Originally Posted by
HercDriver130
I think what he meant was that the regional end of things SUCKED... when I started at a regional carrier in 1992 it sucked.... pay sucked... work rules sucked... oh yea.. and there was little or no movement then either ... i spent 3 years on the bottom of a 1000 person seniority list ..with chance to upgrade...
The regional side of things has seen pockets of good times with fast upgrades and lots of movement... but that has not been the norm.
Oh... and in 1992 when I went to work for Flaghship Airlines ( AE )...I had 1600 hours nearly all ME turbine time...... and I was the LOW man in a class of 18. The more it changes the more it stays the same....
Thank you! This is exactly what I meant. Before starting at a regional, I worked as a CFI, flew skydivers, and generally grubbed around FBOs looking to pick up a flight. Had to bust rear just to get a job at a regional than then wanted you to pay for your own training. Thankfully I got around the PFT at ASA. The legacies still had pilots on furlough and were only just recalling and hiring. Upgrade took years.
If anything, I guess most of you are right. It's not the same. The guys entering the industry 2002-2007 had it easier. Straight out of flight school into the right seat of an RJ. Wild growth and SJS. Now that it's time to pay the piper for that growth with contraction, its no longer all fun and games.
Sorry, I guess I have no charity for anyone who enters this profession without understanding that the music was starting to stop and that bad times were coming. Now they're here and the regional guys are going to be in the same turd pile that the legacy guys had to endure 2001-2006. But it will change. The industry will evolve and continue on. The pay will still suck, there will still be whipsawing, and management will still continue to BOHICA the employees, and 10-12 years from now the regionals will be right back in the same state as they are today. Unless cabotage is approved, then we are all hosed.