Originally Posted by
hawkerpilot05
I am not aware of the 4 Legacy Carriers hiring, at least to the extent that NetJets did, the amount of flight school graduates right into a jet. In fact in the Global, we have had multiple pilots make their first landing in a jet in the Global. This is because they got hired into the Phenom and sat at home for so long waiting IOE and never touched the airplane and took the Global bid. This was as late as December 2024. Most of the Legacy carriers still required 1000 turbine time from what I was told and a lot will punch out when the Legacy carriers start hiring again. Also, a lot of the new hire pilots don't want to commute and the brutal schedule that comes with the Legacy carriers in the beginning, or so they say. Granted, I do believe long term a Legacy carrier far out shines NetJets, but I live in an airline base. A lot of the new hires just dread commuting even though I believe that has more to do with the horror stories they here from their colleagues who are at a Regional.
You are comparing NJA to legacies. The proper comparison is to the regionals as NJA and the regionals are the exact same hiring demographic. Nobody went from a part 61 Seminole as a CFI, to the right seat of a 777. I have known tons of people who have gone from instructing, right into the right seat of G550s, Globals, Falcons etc. so it isn't crazy at all to do that.
Nobody said one was better than the other, but your statement of making 6 figures before 30 is wrong on every level. I have flown with 4 or so, former NJA FOs and one CA who upgraded but left very quickly, then left. The ones who left regionals to go to NJA, all took paycuts, hated it, and immediately left for a major. The 2 who went from instructor gigs right to NJA, said they probably would have stayed if the money was better over the career, but had generally favorable things to say about NJA. There is something for everybody in aviation.