Confusedpilot

Hey all,

Just looking for some insight/opinions regarding the 737s and QOL associated with them.

Currently sat on a CJO from a regional with no training date or the option to come onboard with kalitta on the 737.

Would be great to hear from someone currently on the 737, if they could give me the good and the bad.

Thanks in advance.

Excargodog

The two most in-demand type ratings worldwide are probably the 737 and the A320. But it all depends on what you want in life. But if you want an aviation career, particularly one in the 121 world, a resume with 737 hours on it will do you a whole lot more good than one saying I spent this six months waiting for a class to open up so I could get a type in a CRJ/ERJ.

Hiring is currently going great guns but will eventually taper off to just replacing retirees (which will still be pretty good for another half decade), but seniority number is the name of the game.

Anyplace you can get turbine hours is better than sitting on your butt waiting for the regionals to get their CA shortage under control and then waiting ANOTHER six months until you get senior enough to compete effectively for the limited SIC hours available because of the CA shortage. Getting a 737 type would be icing on the cake.

Go for wherever you can get the most hours the quickest.

Pumperpilot

Check the Kalitta Charters II subject line

JungleJetDriver

I’m not sure what folks at Kalitta Charters II (72 & 73) are doing or are capable of doing. But some here at Kalitta Air (74 & 77) have found that PSA, SkyWest, Envoy and anywhere else’s numbers add up to better QOL and $$$. Depending on your background, experience, criminal record, it won’t take long at a place like PSA or Piedmont to quickly run through the file and rank to move on to a legacy. I think if you’re just wanting the 73 type, I’d wait for Delta, AA, United or Southwest to pay you for that type. Go where you can build quality time both (SIC & PIC), get some quality training and then start thinking about Boeing and airbus types.

goinaround

Yeah, just a short time ago it might have been a smart move to grab a 737 type for the resume in hopes of boosting your value to a major carrier. Times are changing rapidly. Im meeting a lot of young folks who spent a little time at a regional, finished IOE at an LCC, and are classing up at their major of choice shortly after. I think the regional is the better move. And most certainly pays better.

Excargodog

Which would be fine if you can get a regional that will:
a. Give you a reasonably close class date
and then
b. Actually fly you

the problem is, many regionals right now have a ton of CJOs out and keep slipping class dates because they don’t have the CAs necessary to fly a full schedule. Which means that although you HAVE a CJO you may wait for months (in some times as many as 10 months) before they bring you on board and once they do you sit reserve at 20-30 block hours a month because they’ve still got more FOs senior to you than they have CAs and it isn’t getting better because the DEC supply is drying up and the lifers are attriting out of the system as fast as they are upgrading their own FOs.

Today the quickest path to a legacy seems to be to get hired anywhere you can actually get turbojet time WHERE THEY WILL ACTUALLY FLY YOU, then hop to an LC/ULCC that will pick you up with a barely dry type rating and a few hundred hours of turbine SIC, fly your butt off there (where they NEED FOs because they are losing so many to the legacies and then jump to a legacy yourself when you have 1000 turbine.

Read the regional threads for Republic and Skywest and you’ll see how badly they are slipping classes.

cfii2007

Any idea what the expected pay would be like in the Lear of Falcon??