Canada has Developing pilot shortage...

Personally I've never considered the fact that the FO having low hrs was a major safety concern.. everyone has to learn their skills and gather experience. My concern was the quality of their training with LoCo regional operators and the fact that the pilot in the left seat may have minimal command experience. By the time that many 'captains' have acquired sufficient experience they make a career move away from the regionals.
Having said that, when we consider the environment that regional turboprop crews operate within, small under equipped airports, hostile terrain, lower altitude weather patterns added to the number of sectors flown on a typical day and to the basic accommodation to be expected away from base I'd say that the safety record is on the whole pretty creditable. Yes we can point to Buffalo and a couple of other tragic events but we're not short of major accidents involving highly experienced, highly paid crews of major airlines where the crews performance can only be described as downright appalling.
I would prefer that the focus was less on minimal FO experience and greater monitoring of performance and qualifications for sitting in the left seat.

I've flown with both schools of thought. I MUCH prefer experienced pilots to 250 type rated guys and girls that can tell you what the magnet in the whiskey compass is made of but can't hand fly or process anything outside the norms. Fortunately, flight instructing is consistently outside of the box.

There is no shortage, just a shortage of money. Plenty of guys and girls willing to jump back in the cockpit when the wages increase.

Another college-regional airline partnership:

Dayton airline +Purdue launch training partnership | AviationPros.com

Actually, I need to stand corrected. This agreement is with Purdue Aviation:

http://www.purdueaviationllc.com/about-us

Looks like Expressjet is offering sign-on bonuses:

ExpressJet Airlines » Pilots

They're also offering $8500 retention bonuses for existing FOs.

Looks like Skywest is bleeding expressjet of flying and AA is handing expressjets flying over to the wholly owned carriers.

Better off going to a wholly owned carrier whether it's AA or delta

XJT is whistlin' up the south end of a northbound goat.

SkyWest has gained a lot of AA flying recently. SkyWest actually does more AA departures out of ORD than United departures for the first time in their history. Lots of interesting shifting of flying going on.

Expressjet is shrinking rapidly, and the retention bonuses are to keep the flying staffed, because nobody wants to go to a shrinking airline with long upgrades in this hiring environment.

Right now, wholly owned regionals look good, but don't forget what happened to Comair.

Things at Horizon Air ?:

"Sprague said an encouraging sign is that Horizon’s new-hire pilot classes — which provide training on the planes they’ll fly — are full for June and July, with 30 trainees passing through each of those months."

"So the selective cancellations now planned are temporary, he said, 'while we build the staffing back up to where we think it needs to be.' ”

Horizon Air cutting hundreds of flights this summer due to pilot shortage | The Seattle Times

A bit more from Horizon:

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...etback-439607/

A buddy sent me the linked article below with a bit more info on Horizon. Without more details, it’s hard to know what’s what. It seems like a real Hail Mary Pass but at least creative. I don’t see what’s in it for the “major international airline” (Guessing it’s not European) which likely has its own cadre of low-time pilots who need the experience:

“Haugaard outlined another workaround to the U.S. rule that Horizon is considering.

He said Alaska Air is in discussion with “a major international airline” about a plan to have prospective pilots go overseas, “operating under different rules,” and build up their 1,500 flight hours flying for the foreign airline in a Bombardier Q300 turboprop, an earlier variant of the Q400, then returning to the U.S. to fly for Horizon.”

?A painful and frustrating experience?: Horizon Air scheduling havoc will continue into the fall | The Seattle Times

SkyWest is pulling 6 CRJ700s out of storage between now and December, already painted in Alaska colors. These have been at the maintenance facility in Tucson and were flying under the Alaska contract before the E175s came online. Looks like they still have some use for them.

This whole Horizon thing is pretty entertaining. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

So, they're "in discussion" about where to send a pilot demographic deemed a threat to safety by FAA and not allowed in an airline cockpit and propose outsourcing the threat to “a major international airline” until the threat has been neutralized ?

[OK...I'm just being a smartazz and joking about that...if they can do that I say go for it !]

I looked around for a “a major international airline” that operates the Q300 in sufficient numbers to absorb a flow of low time US pilots for a couple of years to get them from whatever total flight time they start with to 1500 hours (while not depriving their own nationals of that flight time). Couldn't find one.

Creative idea but it seems to be a long shot. It's fun to watch. ;-)))

A little new info on GoJet Airlines:

"GoJet has entered into a Pilot Pathway Program with Airbus operator Spirit Airlines that will guarantee GoJet pilots a First Officer position at Spirit in as little as two years. GoJet pilots who are accepted into the Pathway Program will be eligible to transition to Spirit after two years of service."

GoJet Airlines Announces Pilot Pathway Program with Spirit Airlines

http://www.gojetairlines.com/careers/pages/pilots.aspx

From Commutair:

Pilots | CommutAir

They mention they'll accept the E-3 visa.

New VP Flt OPs @ Horizon. Interesting comment about his new role. I wonder what he's going to do that hasn't already been done:

"His vast industry knowledge will strengthen our efforts to hire and retain the best pilots and position the company for success for years to come."


Horizon Air names new vice president flight operations and new vice president of finance and planning

If he understands the developing tsunami of a Pilot Shortage, then he may have a chance at helping Alaska Air and Horizon. If he doesn't, he'll be useless.

One key to the pilot shortage is electric airplanes. If they can build an electric trainer, it will cut the cost of the aircraft used in training by about 50%. They are trying, and their are at least 3 prototypes of electric trainers being developed.

Does anybody know if guys on E-3s are eligible for the signing bonus? Also can you get command on a E-3 or is it right seat only? Thanks