Originally Posted by
RJ4LIFE
30 per month is going to be quite a challenge, especially since now we are talking about pilots who have been around for a little while (getting their 1500hrs) and have a better idea of what they're getting into when they go to a regional. Regionals can't just recruit fresh commercial pilots right out of college like in the past. Sure there will always be the naive ones lured in by the fancy new e-jets and the promise of quick upgrade, but I think generally the pool of potential pilots is a lot wiser now and will go somewhere based on pay, QOL and an airline's overall reputation. The 1500 hr rule means that pilots have invested more time and money into their career by the time they are eligible to go to a regional and I think they expect more return on investment than Mesa can provide.
Somewhat Disagree, what your gonna see is more and more of what Mesa is currently getting. The older gentleman who doesn't need the job..however the one that is on a 2nd career has the hours already has the ex wife and doesn't give a rats *ss about any of the typical Regional 12 yr old BS. The one that says
"hey that 175/190 type sure would do wonders in China" or the one that says hey I wanna fly a jet and see what it's like? Well that's what Mesa is gonna get and theres plenty of them out there. Short term "what's in it for me" pilots who know and choose to temporarily discard those pay rates.
Which In turn is exactly what J.O. Wants. "Short term pilots."
That plus the quick upgrade "crunching" numbers based on "all the stars aligning" fresh CFI Who says.."look at the time to upgrade, Tina?"