future747captain

Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum, I've been reading posts for quite a while and I've seen a lot of great information.
My question is: I'm about to graduate college with a 4 year degree in aviation, I'm considering going down to New Mexico and going through Mesa's PACE program, I'm wondering if anyone has any input on whether the program is worth the $12,000 or any opinions on the Mesa Air Group carriers. Any info would be appreciated.

Vader

$12000.00 for 10 hours of multi time and 38 hours of RJ sim training that will take over 4 months? No thanks.
For example ATP offers RJ training for less than half of what Mesa is asking, and for the 10 hours of ME time, you can get that for less than $1500.00 at most schools or FBOs.

Nimrod

Hey future747 I have been looking at the PACE program as well after a captain on a RJ had told me about his experience. I have been talkin to them to see what it is all about...have you found out any good info??

otter

I have a friend that did the pace thing. He got the right seat of a CRJ at 325 TT!!! He now has around 1200 hours. He told me on the phone the other night that mesa sucks, and he does not like working there. He also said that if he could do it agian, he would do what I did and be a CFI. P.F.T. is not that well liked amoung most airlines. He feels a little airline locked. But, on the other side of the coin. He flys a CRJ 200 and 900 and I fly a Twin Otter. I hope this helps, I'm sure you'll find people that love the PACE thing and Mesa. Good luck!!!!

nwa757

I am in the same situation as Nimrod and Future747Capt.

290 hours TT, doing some instructing now but its very slow. Will have my BS in aviation in December.

I am going to interview for PACE on september 15- and check the program out. If it doesnt feel right I'm not going to do it- but I've got some scholarships that will help fund it if I do decide to do it. This is one of the only reasons I am considering it.

PACE was recommended to me by a NWA A330 captain I worked with while interning at NWA. His son got into the RJ with less that 300 hours and is building quality time, not single engine piston time.

Seniority is everything in the airlines and the quicker you can build the turbine PIC time, the better. We all only have so much time before we turn 60.

I found a lot of good insights on PACE on the forums on jetcareers.com and mesalounge.com I would recommend those- but take them with a grain of salt. There are a lot of complainers about MESA out there--- and I think that they are the 10% of the workforce that does 100% of the complaining- spoiled brats perhaps? I dont know- I would love to be in their seat and they would love to get out of it.

Any other thoughts? Disagreements?

Kill Bill

pay-for-training!

airline management LOVES you guys!

Pilotpip

Yes, thank you for bringing the pay scales down for all of us.

Is flying a jet really that exciting when you know that you could make more at Burger King?

SkyHigh

Hey, in this industry where a new hire FO will earn around 18K his first year, we all pay for our jobs. I would rather pay with cash than to waste years at some dangerious and lower paying employer. Anything one can do to shorten the pain is smart.

Kill Bill

yep, spoken like a true "airline saver". we had a bunch of guys at CAL just like you in 1983-1985 who just wanted to "shorten the pain"... they were called scabs.

SAABDriver

if you are at 260 hours just get moving on flying. Apply to every flight school around...hang at the airport buy yourself some time before you drop 10 grand on a sur-real "airline" enviornment. You can get picked up by a lot of companies at 600-800 TT.

enjoy getting some experience and have some fun doing it. don't pay someone else for your time.....

p