I work here too, and I feel that although Pinnacle has its share of challenges, it has a fairly robust, experienced management team that could possibly positon this carrier to succeed in the future. One reality is that the same business practices that result in good airlines are ones that result in minimum pay, maximum work for the employees. So you can either go with a company that pays its pilots a little more now, then forces concessions on them later when bidding comes out for new flying, or you can go with a company that already pays pretty low and can bid aggressively for new flying. If the reality that we as pilots aren't ever going to make levels of income commensurate with our training time/cost isn't bad enough, there's one more thing. I've been doing this job for about a year and a half now, and I'll tell you, its a lot of fun sometimes. When I'm hand-flying the plane it's the greatest feeling in the world, and there's nothing better than executing a perfect approach and landing in this challenging aircraft. But every other part of this job sucks. Bad. Most of the time we just sit there, staring out the window waiting, waiting, watching the clock tick down. Our only purpose is to change frequencies and follow the procedures if something goes wrong. But nothing ever does go wrong so we sit, and sit. Then you go to the hotel and sit. Call the wife, talk to the kid. Repeat. If you have a family I'd encourage you to consider very carefully how they will feel when you're gone 90% of the time, initially, then 50% of the time from then on, forever. It might be better just to play FlightSim2004. At least there you can do a roll every now and again. I hate to sound pessimestic, but the worst part about it all is, there's no future in airline flying. The oil is getting more expensive every day, and it won't stop. Ticket prices can only go so high. Airlines are going to merge (bad for pilots), big labor has lost its pricing power and now can only serve to make idle threats and drag out the innevitable concessionary pay decrease contracts. There may be opportunities overseas at places like Emirates, or in the corporate/VLJ slots that will remain. But don't forget there will be lots of very experienced ex-airline pilots to fill those spots first. Maybe other opportunities will be created, we'll see.

The pilot's world is dramatically different now than it was when I started my path towards this career. If I had known then what I know now, I would have never done it. But now that I'm here I try to make the best of it, to do the best job I can every day and enjoy what is the greatest view in the world. And I keep an eye out every day for other opportunities, knowing someday I'll have to leave this career. Good luck to you, to everyone.