Originally Posted by
450knotOffice
CoEx pilots back then who went through that were considered nearly SCABS because they PAID to fly for a company, rather than being PAID to fly. They caught a LOT of hell on these forums back then. However, as far as I know, pretty much ALL of those guys flowed over to Continental within a couple of years, so they had the last laugh, I guess. Many are captains at the New UAL now. Who figured?!
Are you sure you're not thinking of another small group of pilots that paid, and became engineers, THEN pilots at CAL? As opposed to the standard mid/late 90's PFT that A LOT of regionals used?
Because as much as it sucked, as much of a black eye as it left on the industry, it's as mentioned; PFT was more a norm and NOT an exception. And contrary to what Kit Darby used to preach, PTF'ing did NOT hurt careers. There's a metric crap ton of pilots that PFT'd at any one of the various commuters/regionals listed, and it in and of itself DIDNT harm those guys. Many that are probably CA's and various legacies right now. As well as FedEx, UPS, name it.