Originally Posted by
BStill
Former military pilot here, with a couple of years of commercial and Part 121 experience until I opted to make my 9/11 furlough permanent. So a long time away from the industry, now learning, hoping to return for one last encore career change.
Apart from the important stuff like pay, work rules, flow, QoL, etc...., how do the training departments compare across the Regionals? Which carriers have a good reputation of professional pilot-centric training programs? And which are known for the opposite?
Thanks!
I have a good friend who was in a similar situation to you, former navy pilot, came out right before 9/11 so couldn't find a pilot position when 9/11 happened. With the current pilot shortage he decided to go for it. He went and got current at a local airport, just took him a few hours, it came back quickly. He submitted his resume to a number of regionals this fall because he didn't have enough turbine time for majors or what ULCCs were saying they required (although that has changed now at some). He got several CJOs and decided to go with Mesa because they offered the quickest start date. And with things getting backed up on FO training that seemed like the priority, get flying as soon as possible. He had some reservations because there is a lot of negative comments about Mesa historically, but he has said the training is very good. It has exceeded his expectations. There are delays between SIT and SIMs, a couple of weeks, and there is possibly a delay to IOE, not sure yet. But after his experience, I wouldn't hesitate to sign on there if they give you a good start date.