Fonzo

Ok, I have a total of 4000 hours, 2900 of those are helicopter hours, 1100 fixed wing, 800 hours of those are jet hours on EMB-135/145 Legacy.
Would appreciate some golden advise from you guys as I will be making a big transition.
Q1. Is NetJet a good choice over regionals for start up (had the good pay of NJA in mind over low pay regionals)
Q2. Would flying for Netjets get me in the majors or Legacies after say 500-1000 hours part 135 rather than 1000 part 121
Q3. What is the best and shortest way airline to fly for to get to the mainline.
Q4. Which Aircraft would NJA put me on with my experience
Q5. Is the interview for regionals as hard as the material they send and do you have to know all of it
Thank you so much in advance!

DarkSideMoon

Q1- I made 96k my first year at the regionals, likely 75k my second year and then back up to the high 90’s- 115ish third year. Not sure what NetJets is paying but it’s hardly low pay at the regionals now.
Q2 no idea
Q3 no “shortest way” or “guaranteed way” anywhere. Flow at an AA wholly owned is looking like 6-8 years if nothing happens. Common mantra is if you have a degree and a clean record go to whatever regional will let you upgrade quickest and build 1000 121 TPIC.
Q4 no idea
Q5 depends on the regional. The more desirable, the tougher the interview. Some places will hire you if you can fog a mirror.

Marko

I would not recommend NetJets if your goal is Major airlines. It's possible, but a much tougher hill to climb.

MWilliams

Q1. Is NetJet a good choice over regionals for start up (had the good pay of NJA in mind over low pay regionals) If you want to spend your career at a fractional go to NetJets. If you want to fly for a legacy go to the regionals. To get the most out of your time at NetJets you need to plan on staying 10+ years minimum.

Q2. Would flying for Netjets get me in the majors or Legacies after say 500-1000 hours part 135 rather than 1000 part 121. Going from NetJets to a lava you can be done, but it is not as easy as some people think. If you want to fly 121 go to the regionals.

Q3. What is the best and shortest way airline to fly for to get to the mainline. Regionals

Q4. Which Aircraft would NJA put me on with my experience. New hires are going to the phenom, XLS, Latitude, sovereign and an occasional X.

WiskeyTango

regional. Bonus points for one with a quick upgrade and/or flow through program.

David Puddy

With your Legacy experience I would apply to Piedmont (E145s) and go for the flow-through to American. Go for any regional with a flow-through program if you want a good shot at a legacy.

AirBear

NetJets isn't a bad career but it's not a very good stepping stone to the majors. SouthWest seems to like our pilots, quite a few have gone there and a handful have got on with UPS and FedEx. Very few to Delta, American, UAL. Also the LCC's like Spirit have picked up a few of our guys.

Like everyone else in this thread says, fastest way to a major is via flow thru from a regional. Buddy of mine who's a Captain at AA just had his son get hired there out of a regional. Kid will be like the 3rd youngest on the seniority list or something close to that. Can put in over 35 years there. AA even let my buddy inform his son about being hired, I thought that was a nice touch.

MOGuy

Do you have any higher education or other resume boosters? From another post I made of another individual asking a similar question;

.....I’ll lay this out for you as well. I’m at busy charter and I had always planned to move on after x years here to a major. It’s not impossible and many current legacy/SWA/JB/Spirit pilots came from my company. With that said you will need a far superior resume than your average regional line pilot. A BS isn’t a guarantee these days either. You need volunteer, leadership positions, and probably more flight time and TPIC than the run of the mill 121 pilot. I love working for this company and we have a great culture and tons of fun flying but I myself am even starting my Masters Degree online this fall bc I know I need to be way above the average regional 121 Captain. Food for thought along your journey as flight time and a BS don’t seem to be the golden ticket anymore. .....

Good luck with you decision!

chase

Don’t limit yourself to one 135 operation, I.e NJ...consider other decent size “fractional”. I am at XOJETS, just started..smaller pilot force than the two Larry (NJ/FJ) but upgrades are quicker and culture is superb. Great record of pilots being hired by other big carriers, particularly SWA. Good luck..PM if you want more info.

JTwift

It’s be nice if there were 135 operators who didn’t have 7-8 day schedule blocks.