Well, at the time I got on with Mesa nobody else was really hiring. It was post 9-11 and it was a different time then- we all had seen our careers go up in smoke over the Pentagon and the Twin Towers. United, Northwest and Delta all came crashing down too. The economy was in the post dot-com depression. So yea, I took the job when they offered- I had dropped too much of my own cash and that of my parents into the career to just fade away into the shadows (I finished the Commercial Multi about a week before the attack). In all honesty, I was probably not good enough nor was I experienced enough to get on with Skywest at the time either... So yea, I took the job when they offered.

Today, the market is wide open- in a year it is going to be desperation city. In fact, PSA I just heard is preventing J4J guys from going back to mainline because they can't keep their aircraft staffed. They are parking planes. Mesa will be doing the same soon in my prediction.
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But I still say your criticism of the PILOT GROUP does not hold water- Mesa will pay 18-20 MILLION to replace the pilots it has lost this year (1000/hour in the sim with 40 hours total training time- and that is IF they don't need extra lessons, and I can tell you from first-hand knowledge that new-hires are taking an average of 12 or more lessons to get through). So, the best way to hurt Mesa is to get hired here, ride out 6 months to a year getting experience, and then make a lateral move to a better regional.

Walk a mile in my shoes dude. I doubt you have a clue what it is like to work at this hell hole. I have been fairly sheltered from it- ORD, IAD and JFK are a total MESS, and we don't really get pay protected. So yea, I get defensive when somebody out there makes a shallow statement about my pilot brothers and sisters. We work hard here at Mesa, and we get walked over all the time. Our contract is up soon- if you want to be part of the problem, keep on slinging mud at us and HELP management drive us down. You want to get on the bus? When you hear of a Mesa picket line come out and join us. You see a Mesa pilot in the terminal? Say "Hi", flash a smile and give us some dang support.