Reading on another website that UAL just pushed 4,500 displacements. Not being an airline guy, how does a displacement differ from a furlough?
I forget what you've gone to fly in the AF/ANG. If it's a fixed wing Guard unit then there are probably plenty of airline guys to walk you through the finer points. Here are some fundamental differences and a broad analogy:
Everything is seniority-based, very simple. (About the only thing remotely resembling a #1EP is if you want to upgrade from captain to check airman, which is merit-based, and loosely equivalent to ANI.) "Seat" = crew position (the AC and 2P switching physical seats, like we do from day to day in naval helicopters, that's just not a thing).
You can ask to fly a different airplane and/or ask for a different crew position. You might not get but you can always ask. (Maybe you want to be a big fish in a little pond close to home, maybe you want the glamor of four stripes and crossing the pond in a big airplane—even if it means you're only at the back of the line of backup pilots on phone recall and you rarely actually fly—or maybe you're a happy medium kind of guy and you pick your airplane/base/seat based on that.) Bidding takes like two seconds of point and click, there's no thirty page packet with your skipper's endorsement and there's no BUPERS transition board. When the bid window closes a computerized gonkulator spits out the results in a few hours. The available quotas ebb and flow; with the crazy airline growth/hiring/retirements in the last few years there has been a lot of flow... right up until last month. Remember how a rising tide lifts all boats? March and April were like a giant hole opened up in the bottom of the ocean.
The training center is a bit like the FRS/RAG in some ways and a lot in others. You do nearly all of your training and checkrides there and they certify everything. Sticking to the schedule is a really big deal. The administrative processes are pretty similar and there are a few different versions of the syllabus based on where a pilot is coming from and where they're going (just like the RAG).
Let's say the Navy decided to get rid of the H-53 once and for all (work with me on this analogy...) and also stand down a few H-60 squadrons at the same time. All of those 53 pilots will now get absorbed into the 60 community. There's a lot of variety in the 60 community but also remember that a lot of 60 pilots just got displaced too. Using the work rules,
starting with seniority, figure out the details of how you're going to transition all of those pilots, which ones used to fly a 60 and which crew position they were last qualified in. The training pubs will specify the ground school component and the simulator component- both of which cost time and money.
Obviously a lot of people are going to be left out in the cold when the shuffle is over. You might be able to relieve a bit of pressure with things like early-out programs or leaves of absence. A bit but not much.
Don't forget that when the flying picks up again then you'll have to train a bunch of pilots or re-train your idled pilots. The training pubs will have the details on that too. It will cost a lot of money and resources.
Nobody knows when the flying will pick back up; sooner will be less expensive than later.
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