well said Josh. I've met a lot of legacy drivers that wonder when I'm heading to the airline world - prolly won't ever. Almost feel looked down on when I give that answer. But the truth of the matter is, each flight I go on is to a different country and airport and what an adventure it is. I don't mind the extra duties involved in corporate because my QOL is outstanding as well. I really do feel for all the turmoil going on in the industry, but on the corporate side, if you find a great gig don't look back.

 

Unfair, but unfortunately true.

 

That's too bad. I know not everyone is a dependable person, but if you get a young guy that isn't an idiot I'd say that's a great investment. He'll be around for 20 years instead of 15 or whatever.

 

While I'm "only" 40ish, I found it hard to get interviews with regionals (forget about anyone bigger) with 10 years corp and 135 experience. At one interview with one of the "better" regionals, the CA at the interview said, "Why the hell are you here?" I left the interview wondering why I thought I wanted to work for them.

 

Yep, a pretty stupid question indeed. Or maybe not stupid, but asked in a poor fashion. But think about his, maybe he just wanted to know how you'd react when asked, not really the answer. Because the truth of the matter is, if you would have gotten that job, it would be asked by the guys you flew with. Again, and again, and again. By guys a lot younger than you, and probably less experienced than you.

If you gave an answer he liked, it would probably factor into his decision as to whether or not he could fly a 4 day trip, or even a whole month with you.

If he didn't care for the answer, well, that would probably sway his answer the other direction.

It's not until recently that airline interviews were the "touchy-feely we just want to get to know you type". Ask anybody that interviewed at some of the legacies in the 90's, UAL in particular when NS was running the show. It pretty much defined the term "high stress interview".

 

This is just my opinion and my experience so take it for whatever its worth to you.

I was an RJ pilot then a Chief Pilot for a Legacy and finally ended at Delta, all since late 2005. On the topic of discrimination, I hate to offend anyone but the discrimination was far more on the corporate side. When I was on the regional side we hired a lot of corporate pilots and on the Delta side I was one of two or three corporate guys in my class of 30; so even Delta hires straight Part 91 guys.

In 2005 I interviewed with a major (and I mean one of the top 3) Part 91 operator and during the interview process was told by the person in charge “we don’t hire airline pilots but are glad we met you!” Huh. I found that again after my Legacy crew (all RJ background) got accolades and then within a minute the same person unwittingly told me “we’d never hire an airline pilot.” Huh again. There was a lot of open hostility which was surprising and people never thought twice to trash the airlines while asking me if we had any open spots on our plane.

So, here is my experience. If you are an experienced corporate pilot trying to go to a regional you may find some hostility because they do seem to prefer young malleable pilots that will conform easier than high time turbine pilots set in their ways. Thus if you’re high in turbine time I’ve seen them hesitate. On the corporate side keep in mind someone has to invest in your training and thus they prefer someone typed (sucks I know but I've been on both sides of that and its just the way it'll be). This fear of investing and getting stuck with someone that sucks is why pilots are hired off recommendations so much, so network and never say anything bad about anyone, you might need the recommendation one day. If you are a minority or female you sadly might not be looked at by some corporate operations (mostly the small ones) but you should find that you are openly accepted at the airlines and the large corporate operations. Trust me, in the long run which I know is hard to think about but you're not missing out on anything if someone doesn't want to hire you because of who you are. If you are a young pilot several things could happen ranging from the owner feels you're too young to be any good to they want you because you'll work hard (no family) and are cheap to get. I've noticed that young to most owners is in your mid to upper 20s. If you're 20 don't be too upset if they say no and be really happy if they say yes and use the job to learn as much as possible.

To me, if you want to be a good corporate pilot and get a good job (again a small operator) then you need to STUDY the industry and read the magazines, you need to be a self starter, open minded, wiling to work hard (especially with maintenance), willing to take on all responsibility and able to see the big picture.

Also, if you want to be either an airline pilot or a corporate pilot then make sure you have a well rounded personality (you like things outside of flying), you say “yes sir/ma’am” before you say “what about me or my way,” you enjoy working, and you think constructively before you complain. And make sure in your interview you come across that way, I interviewed a lot of people for a corporate job one time and was shocked by the poor quality of resumes and what people had the audacity to say in an interview... holy cow. I'd rather hire Dwight from The Office as my boss then to hire these people. Keep your resumes clean, concise, and ACT PROFESSIONAL and it'll go along way to overcoming the hostility you will inevitably find trying to break into GA flying from the airlines or vice versa.

 

They proably said that because they were afraid you might go on strike or some other stupid sweeping generality that many uneducated make about airline pilots... who cares, my motto is that if someone turns you down, scew em, they werent worth it anyway