I am a state government pilot flying a Navajo, making $66,000 per year with a family and I am home every night. That being said, would I be completely brain dead if I considered AW? (And, I would have to commute to a crew base.) I am asking because they sent me an invitation to interview last night. Thanks.

 

Ok, thank you. Do you happen to know how fast folks are upgrading?

 

Junior captain is probably 4-5 years on the seniority list.

 

Thank you. I really appreciate that!

 

I'll go ahead and say you may be a little brain dead. Depends in what you want overall.
Steady job at 66k, any chance of advancement in the current job? Being home every night is something that sometimes weights more than $$.
Having a family, hope you have another income or a lot in savings. First year is near 28-30k I think? Plan on 35-50k for a few years until you upgrade and make over 80k.

Aside from money, commuting usually eats up a day on one side, sometimes two of a trip. Trips are three-four days normally.
Where do you plan to commute from? All bases are easily attainable.

The lure of being an airline pilot, the fanciness of a shiny jet last for maybe a year or less. After that it becomes a schedule and paycheck like any other job.

Most people here are cool, and everybody is generally happy. Contract is better than average, future is somewhat grey. We have an extension to fly for aa until, Feb/2018. Will we close after that? I doubt it, nobody knows the future any where really. Most people here aren't worried.

Interview is professional, just go and be yourself. see if its something you'd be into. If you have any questions let us know brother man

 

I sure do appreciate that! I live in Lexington, KY. We do have pretty regular air service to those crew bases. Currently, I am pretty well maxed-out in pay and the flying is slowing down. There has been a lot more time to catch up on my reading recently! I will think about this. I do appreciate your feedback!

 

If you can look beyond a regional, do so. There's nothing wrong with Air Wisconsin but the industry stinks and QOL is weak at a regional unless you live in domicile. Commuting is miserable and a two leg commute even more so.

It's not a bad place to get some 121 time, something a lot of airlines want. But the idea of working the airlines does get dull quickly. It's a business and everything is designed to keep costs low.

If I were you I'd look at some of the larger non-regional carriers in addition to the regionals. Try JetBlue or Frontier (among others probably). They would be superior in most ways to working at a contract carrier. Just my $.02.

 

Awesome ideas! Thanks!

 

My fourth year starts next April...and that is when I expect to upgrade...I thought it was going to be December but they downshifted recently.

So now I am estimating later winter early spring...I am about 65 away from the upgrade.

 

Of course that estimate is totally dependent upon how many planes we park/replace.