I've had the pleasure of an arguement with MS and she is indeed a difficult person to deal with.

spent 3 1/2 years flogging around in suckling 228s-bugger all money,900(+)hours per year-and would not have missed any of it.what a great way to learn your craft! the 'bus i fly now is apiece of ease compared to those days.
loads of respect is due to roy and merlin,and i hope their baby is doing ok.

:)

I think that those who, notwithstanding the odd little tirade with La Merlyn, really did benefit from Suckling, should drop a note to the powers that be recommending a knighhood/damehood for the two of them for services to British aviation.
The Do 228 was the most crazy flying fun. An aircraft which was most ably suited for the task of getting the passengers where they wanted to be regardless of certain extraneous niceties too numerous to mention.
Good luck to the big baby and, dare I say it, to the wonderful people in operations who, through the thick and the thin, when the proverbial slammed into the predictable, managed to convince (if that's the appropriate word) crews that they really should do that which perchance would have raised, at the least, a quizzical eyebrow at that most magnificent insitution of aviaton derangement, BALPA.:ok:

I am astonished to see people defending this grubby little outfit in its 228 days, or its crashingly offensive and vituperative pet dragon at all.

All I can say is some of you have very short memories indeed, or else an unhealthily low survival instinct. Of course many of us benefited from a start there, but at what cost to the nerves?

.

Jesus! Doesn't that just say it all! And you want to honour these people???

QED!

;)
What Ho ! Armed for war! I can sympathise with fibrils all aquiver, certainly can.
Cost to the nerves? Well, a bit like having permanent root canal work as I remember but, since, elephant like I have a long memory and a healthy survival instinct; I shall say no more.:hmm:
Well, at least not for the nonce!
Toodle Pip. :rolleyes:

GOING GOING GONE
 

Over past 5 months 6 capts/2 fo's left and presently another 3 capts/3 fo's working notice period.:ouch:

Please switch off the lights . .
 

. . when the last one leaves to conservice power :)

:hmm:


London City is an amusing place to put matters mildly indeed, so much so that a certain Italian 328 operator prohibited FOs from taking off or landing there.
The pilot attrition rate in an airline like Suckling/Scot will indeed always be high. It always was and I would not read too much into the present move-on rate amongst the present crews.
I too, wish them well and still think that if the likes of Bishop and Branson have reaped rewards for their services to aviaton, then so too should the Sucklings.
I have to agree with the likes of Ronnie Barker. If you took the bull by the horns, dilemmas were usually resolved in a fairly expeditious manner and young Roy, in his little glass office was far more approachable than many airline bosses with whom I have come in contact.:D

or, perhaps, any form of defects...

Gawdelpus, how bad does it have to get before people stop blethering about gongs, instead of lawsuits?

:rolleyes:

Suckling turned out a master race of pilots. There was a no female culture to distract the brave aviators from their task, something for which many were grateful. Intrepid, stern jawed and used to dealing with any eventuality thrown into the maelstrom by meteorology, magnet or management; these brave men soldiered on so that they might bring their expertise and well honed instincts for survival to the benefit of other carriers. Other airlines, recognising the training for what it was, leapt into the breach to recruit from the ranks of the Suckling Pilots - true commandoes of the air - brave few survivors of the wrath of a chattering Merlin.
As those who now leave walk down the Cambridge corridor of fame that leads from Marshalls to the main road, saluting those who march up the same dark alleyway to take their places, let us reflect on the excellence of the operation that turned out such paragons of aviation . Men unbroken, undaunted and adaped to go into the war of the skies with the barest of equipment, no food, no sleep, no drink. For the creation of such magnificent survivors, accolades are due!:D

What.........
 

Someone once told me i'd meet alot of great people in this business but also alot of w:mad:ers!! Think a prime example is above me right now.:ooh:

Will ScotAirways seek to replace these guys, or will it all go down in the column marked 'natural wastage'?

There's no change on their website; they're not advertising for pilots and they reiterate their 'please don't call us or expect acknowledgement of CVs' policy.

Does anyone know any different?

They are advertising for DE Captains and there is a fairly constant rate of type rating courses for new F/O's (every 12 weeks maybe less). Send CV to chief pilot and if your lucky yours will be top of the pile when he picks the next four candidates. It does help if you know a present employee who could recommend you.

DE Captains harder to come by, seems payscale is average to say the least compared with others.:{

Returning to the original question, as a result of the upturn in the industry there are a lot of pilots leaving, mainly for better paypackets flying jets, which is understandable, F/O's are at suckling in their first job and always looking to move on to bigger and better.

The Captains have been there (generally) since pre sept 11th and haven't been able to move until the last 12 months or so. All this seems to me natural progression and not as has been stated "the beginning of the end".

It is true that as pre-mentioned the payscales are poor and therefore DE Captains are hard to come by, and now the promotable F/O's have either left, are leaving, or do not have enough Total time.

This company has had and continues to have six figure sums pumped into it by it's shareholders, who refuse to be beaten by BACON on it's Edinburgh routes. I would say the lights will not be turned out just yet, and for new pilots the D328 is the best a/c to learn the trade on and will undoubtably be a great basis for a future Airbus pilot.