Leave Great Lakes for an RJ operator?
 

I am a Great Lakes B1900D Captain. I have 1000TPIC, and zero jet time.

I have thought about leaving Great Lakes and flying for an RJ operator (Eagle, Rupblic, SkyWest, XJet) for the Jet experience, which of course would be SIC.

I cant decide what the best resume would be. Say, 2000 TPIC in a B1900D, VS 1000 TPIC in the 1900 & 1000 SIC in the CRJ or ERJ?

I am very thankful for the PIC time and the experience I have at Great Lakes. I love the B1900 and its a blast to fly. However it is nothing like the equipment at the majors. Its not a jet, not swept wing, no FMS, no ACARS, no APU, no Autopilot.

I'm tempted to think that it might be a better career move to get experience in a swept wing, glass cockpit jet to supplement my old school turboprop time. But, maybe I am just letting my sjs get to me...

Thoughts?

I don't think it could hurt. Probably best to find a regional that allows you to live in your base and is relatively stable. We had a lakes CA come over to eagle a couple of years ago as well.

I would just apply to mainlines, honestly. Repub, UAL, Delta, etc... If/Whenever they hire, apply away, and keep that AirlineApps.com form updated weekly. Try Compass. That'd be a good place to go. Still a regional, and you won't have a guaranteed interview unlike the guys who were hired pre august 2011 I believe, but at least you can get some darn good recommendations to go into Delta mainline. Plus, Delta usually picks guys from Compass first. You also get a swanky PIC type in the E170/175. Just one of many options.

Republic? I thought you said "apply to mainline"?

I'd be leery about giving up PIC 121 time for an RJ FO gig since in my opinion, 1000 TPIC is about the minimum needed to make you competitive. If your going to make the jump, I'd target companies like Allegiant, Virgin, etc as well as the legacies. You'd get the experience you're looking for and it most likely won't be viewed as a lateral move. Easier said than done, I know.

Lakes to a better jet regional would not be considered lateral.

Not to say it doesn't happen, but most majors aren't beating down doors to hire B1900 CA's. If you know someone, that's a whole different story, but if you're applying sight unseen there are ten thousand RJ captains applying for the same jobs.

Unless you're happy w/ pay/benefits/QOL at Lakes some RJ SIC would probably help your odds...you'll have glass, jet and TPIC tickets punched, just not all at once. Lakes pay is baaad...you'll do better better as a second-year RJ FO at SKW.

Agree 100%... Unless you have a tight connection , Turbo prop to a Legacy airline is very few and far between.....

Like another guy said, try Allegiant, Spirit, JB, VA........ more often than not they'll like the fact that although you have 1000 PIC your not hugely competative for a Legacy without some jet time... And if you don't hear from a Legacy right away, atleast your at a place you can eventually make pretty good money...

Worst case, try for a better regional where QOL/pay is a bit better than Lakes....with some jet time and 1000 PIC you'll be more competative.. 2000PIC in a 1900 is not much better than 2000 in a King Air these days.... It's very very competative out there..

Don't do it!! Regionals suck, everybody is at a regional and none of these guys are getting hired at mainline or anywhere else unless you know somebody. Fact is RJ flying is a cakewalk and creates very lazy and complacent pilots, HR depts know this and I think assign a greater weight to candidates who have truly earned there time through blood, sweat, tears and dirty underwear.

I am a recovering RJ FO of 5 years, I was lucky enough to get out and lots of doors have opened since. Do yourself a favor and don't follow the lemmings off the RJ cliff.

I appreciate everyones response and opinions. I feel like the question I posted is getting about a 50/50 response from everyone I ask, on this forum and elsewhere.

Seems like everyone agrees that getting on with a place like Frontier or Allegiant would be a far better move than with SkyWest or ExpressJet. Makes sense.

I still feel like the lack of jet time will prevent me from moving directly to a major, no matter how much hiring they will be doing in the next few years.

Also, the B1900 is nothing like a Q400 or a larger, more sophisticated T-Prop. The Q400 at least has glass cockpit and an FMS. The 1900 is similar to an EMB120, but most Brasilia captains are at Skywest and probably all of them have CRJ time, which I do not, making me less competitive than them...

What about the total time issue? Great Lakes is running really short upgrade times right now. We have guys upgrading in less than a year. That upgrade time is great at all, but it means you could get your 1000 TPIC and only havw 2500TT. Where most regional airline captains are not getting their PIC time until they have at least 3-4,000 hours. I personally have under 4000 TT.

Its a rocky business....and only a couple are hiring right now but the ACMI companies, Atlas, Kalitta, Omni have all hired GL guys in the past, we have several here at K4. Atlas is accepting apps and probably hiring again in the spring, and Omni was interviewing at least as of a few weeks ago. But yes as to the OPs original question... certainly a move to an RJ operator wouldnt hurt... HORIZON in the PACNW is hiring.....that would be a good move in my opinion as well, though some might disagree.