Originally Posted by
Senior Skipper
I'm a CFI and I see guys every day saying they can't wait to go to airlines like colgan, because you upgrade quickly and get turboprop time. With that type of mentality, they'll never fly anything bigger than a turboprop.
Me? I'd rather wait a bit more and build by experience then go to a "less bad" regional. I wonder why they fail to wonder "hmmm (bad regional) requires a CMEL, (less bad) regional requires 1000TT...I wonder why"
Hey Mr. CFI...
First get your facts straight... Colgan requires more than just a CMEL in fact right now competitive mins are 1500TT and 300ME. Whats wrong with flying a turboprop? Have you flown one or better yet do you have turbojet time to compare with? Just because people fly turboprops it doesn't keep them from moving on to bigger and better things.... I have friends who are in the corporate world flying GIV's and GV's after driving a B1900. Lets see... there are plenty of former Colgan pilots at World, Airtran, Spirit, Continental, and even a few at Southwest. Can you explain to me how they seemed to move along if they had your above stated mentality?
Just remember that Colgan still flies regional aircraft on regional routes.... the same cannot be said for companies like Compass, Republic, Skywest, Expressjet, and Comair to name a few.... sure they are great companies to work for but they don't have what I want in a company.
I enjoy knowing the people I work with on a first name basis. I enjoy being in my own bed every night. I enjoy living where I live and not having to worry about commuting.
Now that I have submitted my rebuttal I dare you to try and justify you original post.