Long time reader, first time poster...

I'm currently a PC-12 and King Air C90 charter pilot with about 1000 hours, 250 turboprop and 150 AMEL. My goal is legacy airline. I fly about 450 hoiurs a year between the job and my personal GA flying. I am under a training contract for $12K currently. At 1500 hours I anticipate having roughly 500 turbine. I should hit ATP mins by this time next year.

I took this job before the airline pay hikes. I was content to make more than a regional FO (at the time) while building my time somewhat slower. The idea was I could stay here till about 1800-2000 hours and then go straight to a major or even a legacy after paying for my own ATP/CTP and possibly even full ATP. Many of my coworkers are doing just that.

Now, things have changed. The airline money is insane, and even regionals are paying way more than I am currently or will ever be making in the future flying the turboprops. So my priority has changed to building flight time a bit faster, if I can. My goal is to skip regionals if at all possible. I don't know how reasonable that is with turboprop time, but I have heard of it happening.

I feel very lucky to have the job that I do at my total time, but I can't help but think there might be a faster way to do it. I was looking at the JSX and Contours of the world, imagining bunkering down for the low pay for 6 months to a year to make captain pay when I hit their upgrade requirements. Even their captain pay would be quite a bit more than I would be getting if I stayed here. The allure of flying a jet as a resume builder is quite strong, if it's worth it. I have shot resumes to a couple more desirable local charter outfits flying jets, but so far it's been crickets. I do not want to relocate, but I could stomach going back to a rotation-based schedule. I've done it before.

Or should I just stick where I'm at for another year, and apply to everyone I can when I hit 1500, then take the best offer that comes my way when the dust settles? I'd likely be applying to, in order of priority, Alaska, Avelo, Frontier, iAero, Breeze, and the assorted regionals with bases in the west half of the country (yuck on the regionals, now that the metering agreements are so nasty).

Am I thinking about the right things here?

Thanks in advance.

 

Tough choices. First world problems to be sure. FAR 121 training and associated flight time would make you more competitive looking at a legacy. If your (91?) time where in jets, I would think staying put would make more sense. Risk and reward; winners take risks and sometimes lose, but you need to play to win, to paraphrase another common quote. If you go to an intermediary job, you risk failure and having that follow you around and explaining it. Your current job, presumably is less risky in that regard. Change in general creates unknown hazards, again no risk no reward. You are in a good place. Just keep in mind that the good times will eventually play out, how and when is anyones guess.

 

So you took this job 7 years ago? Regionals started giving out huge signing bonuses in the mid 2010s. Major airline pay has been high for even longer.

 

Hold out till 1500 and then get 121 rime .

 

You might be able to get a raise with your current employer because they will have to replace you if you leave.

My suggestion is
1) ask for a raise, they say no
2) quit
3) they may reconsider in which case you can have your cake and eat it too. If not move along. (But maybe wait until you have 1200 hours and can take a better 135 captain job)

 

Calling BS on this… I started at AWAC in 2015. No bonus, paid $23/hour. Pay started to improve just prior to COVID, by necessity.

 

You didn’t say how long your training contract is for. You didn’t say if you are logging PIC time. You didn’t say if you had the cash to payoff your contract.

I’d say flight instruct on the side to build time faster. As soon as you have the hours, knock out your ATP and apply to every legacy. You could also attempt to jump to a regional once you qualify for an ATP, but that may or may not help you get where you want faster.

 

Well, 2015 was 8 years ago, not 7. By 2016, several regionals were offering signing bonuses in the $10-40k range. Piedmont was paying for hotels for commuters too.

and even if you want to say the pay didn't go up until 2019, it still proves my point. 121 was paying way more than anything else before the OP took this job.

 

The constant "I want to avoid the regionals"...which is the #1 supplier of pilots to the majors. Why do people think there's some magic opportunity out there that will shortcut the process most use to get to the majors???

Jets are different than turboprops. You're in a small pool if you think the majors are dying to hire PC-12 and King Air pilots. Those aren't the resumes they desire. Do some get hired? Absolutely.

Make some future resumes based on crossing different jobs. Write down what your resume would look like in 2, 3, 4, 5 years if you took the various jobs. Garbage in, garbage out - be realitistic about what flying you'd get, how many hours, how much PIC/TPIC time you'd get, etc, etc. Find out what, or ask, what you think the typical new hire resume is like. Making job choices thinking that you'd get hired by a Big 3 with 1800 hrs TT and no real TPIC totals, no 121 training, no military training, is foolish. You'd make poor choices. You get to probably 3,000 TT, 1000 hrs 121, and you're probably at the lower tier of what the Big 3 are looking for. If you're fortunate enough to ge to Frontier with 1800-2000 hrs go for it. Keep your foot on the gas and keep updating to more desirable airlines as your resume improves. Update at least monthl until you have no plans on ever leaving.

 

How big a pay cut? I took a 60% pay cut from being a corporate trubrporp Captain at 21-23, including a company car WITH a gas card (!!!) to go back to being a commuter FO. Loading bags in the rain... nothing like the cushy regionals jobs that so many want "to avoid" today. Why? The corporate flying dropped from 700 hrs a year to about 300 hrs. The lousy paying job filled a weakness in my resume - I had the TPIC time but my TT was low in comparison. The solution to achieve my long term goals quickest was to take the pay cut. The Captains I was flying for at the regionals had been interviewing to be my FO! "What are you doing here!?" "I don't plan on retiring from either job. It's all about resume improvement." Flew 600 hrs in the next 6 months. 900+ (?) in 10 months. Had enough TT to meet the minimums (2500 TT) of a larger regional airline and went there. The short term pain triggered the next resume improvement.