Originally Posted by
Oldog
Have a look at ameriflight.com on the internet, listen to the "how to get hired" tape recorded phone message, and think it over. Lots of pilots flying for US (and international) major airlines today got their introduction to the real world of professional aviation at Ameriflight. Training is tough, schedules are demanding, you'll have to be willing to move to different domiciles to expedite transition to bigger aircraft -- but three years of Ameriflight will probably put 2000 hr (with 1000 hr turbine PIC) of real world all weather flying in your logbook. At that stage, your skills and experience will likely look very attractive to majors, large corporate flight departments, etc., at a time when the supply of qualified pilots will be falling critically short of demand.
To counter this, dont go to ameriflight. get on with a regional if you can. ameriflight is a dead end job which will eventually lead you to a regional airline job anyway so why wait? nobody has gone from AMF directly to a Major airline. I see tons of 1900 and metro captains leaving AMF to go fly for the regionals. Why? cause the major dont want pilots with part 135 experience flying light turbo props, they want part 121 jet time.
AMF is a great experience and a semi-fair place to work. They treat the pilots just good enough to keep them around for a couple years, the pay is low, and the schedule SUCKS. Example of silly management decisions at AMF: you cant jumpseat on anyone except Southwest because the owner of Ameriflight will not allow reciprocal jumpseat agreements with anyone except southwest. Kinda screwed up for the pilots, eh? Not a huge deal, but just an example of how things go at this company.
Anyway, go to Ameriflight if you dont want to work for the airlines. Dont believe the hype of this supposed pilot shortage on the horizon that will supposedly bring about major airlines hiring 135 frieght dogs. Aint gonna happen. But... if you want to fly on the corporate/charter side of the business, AMF might be OK.