To Fly or Not To Fly?
 

I flew for Republic Airways from 2007 - 2010. I decided to leave when the industry seemed to take several steps to create stagnation. Such as the age 65 retirement. At the time I only had an Associates Degree and decided it would be a good idea to get a Bachelors degree that would be of some use to me outside of aviation. To make a really long story short I miss flying, not the pay but the flying. I have been reading several articles about the hiring spurt the industry is beginning to see. Just wondering when and if I should jump back in. I have not really decided what to do but I know I do not want to make any moves for at least six months for the timing would be better.

I am really entertaining the thoughts of applying at Express Jet because they have a base in Cleveland and it would work out really well for my wife and I. She is in the medical field and a move to Cleveland would help her in her field.

For any of you Express Jet Drivers, what do you think of the chances of getting hired on the ERJ side of things and then getting CLE as a base? Also what do you see as the future of Express Jet, being 50 seat airplanes and the vibe I get is that 50 seat flying is going to become less of a needed service.

I am just looking for some input from the folks that are doing this every day as I have been behind a desk for awhile now and would like to make an educated guess at the next step in my career.

I have weighed the items that would change such as pay and travel and do realize this would give me a huge pay cut for a few years but if there is movement to the majors I am willing to gamble that.

Thanks for reading! Please leave me some input....

Express jet is hiring like crazy right now. You could probably get it. Sounds like you're a little older? I think the real question is can you deal with working at Regional X for the rest of your career? If not, maybe you should reconsider.

I am 31 and would have no problem working at a regional for the remainder of my career.

At age 31 would I really be subjected to a regional for my whole career?

I'm also making the desk to flying career move. Though I haven't been an airline pilot before...

I wouldn't bet on staying at XJT for a career--the 50 seat days are numbered. Better to go to Compass. Minneapolis isn't that far away from CLE, you'll fly the E-175 and that experience will go farther. Esp. if you ever go overseas to fly or got to JetBlue. At XJT right now, things are a mess. It is a shadow of it's former self of just 5 or 6 years ago. Royal screw-ups right and left, flight cancellations, fights with payroll over getting paid correctly. Contract negotiations are going on and mgmt just asked for ANOTHER 10% cut in pay and cut in benefits. XJT pilots took 7% back in 2008 already. Pilots are livid and saying no more. The writing is on the wall over there--mgmt is going to try and pull a comair if they don't get what they want, even though they all took a 50% plus raise. Also, a lot of 7 yr. FOs waiting to upgrade ahead of you.