Originally Posted by
lear 31 pilot
I am in sort of the same situation I fly for a 135 operator that has a great QOL but I will fly about 400 hours this year. I flew for a crappy 121 operator for 6 months and hated it. At this time I would never go back to the airlines even if I could upgrade in six months and am going to hopefully go to one of the fractionals in the next six months. My prediction and I could be totally wrong is that the charter and fractional market will keep growing for a long time because the people who fly on these planes are the rich of the rich and they do not care if oil goes through the roof they will pay more just for the ability to go where they want. Places like Skywest are great places to go to and I have friends that enjoy working there but what if they stop growing or lose a contract you may be stuck as an FO for years making 40 thousand a year, Doesn't sound like fun to me.
I did 135/91 for a year and 1/2 and hated it... The flying was fun, weird destinations and the Lear is freaking rocket (I loved that thing)... but I hated not having a schedule and being in Stby all the time. Plus I felt like I was living in the airport waiting for passengers that would just show up whenever they felt like it, then we had to carry their bags to the airplane and do all the ground work (fueling, flight plan...) 16 hour duty days with 1 hr flight time was very usual...
Of course I blame all these to the company I was working for... no respect or work rules for their pilots.
I think under the right $$$$$circumsntances$$$$ this could be the best job ever, unfortunately I had a bad experience.