Originally Posted by jheath

No I believe it, and that's why I said I can at least speak for myself. I mean, that's fine with me if people are delusional. It doesn't affect me really. I think another troubling mindset that a couple guys in my interview had were "Hey, I'll go anywhere. No matter what, it beats instructing." Well, that's not necessarily true, and it's mindsets like that which drive the whole industry down when you get 20 year old kids willing to fly a jet for 16K a year because "anything beats instructing." Well, I instructed for a while (Chinese guys at that), worked mainline ops, and now I fly a Caravan 135, and as much as I want to break into the 121 world, I don't mind my current job, so I'm not willing to sell my soul to do it. I'm coming to Colgan/Mesaba not because I'm looking for some magical one year upgrade that will never happen, but because it seems like a place with a good contract, decent movement and growth potential, and a place I could tolerate while waiting 4 years to upgrade. I think Eagle is another place like that, but the divestiture makes me nervous. Anyway, the bottom line is it doesn't matter to me if guys coming here think they're going up upgrade in a year. Worst case scenario, they finally realize the reality that being a real-life airline pilot with the stripes and the fancy luggage isn't all they dreamed it to be. And around their 3rd year in the right seat when they get sick of that commute and waiting out 4 hour ground stops and they quit, that's movement by attrition for the rest of us.

I guess my point is there are those of us out there who have been around the industry enough to understand the pitfalls and realities of this job but are still excited to come aboard and not just because "anything is better than [insert current job here]."