tom11011

Wow that is hard to believe, 38 pilots left? If it's true 5 pilots are leaving in a month, that is 15% of their pilots per month. I would imagine they would have to shutdown altogether by June or July.

zondaracer

They have 28 aircraft total. My friend thinks that when they lose the 5 captains, they will be below the magic number to keep operating. I guess it is wait and see.

GoHomeLeg

I have no skin in this game but if I were a newly minted multi commercial pilot I would look at them very seriously. Where in the cfi world can you get 90+ hours a month flying a turbine powered aircraft? I would recommend any one that is ok having a ****ty life for 15 months to give it a shot. You'll get to a regional much faster and after flying the 1900 you shouldn't have any problems passing regional training.

Just my 2 cents. Don't bite my head off.

Facebitten

Unless they have an ace up their sleeve they are going to fold in 3 months.

SilverWraith

Agreed. Take the opportunity to do this kind of mountain flying. I did the Q400 out of DEN for a year, and it was the most beautiful flying I've ever done, and am glad I got to it. Working for RAH, well, that's another can of worms I am not intending to open haha.

It definitely won't hurt your skill set to do some RMI, no autopilot mountain flying.

That being said, Lakes would more than likely be a less than acceptable QOL...

I still keep in contact with a few buddies at Lakes, feel free to PM if you'd like me to put you in touch with them.

GoHomeLeg

Never mind.

CAirBear

seekingblue

Why not just go to any (other) regional?

TalkTurkey

They aint called Great Mistakes for good reasons.

M20EPilot

If you're going to let someone badmouth Lakes and talk you out of it, my suggestion: find someone who can do so with authority who has worked there.

Lakes worked for me. They used me for cheap labor, and I used them as I did not have competitive experience for a job anywhere else. I enjoyed my time there. The pilot group, the 1900, and the training were all excellent. You will be worked hard, stay in crappy motels in towns without much going on. You will do things the hard way, but in the end it will make you better for it. I left Lakes as an FO, along with a whole bunch of others before part 135 came around (I didnt think they would pull that one off), and in hindsight that may very well have been a mistake. I'd have been a captain there now, probably with close to my thousand if I stayed... new captains who were there when I was there are now at majors, or are check airmen/instructor pilots.... the crappy place and revolving door means that things happen fast there.