Originally Posted by
NERD
Are you really comparing NWA and Western to Endeavor? You can't possibly be that delusional. If you have had your turn at the ssp and failed I understand why. NWA and Western were career airlines. You know and everyone else does too, that the regionals are stepping stones. Always have been. Most get out, some can't and a very few choose not too. Do you really think a new hire at NWA was at the same level professionally as a new hire at XJ or 9E? I can't speak for the Western pilots, but with the exception of the shrink(we had a sim), the NWA pilots were only hired after fairly vigorous testing (both psychological and knowledge based testing) very comparable to Delta's current testing. A regional job is an entry level pt 121 job, and in most cases the first airline job. The only difference is today instead of a 19-34 seat planes that most of us flew, y'all are flying one's with 76 seats.
We don't fly NDB approaches into municipal airports anymore. We fly JFK-ORD, DTW-DFW, SLC-LAX just to name a few. When I was working at Mesaba we got a call from scheduling to pick up passengers that were on a diverted DAL flight because they were not equipped to shoot a Cat II. So we did, in freezing fog down to minimums. I've covered over 4,000 miles and 5 time zones at my "regional". But yes you are correct, this is an entry level job and things are finally moving in the right direction. I graduated cum laude with a 4 year degree, over 6,000 hrs of multi-turbine time flying in and out of the worlds busiest airports in the same weather and on the same routes as every major airline in the US but since I didn't go through DAL's, AA's, or UAL's vigorous testing I don't match up to mainline pilots? And you based this on how many seats?? what is the difference? A B-717 or a E-190? And now Endeavor is going to test a flight instructor or another regional pilot and give him/her the green light for Delta over all the other qualified and experienced pilots already on property. All because they passed a vigorous test? Isn't a 4 year degree, private, commercial, multi-engine, CFI, CFII, MEI, ground instuctor, ATP, 1000 hrs instruction experience, 2000 hrs 121 turbine PIC, 3,000 SIC and a clean 9 year work history with every PC and Line check satisfactory completed enough? At my regional I had to to a sim, panel, and knowledge test, but I didn't get offered a flow to a major. Oh wait I did but they took that back.