Originally Posted by
The Piston!
You have made some good points, but have fun never being at home since you will be getting junior manned every week at SKW. Ameriflight is a rock solid company as far as stability goes, plus you are at home every night and have every weekend off and every major holiday off! what regional can provide that unless you have been there 20+ years? Sure, I agree the amflt A/C are not pretty to look. Also, your family and friends will ask you for the rest of your life "when are you going to have enough hours to fly passengers" but sometimes QOL outweighs the fancy jet!!!
With the growth and hiring that SKW will do, if you get hired now you'll have hundreds of guys below you by the end of summer.
As far as QOL, it's all relative. I don't prefer SKW over Amflight because of the fancy jet! In fact, I'd rather fly a chieftain single-pilot any day over a CRJ! Lots more fun. But for me working M-F, same routes, loading-unloading boxes dealing with old aircraft that beak all the time is not good QOL. It becomes routine VERY quick. Not to mention the risks involved in flying older aircarft (both safety and certificate-wise). Doing this for several years and still be making $40,000 is not good remuneration. Plus getting stuck as an Ameriflight lifer is not a good QOL either. Not to mention the fact you won't build any multi-crew time, which will make you less competitive with the majors in 3/4 years, where you'll compete against thousands of 121, multi-crew regional captains who will have built more time than you. Plus at Amflight the schedule doesn't really improve much with seniority, unlike the regionals.
Plus getting time off at Amflight is a b!tch, not nearly as easy as with the regionals. Not to mention you get virtually no travel benefits (only CASS, but none international or family).
At a good regional the first year sucks, but after that the pay is livable, benefits are good and so is time off. I would much rather get 17/18 days off a months and do several overnights than work M-F. If I wanted a M-F job I could have accepted jobs in engineering or meteorology where I'd be making 3X the money. Again, its all relative.
All this has been discussed before. Check out
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/sh...ht=ameriflight
The most significant post on that thread from a guy who's been there and done that is:
I worked at AMF from Oct. 2000 until Jan. 06 and piloted C402, BE99, Metro's, and the Brasilia all as captain. In that time I went from 1200 hours to the low 6000's. It was hard work with long hours in demanding conditions. In a lot of cases you are the stand alone source in executing a safe flight in all sorts of conditions. You will learn to fly weather aggressively and stay sharp in all your planning and operational skills (think Fate is the Hunter here). That is the PIC experience we want on our resume and the backbone to a resume that demonstrates confidence in your abilities to future employers. That is good.
What is not so good is 12-14 hour days spread over six days a week in aging aircraft. They maintain their aircraft to a higher standard than I have seen at other 135 operators. AMF has been in business for over 37 years, so they know how to perform in this type of environment. So what is wrong with that? The technology and advanced CRM practices common to 121 operators with newer aircraft are necessary tools you need today. These are critical pieces of knowledge for pilots beyond the "single-pilot ILS to minimums". Modern gold-standard practices are very important on your resume too. It was hard to convince prospective employers I could do those things as well our better than those with 121 PIC or FO regional jet or larger transport credentials. You can do it but it is an frustrating uphill battle, even with 4000+ PIC turbine.
As for the schedule you want...AMF's TDY temporary duty schedule is three weeks on, one week off. They will ask for more, so be prepared to stay out for six weeks.
My advice...jets with glass will take your career further, faster and have more perks. You may want to consider a Fractional as experience allows.
Good Luck
Last but not least, I have very little respect for a company that has a PAY-4-WORK program like Amflight. This is really distgusting.
Other than that, I'll agree that Amflight is one of the better 135 operators, so I won't blame you for going there. But don't come here bashing SWK because maybe, just maybe, they might offer a more attractive gig than amflight IMHO.