It has been a while since my
last update. If not for my friend Mike
reminding me that I still have a web page I’m not sure if I’d ever get around
to updating it. Thanks Mike!
Quite a bit has happened
since my last update. First, the flying
has been great and I’ve been doing a lot of it. Since we furloughed 96 pilots over the last two months it has
left us considerably short-staffed in Chicago so I am flying every day on reserve
with a number of 4-day and shorter trips.
I don’t see the crashpad very often since I am spending most of my
nights in hotels instead. I really do
love this job not only because of the flying but the lifestyle really seems to
suit me these days. It’s fun being on
the road all the time and seeing new cities.
I’ve been flying with great crews which makes all the difference
particularly during a long trip.
I’m also really beginning to
like Chicago with the onset of better weather.
When I’m not flying I’ve been enjoying hanging out with friends downtown
and going to baseball games at Wrigley Field.
There is so much to do in this city if you just get off your butt and
get on the train once in a while which I had previously refused to do since the
temperature was like 5 degrees most of the winter. But now I’m really starting to explore the area and have a good
time here.
It looks like the furloughs
may hit me after all. A few weeks ago
they announced another 101 pilots would be furloughed by the end of
August. Since I am now 9 from the
bottom of the seniority list, I would have been in this group so it was almost
a certainty I’d be furloughed in June or July.
Now it is less certain. They’ve
delayed even starting these furloughs until September and there is a chance
they may not happen at all if things go well in ACA’s negotiations with United
Airlines to secure more flying. We’ll
see.
However, since I’m not one
to sit around and wait for crappy things to happen to me, I put in a resume at
Comair almost immediately after the additional furloughs were announced. A couple of weeks later they scheduled an
interview for me which took place last Friday.
Comair is one of the only airlines hiring right now and since they
interview about 1 in 40 applicants I am assuming they like guys with CRJ
experience. I had previously
interviewed with them in early 2002 but didn’t get the job for whatever reason,
probably due to lack of recent flying and no turbine flight time. But now with 325 hours of CRJ time, I have
more reason to be optimistic since Comair flies only the CRJ, including the
bigger 70-seat CRJ-700 that we do not have at ACA. The interview went well and I’ll know in about a week if I get
the job or not. Then a decision will
have to be made which I currently do not have enough information to make. I really don’t want to start all over at
another airline but Comair is a very good one and might be worth jumping to if
ACA continues to shrink. We will have
to see what happens with ACA which should become much more clear in the next
month or so.
That’s really all for right
now. Next update to happen after I find
out about Comair. Wish me luck!