I'm curious, where you started your airline career at?

 

Ten years r/w in the Army

Did add on ratings

One year Lakes, I know wh0ring myself out for time but only flying BE1900's. Had no visions of grandure when I went there.

Seven years AirWilly, hired there when they had 328's, ten CRJ200's and the BAE 146's. Relatively small high quality company with a good contract flying most of their aircraft where mainline didn't go. Untill the debacle after 9/11 began the major outsourcing.

UAL, hired in 08, furloughed

Currently guard bumming r/w again. Somehow I've come full circle.

So where did you start yours at?

 

So, other than the Army, you pretty much did what every other regional pilot out there is doing. But since you've made it the majors, it's wrong for everyone else to follow your footsteps. Just as I suspected.

I'm sorry everyone, I did NOT intend for this to turn into a regional vs major crapshoot again. My apologies, please continue on with the original thread topic.

 

When I went to a regional they weren't nearly the size they are now and all the mainline carriers were hiring right along with the regionals so the jobs weren't being outsourced at that time. Also the contract we had in 01 at AirWilly was better than the current contract. The 146's paid well and were used primarily for ASE, not hub to hub.

Currently regionals are flying 70 and 90 seaters at lower rates. Heck most of the 70 seat rates are less than the 50 seat rates at AirWilly when soft money if factored in.

This is not a regional vs major crapshoot, as you put it. It's about getting the flying back to mainline so pilots can't be whipsawed against each other.

Even when flying at the regionals I would have gladly had my job eliminated if it meant that flying went to mainline. Instead all of the UAL flying AirWilly was doing was taken away through bankruptcy manuevering by mainline management and given to the lowest bidder. At that point in time all the AirWilly pilots were not willing to further reduce their rates and it cost them that UAL flying. They will probably be out of business in 2015 at the end of their UsAir contract since they are still way to expensive when compared to their peers.

You can believe what you want. Untill significant regional flying is returned to mainline this career will still flounder. And don't count on the looming pilot shortage to move you up, theres been a pilot shortage just about forever.

Isn't this what operation orange is about? Eliminate the whipsawing and outsourcing to the lowest bidder while restoring the profession to suitable wages and work rules?

Do you want to make your career at a regional or do you want to have a mainline career?

You didn't mention where you started your career at.

 

While you are correct, that is what operation Orange is about. But its not about being a jerk to a regional guy just because he's there. I would gladly give up my regional job if that meant mainline was taking back scope. It would mean I would be way better off in the long run with the possibility of going to a major much sooner.

The guy called you out for being a JERK to him even though your career progression is extremely similar to all of ours. You shouldn't be ***tting on regional guys just for being there. 95% of the guys I fly with want scope taken back.

We should be concentrating on unifying instead of attacking each other. I hope you get recalled in the near future and can continue getting back to your career expectations.
all the best T

 

Jerk is kind of tame, my wife generally thinks I'm an ********* but she still loves me anyways.

Have a nice day

 

It's not that it's your fault for taking his job, it's that it's such a foolish decision. You're building time to get to a major, but the majors are hardly hiring. Why? Major's flying is being outsourced to you. Do you see the conundrum?

It may have worked out for some guys in the past, but it's very tough odds that you'll be one chosen to go to a major. It's just a question of math. The only question now is: How long will you continue to provide the reason (horribly cheap labor) that management wants to outsource in the first place? Only you can answer that question.

Carl

 

I understand what you're saying, and I don't want to beat a dead horse or hijack this thread, but do you really think current CFIs with no airline experience are going to be the ones who fix the problems (by not taking outsourced jobs at substandard wages) that airline pilots are facing ? When viewed from the perspective of a young, pragmatic (if short-sighted) CFI, the conundrum is not so clear. To my knowledge, no legacy carriers hire pilots with only CFI experience. I'm sure a lot of young pilots would rather instruct their way to a mainline job, but that just isn't a viable option. I think everyone can agree that the profession is a mess -- while I understand that it's important to recognize how it happend, I don't think arguing over whose fault it is is going to get it cleaned up any time soon.

 

Very well put. Now let's get this thread back on topic, shall we? How long has this site been up? What phase are we currently in? Besides logging on to the website regularly how will we know what the date will be?

 

So a CFI is the only choice to gain flight experience? Come now. Since I've already listed them, this should be easy...name some different ways for a young pilot to gain experience.