Originally Posted by
Bustin
Just keep in mind a lot of careers require you to pay your dues. Right now conditions are far less than ideal for airline pilots so things aren't good across the board. Those crappy airlines are still going to get staffed. If you can't get on anywhere else that may be your only option. If you get on with that ideal regional then you're lucky. A lot of indications point to the fact that the worst is over for this industry so upgrade times should be on the downhill soon.
FlyJSH, your 12-18 month upgrade expectation may have been realistic at the time you got hired but that is less than the industry average even in good times. You'd have been lucky to upgrade that quickly. Of course, 4 years used to be considered a long upgrade time at a regional! Your timing for employment just happened to be terrible. Did you ever consider Virgin America? It sounds like you have the time (I hear they're flexible on the PIC turbine) and they're still looking at upgrade times that would seem to meet your standards. Not to mention consistent growth over the next couple years (assuming all goes well). Of course, you'd have to move to NY or CA to avoid a commute. Being from Texas I can't imagine either of those sound too intriguing to you! Wouldn't blame you, I'm from CA.
You missed his point... STOP thinking about fast upgrades, go somewhere that you could work for more than just 3 years... An is not a 20% reduction in pay... GL is almost half the pay when compared to other regionals... If we as young pilots keep the mentality that we wont care about quality of life and what they pay us as long as we get the turbine PIC... guess what Great Lakes will not get a new contract and will continue to treat pilots like crap. This isn't the 90's... Major Carriers and Legacy carriers don't have their doors wide open for hire, and are waiting for you to have your 3,000TT and 1,000 Turbine PIC to hire you... There are is a surplus of pilots currently and there won't be a surplus anytime soon... Look at the way the airlines are doing business... Airline mergers = bad for pilots, less competition = less frequency, and this means less pilots... Is about time that you guys start thinking more than just about Aerodynamics when choosing a job... Maybe look at Politics, Economics, and Business. Look at the overall spectrum. Also 1,000 PIC is a way to separate the masses, the 4 year degree will also be a player.