The Aspiring Pilot

Wanna get away?! Southwest Airlines opens First Officer Appplication

You can now apply for a F/O position with Southwest Airlines. See my prior post here about the rumor the pilot application site was about to be reopened.  The message is now down and the job is listed in the 'Job Listings' at SWA.  

If you qualify and plan to apply, good luck! Not sure on their hiring plans at the moment, but good to see the site back up and that they are at least accepting applications again! 

Hopefully this may translate into some movement within the airline industry as experienced pilots with other airlines and regionals move around and open positions there.  Is it a sign of a turnaround in the pilot career field? Time will tell.

If you have any more information on hiring plans, etc. please comment!  

Cool Air Safety Institute seminar in Illinois next week

AOPA's ASI is bringing the 'Close Calls, Lessons Learned' seminar to Illinios next week. Not sure I'll be able to attend but it does sound like a pretty interesting seminar. The nearest one to me in Bolingbrook is the same night as my mandatory paramedic continuing education so I won' t be able to attend that one. I may try for the Northbrook one. 

ASI's description: 

All of us have made mistakes, some more harrowing than others. The key is learning from those mistakes. 

"Close Calls, Lessons Learned" is the new seminar from the Air Safety Institute that features real pilots telling their real stories. Some are familiar stories, others are unique. 

You'll see a CFI and his student tell the story of losing a prop in flight. A Mooney pilot talks of surviving a crash in Oregon. One pilot shares how he lost control in the too-often-repeated event of going VFR into IMC. And one pilot shares how getting distracted can result in mistakes.

Article and locations/times can be found here in my Chicago General Aviation column. 

FAA Airman knowledge test changes cause huge jump in failure rates.

It may be a good thing I postponed taking my FOI (Fundamenals of Instructing) test from February until sometime this summer. Per ASA, (as noted in my General Aviation Examiner article), the failure rate for the FOI has jumped from 14% to 59%. This is due to the FAA changing the knowledge tests without any prior notice to ANYONE. This resulted in new topics being introduced that were not in the study guides or instructing materials. 

The FAA added material from newer advisory circulars among other sources and students were not aware to include these in their study methods/curriculum.  The negative of this is that the tests cost $150 PER test, and each failure sticks with your FAA history.

Other tests that are currently 'new' in addition to the FOI are the ATP and FE tests. I haven't heard anything further on if (or when) the remaining tests will be modified. 

 For more on this, see my examiner article here. 

Is Southwest Airlines about to re-open pilot application website?

Currently, if you navigate to the pilot employment information section of Southwest, you see the following note: 

Please Note:

Because we are not currently hiring pilots, we have taken down the pilot application site and you will no longer be required to update your information. Once we begin hiring again, we will put the application back up. At that time, you will be able to apply again and update your current information.

However, per a twitter post today, it looks like that may change soon for a two week period or so. According to @SWAPAExecs (the twitter account of 'The executive officers of the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association') 'SWA online pilot application opening MAR 7th for a limited time only (2 weeks or less)! Pls pass along to fellow pilots who are interested.' 

So, keep an eye on SWA and they're twitter feeds. When they opened their flight attendant application, the site was so overwhelmed, it crashed under the load. I can't imagine the pilot application will be any less popular. 

For those that aren't aware, here's their requirements as listed on their site.  

Southwest Airlines Pilot Application Requirements:

• Certificates/Ratings: U.S. FAA Airline Transport Pilot Certificate. Unrestricted¹ U.S. Type Rating on a B-737 not required for interview, but required for employment².
• Age: Must be at least 23 years of age.
• Flight Experience: 2,500 hours total or 1,500 hours TURBINE total. Additionally, a minimum of 1,000 hours in Turbine aircraft as the Pilot in command³ (as defined below) is required. Southwest considers only Pilot time in fixed-wing aircraft. This specifically excludes simulator, helicopter, WSO, RIO, FE, NAV, EWO, etc. NO other time is counted.³
• Currency: A minimum of 200 hours must be logged in the preceding 36 months.
• 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.
• Letters of Recommendation: At least three letters from any individuals who can attest to the pilot's flying skills, by having observed him/her over a sustained period of time.

Pilot base locations: Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Orlando, Chicago, Baltimore, Oakland, and Las Vegas

 

So, if you're going to try your hand and apply and meet the requirements, good luck! 

Mesa Air Group emerges from bankruptcy

Just in time for what appears to be a run on the record level fuel prices again, Mesa Air Group has announced it is emerging from Chapter 11 bankrupcty protection. They entered chapter 11 proceedings approximately 14 months ago. 

The airline emerged slimmer and in hopefully better financial position to deal with the coming high fuel costs. Unfortunately, it's also emerging at a time when airlines are looking to trim their regional fleets and options as well. 

Mesa is down to about 75 airplanes in service, about 100 airplanes less then it had prior to its Chapter 11 filing. It is retaining its larger regional jets, with 70 and 86 seat configurations and plans to operate about 450  daily flights to 94 destinations under their contract with US Airways and United Airlines. 

The airline's elimination of nearly 100 excess aircraft and their associated leases removed about $700 million in capitalized leases and $50 million in debt from it's balance sheets per the press release. 

The company is emerging as a private company (not publicly traded on the stock markets as before.) 

In the press release, Mesa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Ornstein stated that 'Today marks a new beginning for Mesa, one that allows the company to build on its almost 30 year history and reestablish ourselves as one of the world’s leading regional airlines. We are deeply appreciative of the support we have received during our reorganization from our creditors, airline partners and employees, and we will work hard to repay this trust by building a successful Mesa Air Group.'

He continued on, saying 'Upon our exit from bankruptcy, we will take the intensity and effort of the past 13 months and transfer it from the triage of the bankruptcy process to focus on opportunities that exist in our rapidly changing industry. Throughout our bankruptcy the Company’s operations remained at the highest level of reliability and safety. Our people did a fantastic job and nothing reflects their competitive spirit better than the fact that during our bankruptcy Mesa consistently delivered operational performance which continues to lead the regional airline industry in nearly every category monitored by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. 

This strong operational performance came during a time when many of our employees contributed to our financial savings by taking additional unpaid days off. This level of dedication and the resulting operational performance has provided a solid foundation upon which to return our airline to sustained profitability and future growth. In addition, through the restructuring process Mesa is among the first regional airlines to address the risks associated with fifty-seat regional jet aircraft which have increasingly fallen out of favor with mainline carriers. We believe the elimination of exposure related to this fleet provides Mesa with a significant competitive advantage.”

How succesful Mesa will be going forward in what appears to be a building challenging environment will take time to see.