Hello...

I am currently flying pt135 as a captain in a Citation excel, have about 4500TT, 2300 Turbine PIC. A few years back I made a decision that I need to leave corporate/135 flying (for a number of reasons), and thus applied, and have kept current, my applications at every major/national.
I have been getting a bit discouraged lately about my prospect of getting an interview. The biggest thing that worries me is that I dont have any 121 time, and I have zero contacts/internal recs with any airline short of Allegiant. I am thinking about maybe trying to get on with a commuter for a while to build up some 121 time and hopefully start meeting some people who could eventually help me land at a decent place. I understand that it is a huge step backwards career-wise but I am willing to make the sacrifice now if it will help me get on with a major in the next couple of years.
Does anyone have any advise they can offer me either way? Anyone else find it hard transitioning from a decent 135/corporate job to the airlines? I have a couple of interviews set up with the regionals but I dont want to waste my time, or suffer taking a massive paycut if it will not help, or even hurt my career chances in the future. Any advise is appreciated, thanks!

 

Learn to spell advice. just kiddin, but really.

 

Opinions are free, and you get what you pay for!! IMO: I would stay at your current job and go to every public meet and greet that you can. Get to know the folks at the job fairs and don't be afraid to network.

If you go backwards, and the majors don't hire due to some "unforeseen" event again...then you will be stuck at a regional. I would not choose that path with a corporate job in hand. OTOH, if your corporate job dissolved, then yes it would make sense to keep current and target regionals.

Always remember that you must have a really good reason (and story) to make a lateral career move. Any lateral, and especially backward career move will be an easy target for an HR rep during an interview. They just don't get it like the Flt Ops guy does (usually you have both in the room with you interviewing you).

 

grammar cops are like the "you're ON GUARD" cops. you sure you want to be that guy? really?

 

In my opinion, it will be very little to no help. Do you have apps in at FedEx and SWA? You meet both of their minimums and I think your in the lower end of the competitive spectrum with your current times. I think both companies are going to hire from a wider category of pilots, i.e. 121, corp, mil, 135.

What is your turbine PIC from?

PtP

 

Take all the advice on here with a grain of salt. I was a corporate guy for about a dozen years hired at Delta in 2000, there are not many of us but it can be done. In hindsight I would have focused on some of the better corporate flight departments instead of coming to the airlines....hindsight being 20/20 and all.

The airlines is not the job of the past and I do miss the corporate flying, destinations, aircraft and all around good times. If you really need to come to the airlines I would do it from the corporate side and not the regionals, as someone else posted you don't want to get stuck there. While its harder for a corporate guy to get hired at the airlines it is that much harder for a former airline guy to get hired into corporate.

Best of luck...

 

Jetflyer06 thanks for being "that guy"...

Seriously, thank you for the replies, and keep them coming I have a lot to think about. Palmtree, all my turbine pic is from mostely mid-sized citations and a bit of Kingair time as well. About half of it is pt135.

 

Excel,

FWIW, from what I've read here, I think formerdal's advice is good. I think going to a regional with the kind of time you already have would be a big mistake. You could get stuck there for who knows how long! And it might take a really long time even to make Captain. In the meantime, you would literally be earning poverty wages! If you're single, I could MAYBE see taking a gamble like that. But if you've got a family, NO WAY. I would stay with the corporate Captain gig and make sure you do everything you can to market yourself as a polished professional and make yourself known to the majors, including attending job fairs and networking. Be sure to get letters of recommendation from anyone who has experience with you as a pilot. Anyway, just my "2 cents." It's been a long time since I've been engaged in airline career planning/strategy... so take it for what it's worth. Good luck to you!

 

Excel,

Add me to the list of advice to NOT leave the corporate world. But if you must leave, definitely stay out of the regionals for all the reasons listed previously.

If your heart is absolutely stuck on the airlines, then I would seriously consider the foreign carriers for a contract job. The pay is very high, and you would be gaining heavy jet 121 type time. Many of the foreign carriers in Asia will even type rate you and have commutable schedules. Korean Air even gives you a business class seat to Seoul and back from many major US cities.

Just my 2 cents.

Carl

 

Carl offers some good advice. Things are going to get dicey again in my opinion. UAL has announced they may be grounding 44 aircraft (737-500 & 767-200ER) very soon due to the increased hit on the balance sheet caused by fuel prices. They likely will not be the only ones, so keep that in mind when you are looking.

If you still want to make the move, consider a place like Atlas. 747-400/8F cargo flying all around the world. They are also now doing passenger ops and look like they will be adding 767's very soon. The company is very strong financially, the pilots have a new contract with good pay raises and they just announced that the profit charing checks will be 20.1% of base pay and overtime for last year. For even a junior F/O, that's a huge chunk of change.

They are hiring and will be doing so for quite awhile. 14 747-8's are in the pipeline with options on 12 more. They will lose a fair number of folks to age 65 in the coming months. If you don't mind the travel and like flying a nice plane, it's a darn good gig.

And given the way that their management has run the company since they exited bankruptcy in 2005, which has been very solid, they are much less likely to end up in the recall/furlough cycle that others do.