GeeWizDriver

Been away on a remote vacation but my $.02

Background: Scheduled 135, then Fortune 500 corporate, then HNW Individual Chief Pilot, then 23 years and counting at NJ. All the while married to a 121 pilot who got furloughed twice and has a strike pin on her ALPA wings. Seen a lot.

If you are at DL, UAL, SWA, or AA and could hold CA now with 20 to play, IMHO you would be a major fool to leave for ANY fractional and only a slightly lesser fool to leave for NJ.

Even at NJ, you'll be stuck in the right seat of the Phenom or XLS pulling 5-leg, 12+ duty days and min rest overnights for 7 days straight for a minimum of 3-4 years having to depend on OT and FDP to make half of what you presently make and a third of what you would make as a PIC at any legacy. Even if upgrade time does shrink from the current 15 years to 7 or even 5, it will be in that same Phenom or XLS with the same max effort day, every day until you wave the fatigue flag. And your ability to manipulate your schedule will not improve much with seniority.

If you hate the bus driving that much, upgrade to CA, fly every premium time leg you can, pump the paycheck and direct contribution numbers for as long as you can stand it and then pull the pin early. You'll still end up with more money quitting at 55 than you would flying til 70 at NJ. You can always go find some casual 91 King Air retirement gig if you look hard enough and still have the jones to fly.

Just my advice and worth the zero dollars you paid for it...

Crockrocket95

Thats actually a pretty good view. I see some of the younger guys don't mind the 5 legs a day stuff... yet. But that wears you down. I do 3 legs and I am over it, and I am in 121. We do like 1/4 the work to make the airplane leave the chocks.

Years back, I think it was in 2014. I remember sitting in a 135 indoc. An older career 135 guy was going through it as well, and he got to talking with me, finding out I was about 30 years old if that, and he said I was " stupid if I didn't make the move to a major airline". At the time I enjoyed the 135 flying, etc. I had no intention of leaving. But fast forward 2 years maybe 3, I was seeing my friends get hired by major airlines, I saw their schedules, their ability to fly more or less, and I realized maybe he was right. The old guy was damn right.
The pay may be coming up in the 135/ Frac world, but you are gonna be working for it! Remember, all these airlines have contracts that are past due. It'll be interesting to see where everything ends up in about 2 years.

rickair7777

That's the truth... as you get older you will definitely appreciate fewer legs. If you need excitement while you're still young, get a motorcycle.

AntiPeter

I was under the impression NJASAP was just an extension of management, but honestly at times ALPA isn’t much better. With that said the union is a necessity, no doubt.

Pilot4000

Till the economy takes a pooh and the job market evaporates.

FNGFO

One might take a look at succession plans before taking a stab at a career in the fracs as well. One of the well known ones is to be bequeathed to a university who I doubt has much interest in running a fractional jet operation.

Things to think about before signing on.

Brickhut

Post of the century. Having 12 years 135, some 91 and a family member who works for NJ, and now 6 years at a major (ULCC at that), comparing apples to oranges to durian fruit, there truly is no comparison. There are all the big-ticket items mentioned above, but there are a million small things that nobody ever brings up, but add up considerably- having all of your bags beside you in a cockpit seat you can walk into, not having to stand at the FBO counter and ask "you got a fax for three-oh-five-queue-ess?" Not loading bags, not removing drinks in cold weather, not pulling out the suitcase lav, not pulling covers on a shaky ladder in the winter on an icy ramp, not checking oils on same ladder, not waiting for late pax, no airport standby, not having to check ID's, getting to leave the airplane as soon as you block in and letting the FA's deal with the heathens, getting to use a stand-up lav mid-flight and not giving a hoot about inconveniencing the pax, never having to crack open a cold airplane in the wind on a winter's morn, never having to crack open a steamy airplane on the ramp on a warm Houston day, getting your schedule for the month and then saying "F$#K that" and being able to drop/swap/change everything about that schedule, not kissing pax's a$$'s, not saying "tour", Not having to worry if, when arriving to Podunk, TX that the call-out line service will be there, having a hard, locked cockpit door, not having to fly with 70 year olds (kidding! sort of. Ok, I'm not kidding. But totally kidding!), being able to do a walk-around without getting an OJI, not connecting gear pins, etc...

Again, little stuff, but it really does add up.

The fun factor is out the window, though...

germanaviator

I agree with the sentiment here. I'm in Europe but if I lived in the States and could apply to all those great airlines looking for pilots right now, I'm pretty sure I would make a major my career goal. There is no doubt that the majors pay more and the job is easier. Living in base would make it even better. Having said that: I think NJA is a better gig overall than NJE. Both are far from bad jobs but it's hard to beat a U.S. major airline these days.

GeeWizDriver

Absolutely right. The balance sheet leans heavily in favor of staying at the legacy. Why would the OP waste those dues-paying years to start over?

The company has totally blown up whatever “fun factor” there was to this job, especially with some of their recent decisions. I’d be hopping off the mule train myself if I were a bit younger. Too old to bail, too young to retire.

jtf560

NJA is only better to NJE for pay. Your work rules are vastly better and lead to much more reasonable scheduling overall. I understand that it may not seam all that great to those living it, but you would be horrified flying the same airplane under the NJA work rules.