Greetings Gentlemen. There are a lot of exiting developments taking place at UALR! I’m please to be able to share with you that our company has achieved a certain level of respect and success at BVA that has allowed for some interesting new upgrades to take place.
New call sign – First and foremost if you’ve been following the Skype chat rooms, you’ll know that BVA operations has come to agree that a separate callsign and identifier for United Regional flights would be useful. There have been enough incidents of confusion as to whether a United flight is operated by a professional Regional pilot vs. a standard BVA pilot that at long last we are able to stand out from the masses on a daily basis. We will now have a unique callsign that should go a long way towards eliminating any question as to whom that aircraft is operated by. Which also of course raises the responsibility level each United Regional pilot has to ensure that their flight is operated professionally.
Therefore, with this in mind and effective Labor Day MONDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2011 United Regional pilots who have either earned officer's wings, or have the approval of their instructor should use the identifier UARxxx, and the verbal callsign “FENWAY.” for United Regional flights. (Yes, we are aware that UAR is actually a little known middle-eastern airline, but that is the identifier that was recommended by Evan). Candidates and line pilots who feel they are ready for UAR/FENWAY status should petition their instructor or an officer for approval.
New pilots/candidates who have not completed their orientation flight or do not have the sanctioning of their instructor should continue to fly the United Express CRJ and use the UAL identifier rather than the UAR one. If you have any questions regarding the new call sign or identifier, or proper usage, please don’t hesitate to ask.
STC Contract – As you may know UAR has a contract with the STC (Share the Cockpit) office at BVA where we function as a training and orientation division of BVA. Many of you have even come to UAR via this pipeline. Occasionally we see that the STC office is unable to handle their requests for assistance in a timely manner. When that happens, BVA operations will redirect the majority of requests for STC attention to us. Now is apparently one of those times. We have recently seen our pipeline of new STC requests pick up dramatically, which is obviously good news for the company in the long run.
In the short run it adds an additional challenge that more instructors are needed. FO’s interested in serving as an instructor should please alert the chief pilot or the XO to begin the certification process.
Farm Team – Many STC requests are for something simple such as assistance with com usage, or perhaps help with an ILS intercept. Many requests come from pilots who fly primarily props. Those requests will be allocated to the UAR Farm Team where prop aircraft such as the Mooney or even the King Air are authorized as training aircraft. These flights should operate with a traditional “N” number rather than a UAR callsign. This also obviously represents an opportunity to recruit those pilots who show promise and interest into the main body of UAR as a jet candidate. Instructors who are working with a pilot referred by STC may use Farm Team prop aircraft or jet aircraft at their discretion. Remember UAR candidates must have at least 20 hours in TProp or jet aircraft to join UAR. These hours can be from single player flying.
In addition, we are finding that a number of past and current STC requests are coming from people operating in a time zone outside the continental United States. That makes it very difficult for those folks to participate in our regularly dispatched flights, or to connect with instructors for training. With that in mind, United Regional is once again taking leadership and forming a new division - - The UAR Eurozone!
New Eurozone contingent – Over the last few weeks CA Stark and I have been quietly working with Claudio (Cpais) and Josh (TheNavyReapers) to form the core of a European division of United Regional. This group will function under the exact same SOP and procedures that the US division does. However the the Eurozone group is 4-6 hours ahead of US time zone and will operate during what would be daytime or early evening for residents of the US. For the moment, they will fly routes that are within ZBW or ZNY, which simply means that our dispatch will now generate several more hours of traffic on Thursdays than just the 2 hours on Thursday nights we currently generate. It also means that we can now provide assistance and training for pilots during a much wider range of times.
The Eurozone will operate autonomously, will generate their own assignments on dispatch, communicate with their own people, and truly function as a connected but separate branch of the United States UAR. In the long run the hope is that they will become SO SUCCESSFUL that they can completely carve themselves off of the US operation, and truly operate as a European branch of United Regional and fly regional routes all over Europe! That would be hot. It would also then make it possible for US pilots to fly the long hop over the pond and have ATC coverage at both ends… which would indeed be pretty sick.
Pilots interested in the Eurozone should contact Team Leader Claudio directly via Skype user ID Claudp2. Claudio is also in the FO and Candidates chats on Skype and can be contacted there as well.
Paging Captain Stark, UAR Executive Officer: – Gents, please join me in congratulating Captain Robert Stark on an immediate promotion to Executive Officer for United Regional. In this new role CA Stark will be responsible in part for the daily operations of UAR, and also development of the company in general via recruiting, training, and special projects. CA Stark will also be a go-to officer for any and all opportunities or issues that arise in the company. Please communicate with CA Stark as you would with the Chief. The XO’s role and duties are spelled out more fully in the SOP, but the short version is that in all respects the XO is a clone of the Chief Pilot and carries all the according responsibilities, respects, and privileges therein. Having the XO position filled is a critical piece for the long term growth and perpetuity of the company, and I’m pleased that CA Stark has chosen to step up to that role. This is good news.
In the past pilots would be issued their wings via Skype, they would then have to find a hosting service to publish their wings, and then link their BVA forum signature to that site. That was a pain in the rear. Going forward, wings will be hosted on the BVA server and each pilot will be provided a direct link to their own personal wingset. That link can then be copied into their BVA forums signature. This process will make it far easier for each pilot to set up their signature to reflect their wings. It will also go a long way towards helping UAR pilots stand out from the BVA masses in the forums. Our “go-live” date for new wings is Labor Day as well and we will use the weekend to upload wings, link them, and provide officers with the links by Sept 5.
Furloughs – Related to these developments, it is time to clear house again of pilots who are not actively participating. As you may know, furloughs are not intended to kick pilots out of UAR. It is intended to keep the dispatch ticket freshly stocked with only active pilots. A furloughed pilot in good standing may come back onto dispatch at any time.
This week we will then start to furlough all pilots who have not requested their new wingsets and have shown they are no longer interested in participating. Again, furloughed pilots in good standing may return to the company at any time – even after an extended absence.
Instructor status and recertification – You may be aware that all UAR instructors were asked to recertify if they intend to continue as an instructor. Several officers completed that process, part of which involved a recommitment to a certain minimum amount of time to be spent serving as an instructor. In particular, instructors must commit to making time to train at least 1 night per week. This is the MINIMUM requirement to be listed as an instructor on dispatch.
Recently there have been some revocations of instructor status for instructors who recertified, but were unable to live up to the one-night-per-week commitment. Instructors will definitely be held to that standard. It is simply unfair to new candidates, and to the rest of the instructors to be listed as an instructor on dispatch, but to not be able to live up to the minimum standard.
Instructors who have been de-certified are welcome to re-certify again when they feel they are able to live up to the one-night-per week standard. Please contact the Chief or the XO for recertification.
Some additional minor reminders – There have been a handful of incidents regarding SOP violations, or just plain rudeness that below are listed some reminders of SOP and professionalism standards:
- Language in forums – there is to be no foul language on coms, or in public forums such as Skype chat rooms or BVA forums. Remember that many of our pilots are minors. Incidents of foul language or in-appropriate topics will generate an investigation by the Chief or XO and may lead to possible suspensions or dismissal.
- Page before calling on Skype – remember to page your party first before calling them on Skype. Calling without paging first is considered a rude interruption.
- Participation levels – UAR pilots are encouraged to fly when they can, and will certainly have the most fun if they participate often. But there is no requirement that they must fly any certain amount of hours or fly any certain number of events. The furlough rule does apply that after a period 30 days with no activity the pilot may be furloughed, and after 60 days of no activity may be dropped from dispatch. Again, a furloughed pilot in good standing may return at any time – even after an extended absence.
- Instructors – remember to log your flights in the UAR training forums and with your candidate. Remember also to update dispatch with your latest activity. Credit for training pips can only be given for training flights that are logged in the forums. No log entry? No pip and no promotion.
- Guidelines re: flying direct – UAR flights are encouraged to fly using official routes as expressed on RouteFinder. UAR pilots must accept a re-route if requested by ATC. Flying direct is discouraged, but not prohibited. Cases where flying direct would be reasonable would be for a super newbie who is just getting accustomed to UAR operations, or where training on a specific procedures – such as ILS intercepts – would make flying an official route more complicated than need be.
- Guidelines re: shared cockpits – any UAR pilot may share a cockpit with another pilot at any time. This is not only unrestricted, but encouraged. However, only certified instructors may conduct an official training flight, orientation flight, or ride along.
- Guidelines re: prime directive – Remember the Prime Directive states that the vast majority of UAR flights must take place within ARTCC controlled airspace. Officers may however depart or arrive from an uncontrolled airport providing that the flight either terminates or originates within a controlled airspace. Candidates, newbies, and farm team pilots must all operate within ARTCC from start to finish. All training flights as well must take place within ARTCC from start to finish. Exceptions to the Prime Directive may be granted only by the Chief Pilot or XO, and would only be done sparingly, and for bona fide training purposes.
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