Air Wisconsin still a good choice?
 

Hey all. Longtime lurker here in the homestretch of ATP hour-building. I’m projecting to have my hours by the end of summer/early fall and am preparing to submit applications and start interviewing. I’m curious what your opinions are of coming to Air Wisconsin at this point.

My situation is that my wife got a job offer in Columbia, SC last year and we moved down here for her work. I was able to switch from my CFI job to a commutable survey gig and moved with her. We now own a house here and will be living here for at least the next 5-10 years. Ever since Air Wisconsin announced their CAE base opening up it seemed like a clear choice against my other options. PSA has CLT but would take a bit of time to get based at and a lot longer to hold a line. Same story with Endeavor and ATL. Nothing else is all that commutable with only one or two flights a day from CAE to all other destinations (except 3 to ORD).

I’m 31 years old and prior-enlisted military so kind of an early career changer. No kids and I’m trying to advance my career as fast as possible right now. The thought of living in base and being able to build hours and upgrade quicker makes Air Wisconsin seem like a pretty solid bet. My only concern is some of the negative discussion I’ve seen (as well as PSA’s recent pay increase) which have made me wonder if choosing Air Wisconsin simply for the CAE base is the right move. The hiring of Binns as CEO appeared to not be the best news and I know that outstation bases in this industry can come and go with little warning.

I’m aware the future is impossible to predict, especially when it comes to regionals. I’m simply wondering what some of you would do in my shoes if you wouldn’t mind chiming in. Thanks a lot for any advice, opinions, or wisdom. It’s greatly appreciated.

If you already live there go for it. Having to commute to just about every job will suck out of Columbia due to the limited number and large spacing between flights. The pay isn’t that bad if you average the bonus into the first 2 years along will all the soft pay. You should be off reserve pretty past and have decent schedule in no time. Oh, and no commute.. that’s a win in itself

You live in a junior base and your wife has a career! It can’t get better. I have the same deal going in MKE. It’s awesome to live in base. CA reserve is a piece of cake.

Commuting is a nightmare. Live in base and life is good.

Thanks for the input, everyone. Definitely helps reinforce the decision.

Commuting sucks. I did it for 19 years between three airlines. I live 1:30 from CAE and have chosen to drive down I-77 while listening to Pandora radio and relaxing knowing the stress of commuting no longer exists for me.
I’d say go for it.


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Think carefully about that decision. Air Wisconsin is back to doing the stuff they did to people a few years back not that they ever stopped I would say don’t take the bonus and find another employer to go with unless you like low training pay and being washed out of training for no apparent reason there is a lot of shady crap that goes on with that company and they try and scare people not to post on here if you do they will come after you for libel and slander. Oh well.

The people and crews are great to work with but I wouldn’t trust management PERIOD.

Uh, you speaking from personal experience I assume? Or is this you heard this from a friend of a friend whose second cousin’s friend didn’t study and failed out? Jw 🤷*♂️

And here come the defenders. Hey speaking from a few personal experiences. You must study to make through, yes but don’t get sick, or fly Boeing equipment overseas and even though you nailed everything in CPT you get a call wanting you to resign for????? There are other examples but I’m here to warn people to go in with your eyes wide open or don’t go in at all. Hey I liked it, but I had an issue with them that clearly violated the contract and we i and the union tried to resolve it they told us to pound sand. I made onto someones’ fecal list and parted ways with them. Others mileage may vary

Today’s research topic: can writing skills be used to predict success in a Part 121 training program?