Originally Posted by
Kimo
Ah ha ha ha
People that know better aren’t going to trans air or Asia pacific. They have been known to fire/discipline people for ridiculous reasons as is well documented in these chats. Nothing has “improved” at Transair or Asia Pacific. Ohana and Aloha are your better options if trying to get to Hawaiian. People have left transair and Asia pacific to go fly for Aloha and Ohana. Aloha has some big classes coming up and I believe ohana will too.
Please don't make me laugh... in my tenure at APA nobody got fired for ridiculous reasons (or any reason as only one person got fired in 7 years). They had a downhill spiral with new management initially (precipitated my departure), but last I heard things have become liveable as the stepping stone that it is. Several have gone to HAL, UAL, K4, and others (I ended up at Omni); others were not so lucky due to their own doing, but nobody has been fired apart from one guy after I left. To be clear I am in no way defending some of their practices in operations (with which I am intimately familiar), but they are a stepping stone airline in the same breed as YIP and MIA operators. I did hear of one guy going to AQ but he wasn't missed by my friends still on the line. If someone presently lives in Hawaii and needs to get jet time to move on to better things then APA is able to provide that.
TXA is a stepping stone just the same and many of the full timers that were there when I was working part time have gone on to HAL, DL, FedEx, and others. In their cases they used TXA to get the minimums they needed to be competitive at a regional (this was before the shortage) and made the best of it from there, TXA gave them the start to get to where they are today.
Neither of these airlines is out to get you. The experience they offer is very valid and transferable to the larger aviation world moreso than flying a single as a passenger-crewmember between some rocks. If I was looking for a stepping stone I would go to either TXA or APA before I went to Ohana or Mokulele (only a person who makes poor decision intentionally chooses to fly a single engine aircraft across the ocean anyway). AQ is kind of a toss up in my view as it is more valid as a career destination, but there are many better places than AQ as well.
The days of needing a stepping stone are behind me, but for someone needing to get experience now; both APA and TXA are valid so long as they're not asking for training contracts or bonds. Don't let your prejudice bleed thru Kimo…. it makes you sound jilted. In my current situation I would not work for either operation, but as a freshly minted ATP/CPL I would definitely be open to it.