Skywest offer: what to take, Bro or CRJ?
04-12-2014, 06:45 PM
#41
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,197
If you like to fly, go Bro. If you want to sit for hours on end with the auto pilot on watching the captain play candy crush on his iPhone, take the RJ. The majors don't care, turbine is turbine. Period.
I'd take a Beech 99 over any RJ if it meant sitting reserve from home vice commuting to a crash pad. Commuting sucks, commuting to sit reserve at a pad sucks more. How guys do it on regional FO pay is amazing.
I'd take a Beech 99 over any RJ if it meant sitting reserve from home vice commuting to a crash pad. Commuting sucks, commuting to sit reserve at a pad sucks more. How guys do it on regional FO pay is amazing.
04-12-2014, 07:11 PM
#42
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Thread Starter
Joined APC: Apr 2014
Position: RJ right-seat warmer
Posts: 632
Originally Posted by Electra
Here's the thing, though. There are currently 32 people waiting to either transfer or transition to CRJ SFO, and nearly all of them will be off seatlock by the time you start in September. That will require almost 45% of the base to turn over right now. In the meantime, that junior FO will probably stay as the plug on the list for quite some time as people senior to him transition in. On the flip side, as people transition out or upgrade, your seniority on the EMB tends to only go up, thus getting you off reserve quickly (which you want, because it is not fun, either). Coincidentally, there is currently a 2-year MSP FO waiting to transition down to EMB SFO. Wonder why that might be...
The jet is a nice plane, but at the end of the day, it's still just a plane. A lot of people look down on the turbo prop, but it ought to be a badge of honor that you've flown it. Most of the strongest pilots I've flown with came flew the Bro first. Best flying in the system, too. And the question you keep asking that no one has addressed, is NO, not having thousands of hours in an RJ will not hamper your career progress. The one and only Delta pilot I know personally never flew the RJ while he was here. I know more Bro pilots who went to Southwest than RJ pilots. I know a lot of RJ pilots who were turned down by Southwest, though! At the end of the day, quality of life trumps all. The pain and suffering you will experience trying to commute halfway across the country will in no way be dampened by the excitement of putting on the autopilot on an RJ, particularly when you'll be doing it to overnight in Duluth and Iron Mountain. In the winter. You'll make as much or more being able to drive to work, flying with kick-butt captains, getting schooled by the mighty EMB learning how to really FLY an airplane and overnighting in Santa Barbara and Monterey. So check your ego at the gate, and enjoy a few years on the turboprop, then transition in to lineholder status on the jet in SFO and keep on driving to work.
The jet is a nice plane, but at the end of the day, it's still just a plane. A lot of people look down on the turbo prop, but it ought to be a badge of honor that you've flown it. Most of the strongest pilots I've flown with came flew the Bro first. Best flying in the system, too. And the question you keep asking that no one has addressed, is NO, not having thousands of hours in an RJ will not hamper your career progress. The one and only Delta pilot I know personally never flew the RJ while he was here. I know more Bro pilots who went to Southwest than RJ pilots. I know a lot of RJ pilots who were turned down by Southwest, though! At the end of the day, quality of life trumps all. The pain and suffering you will experience trying to commute halfway across the country will in no way be dampened by the excitement of putting on the autopilot on an RJ, particularly when you'll be doing it to overnight in Duluth and Iron Mountain. In the winter. You'll make as much or more being able to drive to work, flying with kick-butt captains, getting schooled by the mighty EMB learning how to really FLY an airplane and overnighting in Santa Barbara and Monterey. So check your ego at the gate, and enjoy a few years on the turboprop, then transition in to lineholder status on the jet in SFO and keep on driving to work.
One thing, though. I don't remotely 'look down on' the turboprop. Not at all. I do have a bit of turbine time, all in all-glass bizjets (SIC type on the CL-30 (Challenger 300), plus a bunch of unloggable time flying CJ's as sole manipulator, but without a type, therefore rendering the time unloggable.) Those jets were vastly easier to fly than, say, the turbocharged piston twins that fill up quite a few hours in my logbook. CJ vs. Seneca III, in the flight levels? CJ is a baby carriage compared to nursing those temperamental TSIO-360s, that's for sure.
I believe that the jets are easier to learn, systems-wise, and that you typically do significantly less manual flying as opposed to the t-prop. Part of me was hoping for the jet so I'd have a slightly smaller firehose to drink from during ground school. Definitely not a question of me looking down on the turboprop ;-)
And thank you for answering the question about how the majors will perceive turbofan vs. turboprop time. Very helpful.
You've all been making the same point, and making it eloquently, and you're all speaking with plenty of experience. Makes the decision pretty easy. I really do appreciate it.
(Not to throw a wrench in the works, though, but I will say that OO's decision to pull out of 2 SFO Bro-served markets (MOD and LMT), plus the financial filing that forecasts a significant reduction in the amount of Bros on property...does worry me a bit. Anyone else feel that way?)
04-12-2014, 07:19 PM
#43
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,464
like the sapa president said in class last week
Paraphrased:
When I got here over 10 years ago there was talk of the Brasilia leaving within 2 years. Here we are today with over 40 Brasilias and no sign of stopping. Don't let the rumors fool you, we make too much money on the Brasilia to drop them all.
and I will add this: I don't know how much we pay to play on the bros, but the rj200 loads I've checked usually average 70-80lbs of fuel per seat while the bro constantly averages less than 50lbs of fuel per seat. Combined with at risk flying, it's easy to see how we can make money on them
Paraphrased:
When I got here over 10 years ago there was talk of the Brasilia leaving within 2 years. Here we are today with over 40 Brasilias and no sign of stopping. Don't let the rumors fool you, we make too much money on the Brasilia to drop them all.
and I will add this: I don't know how much we pay to play on the bros, but the rj200 loads I've checked usually average 70-80lbs of fuel per seat while the bro constantly averages less than 50lbs of fuel per seat. Combined with at risk flying, it's easy to see how we can make money on them
04-28-2014, 09:09 PM
#44
On Reserve
Joined APC: May 2013
Posts: 21
Kfahmi,
I'm glad you've made this thread. I just interviewed and accepted a Bro position at SkyWest too! I also have an offer to fly a jet for another carrier, but I'm going to stick with the turboprop. A good buddy reminded me that it's going to be some of the best flying of my career, and the last time I checked, I got into this business for that kind of fun.
I'm definitely feeling like I made the right choice after reading these responses, thanks for the input.
I'm glad you've made this thread. I just interviewed and accepted a Bro position at SkyWest too! I also have an offer to fly a jet for another carrier, but I'm going to stick with the turboprop. A good buddy reminded me that it's going to be some of the best flying of my career, and the last time I checked, I got into this business for that kind of fun.
I'm definitely feeling like I made the right choice after reading these responses, thanks for the input.
04-28-2014, 09:43 PM
#45
Gets Weekends Off
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Apr 2014
Position: RJ right-seat warmer
Posts: 632
Originally Posted by nikdue22
Kfahmi,
I'm glad you've made this thread. I just interviewed and accepted a Bro position at SkyWest too! I also have an offer to fly a jet for another carrier, but I'm going to stick with the turboprop. A good buddy reminded me that it's going to be some of the best flying of my career, and the last time I checked, I got into this business for that kind of fun.
I'm definitely feeling like I made the right choice after reading these responses, thanks for the input.
I'm glad you've made this thread. I just interviewed and accepted a Bro position at SkyWest too! I also have an offer to fly a jet for another carrier, but I'm going to stick with the turboprop. A good buddy reminded me that it's going to be some of the best flying of my career, and the last time I checked, I got into this business for that kind of fun.
I'm definitely feeling like I made the right choice after reading these responses, thanks for the input.
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