Originally Posted by rickair7777 (Post 885129)

Airlines and corporate are mostly two separate tracks. It's possible to cross over, regionals do not normally lead to corporate jobs and corporate jobs do not normally lead to major airlines.

The term "corporate" covers a wide range. The upper end (the "career goal") is flying a large or mid cabin long-range jet like a Gulfstream. The entry level is usually something like a part 91 or 135 310, Caravan, or maybe King Air flying. One thing about corporate is you can often network while a CFI and take the next step at your home patch. After that would be citations, and so on. There is no clearly defined path and with good connections it's possible to skip steps if you (or your boss) can afford the type, and his insurance will go for it.

Major airlines prefer regional or military guys over corporate because they like folks who are used to to doing multiple legs, day in and day out. Some corporate pilots will fly to a great location, eat, drink, and golf on the boss's account, and then fly one leg home.

High-tier corporate employers prefer corporate pilots because airline guys are not used to doing a lot of preparation, flight-planning, fueling, concierge service, etc and may have a bare-minimum customer interaction skill set (Bu-Bye!). Also they generally recoil at the idea of doing lav service.

It is possible that a few thousand hours at a regional could help you bypass some corporate insurance requirements, but if your long-term goal is corporate you had better keep your networking going full-bore while doing the airline thing. Otherwise it might be hard to go back.

Originally Posted by soakingpilot (Post 1546479)

So just to quickly get back on track here but, is going to a 121 regional really the end of the corporate flying track? I have previously been flying bush planes in Africa for the past two years and I can understand the concept of interaction with your clients but clearly the experience gained flying a 30-40 ton Jet/FMS/etc cant be something that detracts away from a Cj2 and the likes. Would be nice to know because I always thought corp might just be the ticket for me.

Originally Posted by soakingpilot (Post 1546479)

So just to quickly get back on track here but, is going to a 121 regional really the end of the corporate flying track?

Originally Posted by BoilerUP (Post 1546588)

The industry has evolved a pretty good amount since the early 90s when this really hit, and there are a number of pilots out there in bizav with a 121 background.