A few days ago I received my
official furlough letter from ACA. My
last day will be November 14.
Apparently, the reduction of
our United Express flying in combination with a slower-than-expected startup of
our new airline made the company decide that they need about 50 fewer pilots
than they were thinking for the next 12-15 months so it looks like I’m heading
back to the unemployment office. At
least they showed what a tremendously professional company they are by
misspelling some words on my furlough letter and making it sound as cold and
heartless as possible. Assholes.
The funny thing is they are
still calling me on my days off asking me to fly since they are so incredibly
shorthanded of first officers right now.
Sometimes I just have to laugh.
This is both good news and
bad news. It’s bad news because yes, I’m
out of a job, again, and I was just starting to make good money here. But the good news is I no longer have to
worry if this airline is a good place to be in the long run with all of its
wacky business plans or having to move to
Other opportunities are
coming into view which I am now free to pursue without having to worry about if
I should resign or not from ACA. I’ve
mentioned the SkyWest possibility several times in previous postings. That seems to be stalled for the time being
but there is still a chance I’ll be offered a job there in the next few
months. That would be the best thing
that could happen because I could still retain my recall rights to ACA and
COEX, although I really don’t ever expect to return to ACA. Again, just can’t handle the thought of being
a Virginian. Oh also forgot to mention –
industry-bottom-dweller Mesa Airlines is attempting a hostile takeover of ACA
which would be really bad for all the folks around here. Never a good thing to be
bought by another airline.
But in an interesting twist
of fate, Continental Express sent out 80 recall notices yesterday for November
and December pilot classes. They expect
to continue recalls into next year at a pace of 32 per month. I’m #249 on the list, but in reality so many
people in the last two years have moved on to other opportunities (like I did)
I am probably indeed much higher. I
could see a class date back in
It’s nice to have
choices. I am in the relatively secure
position of having other airline pilot positions just around the corner to wait
out while I collect unemployment and reconsider my life. I have to say I have considered leaving this
career altogether, but when I mentioned it to my friend Scot, he verbally smacked
me down. He’s right – this is my life’s
dream and I’m not going to give up on it just yet. One more furlough and that would probably be
it, so here’s hoping the COEX/SkyWest option sticks.
In the meantime I’m just
enjoying my flying as much as possible and wondering what turn my life will
take next. I’m approaching 30 years old
and still not sure what I’ll be doing in 10 years or 1 year or even 1 month –
but that is kind of an exciting position for me as at least I know I’m doing
the best thing I can and hopefully, good things happen to nice people. And I think I’m a pretty nice person. J