Originally Posted by
afterburn81
Sorry to stray off topic but......
Hundreds of people in line and you gotta pay to get in. I thought there was a pilot shortage or something. Sounds more like a job shortage to me. I was told a year and a half ago from many reputable people that I would be in a really really good position with-in a year or so. Guess I missed something.
True, but you have keep this in mind for perspective;
There were regionals there; PSA, XJT, GoJets, Compass, Commutair, Great Lakes, Cape Air. And for those places, it's more than likely CFI's, etc trying to move up. They probably don't have JS/NR privileges, nor the funds to pay for a ticket/hotel to attend. Hence the lines at the regional desks were not that long, if any at all.
There was Kalitta, Atlas, and Spirit. You can easily deduce who the major draws were. And yes, depending on when you got there/got in line, the wait could exceed 2+ hours.
However, IF, and I'm just saying IF Delta, SW, FedEx, United, USAir, etc where there two things could likely be deduced;
1) The attendance would have been higher, MUCH HIGHER and
2) The wait times probably wouldn't have been quite the same for basically 2 companies. Or rather more spread out.
Just seeing some friends and meeting some people, there were pilots from a wide range of backgrounds. Guys with jobs looking to move on guys with jobs about to get furloughed, and guys that have been furloughed. COMAIR, Southern, World, Pinnacle, TSA, furloughed frac pilots, DHL, etc etc etc....................
Overall I thought it was good. As far as the question of whether or not it helps, who REALLY knows? It's all subjective/relative. Sure, it puts a face to the resume/app.
But more importantly, it probably doesn't HURT an applicant one bit.