Originally Posted by
Erdude32
It could do more than that for you. By balking at the $25000 now you are potentially leaving $500,000 on the table for someone else. Giving up your CRJ FO job and going to GIA as a street Captain will take at least 2 years off the time to get to a major. That's 2 ADDITIONAL years you'll be a widebody CA at the end of your career, do the math. That's just looking at the end game, also you must consider near/short term QOL. You could stay at xyz Regional as an FO and wait for the upgrade, do a year or so on RSV and then hopefully in 18-24 mos have enough TPIC to get on with a Major. By then, you'll have missed the beginning of the next hiring wave and will get hired, but late into the game or towards the end. This will end up having you stuck on narrow body reserve as an FO for a decade or more at your major, it'll make the difference for your entire career. When you do upgrade you'll be relegated to a narrowbody reserve for another decade and you might get a "smaller" widebody your last 3-4 years, and THAT will be on reserve.
Contrast that outlook with a street Ca slot NOW, and being hired at a Major the end of next year or early 2013 and you will experience a vastly different career and QOL.
I speak from experience. It's a gamble, it's a LOT of work but it does pay off. I left my comfort zone as a lineholder on a CRJ to do just what I described above. I'm now in the right seat of a widebody for a major and it took less than a year at GIA. I am on rsv however if I'd pulled the trigger even 3 mos earlier than I did, I'd be a lineholder and pulling down $2k a mo more than I am now. If I'd done it 6 mos earlier I'd be on a widebody at home instead of a transcon commute, or on a larger widebody.
If you can afford to do it and then don't hesitate. Don't go by just the published payrates on APC for GIA either. Be a scheduling *****, live in base and you'll fly 100+ hours a month and credit 125-150. In/out...in less than a year you'll have the TPIC to get where you want to be.
THIS!
For you guys at the dawn of your career, and looking for a major job, I will give you the same sage advice ERDude has given. If you ignore everything else he's said, burn these words into your brains:
PILOT IN COMMAND, TURBINE, wherever, however. Never pass up a NH class date OR upgrade.
Time is ticking, and months/years wasted now can mean the difference between a great career, and a not so great career (or none at all). A lot of luck is also needed, BUT, you aren't gonna get lucky if you aren't qualified for the job.
I am in my 26th year as a pilot. I came up through the civilian ranks, beginning as an airplane washer at 16, and worked my way up. I've worked at 6 regionals, 1 corporate job, 1 night freight outfit and one major that I've been at for 16 years. I have been very fortunate so far.
The commuter level of this business sucks. Always has, always will. It's a means to an end and nothing more. Embrace it for what it is, a stepping stone. Never lose sight of the big picture. Busting your butt 20 days a month for <$2k per is NOT a career. It's easy/natural to adapt to your world, but the bad conditions there should be motivating factors to do what it takes to get OUT of it. I'm lucky that I got out before the RJ boom, because I might've been just satisfied enough to stay there.
As I was working my way up, I always ran into the guys who were living in the now, choosing QOL over advancement.
A good friend of mine is but one example. He always passed on upgrading at the regional we worked for because he didn't want to go from the ATR right seat to the J-31 left seat (bad contract language would've put him on 1st year Capt pay in the J31, which was slightly less than ATR FO pay for his longevity in it, but we're talking a very small difference). He ended up at a (now acquired) major, and was subsequently furloughed. He called me about getting on at my airline, as well as a bunch of others where we had mutual friends, but even though he had over 10K hours, he didn't even qualify for an interview. He's painting houses now.
Another guy quit when we got bought by another carrier, and we were facing pay/qol cuts. He was a Check Airman and had tons of PIC time, yet, even though he didn't need the cash, he went back to the family business. He called me about 5 years later asking for a rec, which I was happy to give, but his lack of recency was a problem. He refused to do the "street captain deal at another crummy commuter to get some recency, and to this day regrets it.
The PFT nonsense sucks (it was not even a factor when I started, thank God), and IMHO, the only way it's gonna go away is if people stop doing it.
FWIW, I've been perusing this thread because an acquaintance has been bitten by the aviation bug, and has asked me my advice. Even after talking to me, he still wants to do it, so I'm doing a little research.