flyboyshell,

I will move on but like the name, I am a pilot, it's my career. I can't just quit and expect to pay my bills. I have a "strike savings" worth about 2 months of income, which equated to roughly $2000...... does that shock you? It better. I had a better job, and trying to make my life better, decided to try the "sacrifice, pay your dues" thing- AGAIN. I the CFI thing for 2 years, did 1200 dual and now I make less flying a regional jet than I did as a CFI.... I MADE less flying a Learjet than I did as a CFI, do you see a problem with that?!?!? So as a CFI, I didn't want to fly at a regional because I thought the pay was rediculous. I was right, and still am. I'm not sure where along the lines I thought I was going to upgrade AS ADVERTISED (not a deserving thing, but the fact that they advertise it makes you believe you have the CHANCE) and now I am stuck as an FO on FO pay. I was making what a CA makes at 9E when I was an FO at my last job.

I pulled in $1000/wk as an FO!


Now I pull in $1400/mo after taxes WITH perdiem. I have a wife that I have to TRY to take care of, and a dad who doesn't charge me rent on his rental home... so I'm blessed with the rent thing. I wish I was in a different pay scale for the heartache I endure being away from my wife, family, and friends, the constant attempts of C.S. trying to get my junior manned.

I actually am going to go see about food stamps when I get home, no kidding. 10 packs of rammon for $1, full of sodium, but it's food. Wait, why am I saying this??? I'm a pilot that's 1/2 responsible for 50+ lives at a time in a dangerous environment while working in that environment for 15 hours!

Look, I WAS a happy employee, and I THOUGHT I could make it even better by sacrificing.

I was wrong. HOWEVER, I made the best decision based upon the best information available at the time - sorta. I should have listened to everyone that warned me about this company. I know of regionals where people don't upgrade as fast, but WHY is that? Maybe people stay longer and are happier, so therefore PAYING DUES isn't actually that - it's a lifestyle instead.