Well, I can definately vouch for most of the previous posts. I was hired this past winter as a street CA's for Mesa and let me tell you that it is NO walk in the park. I had almost 1500 hours PIC in similiar aircraft and it was still tough. Remember that you will only get 8 sim sessions to be up to ATP standards and able to make CA decisions at a moments notice. Your support pilot will simply be doing what you tell him too. He will not make mistakes to see if you catch them but if you decide to take off without adequate visibility or without the required T/o ALT per the company FOPM due to wind, weather or any other reason your toast!. Assuming you pass the ground school and sim (We had 3 out of 7 not make it this far), You will get 32 hours of IOE. That sounds sufficent right? I don't think so. Remeber that you will then be making the go no-go decisions on 10 - 15 minute turns for 16 hours a day. The schedule alone can make a seasoned CA's decisions faulty.

So, Assuming you get through all of that without any problems, the first time you are rushed and take off with the wrong A/C # on the release, the wrong pilots name , illegal weather (3585 will make your head hurt) , missing smoke goggles (yes FO checks but has happened before), forget to sign the release or weight/balance, forget to check the ADL is on board that the mechanic's like to remove from the a/c, or one of 100 more things this company will pick up the phone and call the FAA ( I think its on speed dial). I don't care how small you think the problem is, it will not stay in company. They will get you violated. This is where you have to ask yourself if you are ready to put those cert. on the line for this company. Remember how big those loans for those cert. are before you risk them. A violation will make that major job much harder, even if you have 5000 PIC turbine.

Thinking about all these things I would say the smart choice is on the FO job and then the quick upgrade when YOU feel comfortable.
All these things aside, I have been with this company for less than a year and I can honestly say that I have good days (Today actually) and bad days. More often than not the bad out number the good. To say a few good things about Mesa, the guys I have had the honor of working with have been top notch for the most part. A few have really saved my backside a few times. It is nice to know that since you cant trust management here that you can trust your fellow workers.

Well , I am not about to correct all those grammatical error's so good luck

XtremeF150