I wish it were different, but don't have any reason to think things will change.




Everskyward said:
I'm willing to bet that a lot of people who didn't stick it out were more or less forced out because they were laid off/furloughed and couldn't find another job. Either that or they couldn't find one good enough to make it worthwhile.

I also was a new pilot in the wake of deregulation although that didn't mean much to me because I didn't follow the airline path. It always amazed me that back in the early 1990s I was making much more flying a C-206 than my friends who were pressing me to go to the airlines. Then during the wave of hiring in the late 1990s I was again chastised many times for not trying for the airlines. This group of pilots seemingly ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time, newly hired at the majors right before 9/11. I ended up in business aviation which, for a while looked like a great alternative to the airlines. However, the industry has been hit hard over the past couple years and while I still have my job I know a lot of people who don't. So really I agree that it's just a crapshoot. I have been unusual in that I have had a steady but not spectacular career all along which is probably better than being a falling star.
Click to expand...
 
wabower said:
One conclusion that might be drawn from your post and others is that it's not impossible to have a decent career, but the supply/demand ratios will always work against the profession and those who choose to be part of it.

Among my tests of the plausibility of any prospective career are:
1. Some chance for significant financial upside (a home run) for at least some of the participants.
2. Those who don't get rich can at least look forward to stable employment and reasonable opportunities for advancement.
3. Based on what we know now, they can look forward to some latitude and financial freedom as they get older.
4. Minor physical and or emotional problems are not career-threatening events.

I've never known anybody who got rich by sitting on a sheepskin seat, and wouldn't let any of the grandkids chose a pilot career if I could prevent it. I'd be at the airport early every morning to teach any of them learn to fly, however, because I know first-hand that the benefits can be huge. I wish it were different, but don't have any reason to think things will change.
Click to expand...

Very well said.

I know some airline pilots (now retired) who are well off. ALL of them started their own business on the side during their careers, and that was the difference between being "OK" and "well off".

On the other hand, some of my fellow music-school grads are "living the dream" on not much money, but are happy. So if flying airplanes makes you happy enough to compensate for all the potential downsides, I'm not going to call it a "bad" choice.
 
Everskyward said:
I'm willing to bet that a lot of people who didn't stick it out were more or less forced out because they were laid off/furloughed and couldn't find another job. Either that or they couldn't find one good enough to make it worthwhile.

I also was a new pilot in the wake of deregulation although that didn't mean much to me because I didn't follow the airline path. It always amazed me that back in the early 1990s I was making much more flying a C-206 than my friends who were pressing me to go to the airlines. Then during the wave of hiring in the late 1990s I was again chastised many times for not trying for the airlines. This group of pilots seemingly ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time, newly hired at the majors right before 9/11. I ended up in business aviation which, for a while looked like a great alternative to the airlines. However, the industry has been hit hard over the past couple years and while I still have my job I know a lot of people who don't. So really I agree that it's just a crapshoot. I have been unusual in that I have had a steady but not spectacular career all along which is probably better than being a falling star.
Click to expand...
Im with you on this . What I meant by " Stick it out " was the pilots who finished all of their ratings . Some either decided flying was not for them or they got discouraged by what was going on at the time . I passed on a lucrative corporate gig early on , and although I cant say it would have been better than my chosen path , it did have several advantages . I prefer flying small planes and if I could support myself with GA similar to where I am at now, I would not hesitate to do it . This sentiment is shared by some of my line buddies .
I hope I am not causing this thread to creep to much . To get back to the 16K comments , what are you gonna do . Kids need the experience and the commuters need the meat in the seat . Doctors have internship , lawyers have apprenticeship , and pilots suffer thru first year pay . While pay and working conditions have suffered in aviation , I think this is true for several industries . We all have to work somewhere .
 
Unfortunately, I have been in a position to see many of them later in life when they came to the realization that they had to do something else, and do it quick, to have any chance at a retirement or any semblance of financial security. Why do you think so many old corporate pilots go to work as a Fed?

TMetzinger said:
Very well said.

I know some airline pilots (now retired) who are well off. ALL of them started their own business on the side during their careers, and that was the difference between being "OK" and "well off".

On the other hand, some of my fellow music-school grads are "living the dream" on not much money, but are happy. So if flying airplanes makes you happy enough to compensate for all the potential downsides, I'm not going to call it a "bad" choice.
Click to expand...
 
I am aware of a very successful mechanical contracting business owned by pilots from two major carriers - it all started with a conversation at a crash pad at the crew base by several commuting pilots - something like:

"Y'know, with all this down-time, we oughta work on something to feed us in case we end up without jobs."

"Whaddya mean, this is a great job!"

"That's what they said at Pan Am and Braniff..."

"Hmmmm..."
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Out of curiosity, what kinds of businesses?
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A story from my aforementioned friend:

'Twas a pilot and his wife visiting their daughter at a medium sized southern university. One of her roommates stated "I can't wait to go back home to <metro area> this weekend because my tan is starting to fade." 30 days later, the pilot and his wife opened a tanning salon in that same college town (with their daughter and her roommate as the onsite QA personnel).

Six additional college towns and two years later, they report that bronzing seems to be recession proof.
 
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