Originally Posted by
flyinghedgehog
Thanks a lot! I looked at a couple contracts at the first group of the regionals I am targeting. Crunched some numbers, and actually Piedmont is not at the bottom contract-wise. Granted I did not run all scenarios (like picking up open time, comparing it to regionals with duty/trip rigs, etc )because that is really time consuming.
I heard about the schedules being pretty inefficient as well. Good to see there was someone trying to help improve this. Our CP at my current shop did something great too and I have a lot of respect for him. I hope to do some public service at some point too. Really. At the end of the day there is no perfect regional and the best I can do is pick a place that is workable, try to make that place a little better during my time there, and avoid the really bad ones that can put a dent in my career.
Right now the "really good" regionals seem to have long wait for class dates. I dig new planes, but can't afford to wait a couple months just for that. Worst, the ones that have new planes (at least the two of them where my friends work), had longer reserve time and have been really fat on FOs, >> non line holders flying like 300 hours in a year. Another friend who went to a less popular regional blocked like 900 that year and upgraded at 14 months.
Would like your opinion here though :: where would you go if you were I ? Just want to see what you think. Thanks
Somewhat of an unpopular opinion but, If you’re going to a regional with the hopes to go to a legacy, you’ll likely require 5-7 years to get there unless you go to another, intermediate, destination (LCC, ACMI etc.) first. If you are a regional captain for more than 5 years and aren’t a line check airman you become deemed an increased training risk by legacy HR departments and move into that regional lifer category. This is what makes the flow AA offers to their WO pilots so appealing. This also why AA feels it can pay its WO pilots significantly less than other regionals.
Looking at contracts, you need to take the approach of where would you like to be stuck if you become a regional lifer. If that’s too tough of a pill to swallow, at least look at the first 5 years which is in that hiring sweet spot for legacies.
PDTs pay durig the first 5 years (especially once on the captain side) is less than:
Endeavor
Republic
Skywest
Expressjet
Gojet
Trans States
Air Wisconsin
PSA
Envoy
Pay is better than Commutair and barely Better than Mesa, but folks pick Mesa over PDT for better QOL.
If you’re doing a head to head comparison between Piedmont and Commutair since PHL is between IAD and EWR then sure, PDT comes out ahead unless you pass all the wickets of CPP. If that happens you’ll be out the door to United years (about 5-6 of them) before you’ll flow to mainline AA at Piedmont.
If you come to PDT you will most likely be on third year pay before you are a qualified Captain. There’s an outside shot that you may block 100-200hrs before your first year is up with all the training delays. I know folks who were flying the jet for two-six weeks before their probation ended. Even with the new scheduling improvements trips are highly inefficient. Your trips will be on average four days long and you will make no more than an avg of 4hrs credit per day.
I would go to the place that pays you the most and offers you the best quality of life long term. If that place is Piedmont, great but in PHL, PSA, Republic and Frontier each have bases and all would offer better long term QOL and pay. In CLT PSA would likely offer better QOL as a line pilot long term after 3 years unless you got a training center job at PDT and moved to CLT. Flow is now around 10 years minimum at all of the AA Wholly Owned regionals so if you think you’ll be at a regional longer than the first few years (most folks will) then you’ll need to consider what place will be the best for you years 3+ after all the New Hire and retention bonuses have worn off.
Right now there’s up to a five month wait from indoc to the start of ground school. It seems like a lot of NHs are just taking a class date at PDT and leaving when one of the more desirable regionals start class. Unless you’re in dire need of a paycheck, If you’re thinking about doing that, it’s probably better for everyone (including yourself) if you just don’t come to Piedmont at all.
United CPP is a big gamble with pass rates as low as 25% depending on the company thanks to having to pass the Hogan, then the United interview (And I think a final review once you hit your time requirement). That gamble can pay off big and you could be at United in half the time it would take you to flow to AA.
If your choice is between Commutair and PDT, I’d recommend PDT.
Take the ever decreasing benefit of the ever increasing flow times out of the picture, I’d recommend Endeavor, Republic and then Expressjet or maybe Skywest in that order.
Endeavor has an NYC
Republic has PHL NYC and DC bases
XJT has EWR