Originally Posted by Std Deviation

Great question. I'm in a unique situation. After Independence folded I took a fractional job with a TX base. I left to go to a 142 school (the really expensive one owned by the billionaire) because I needed to be home for a while to cover a family situation. I thought I would go back in two years. I got lazy. Two became three. And four. And I enjoyed what I was doing. I became very involved with human factors and CRM (psychology degrees). I attended the NTSB accident investigation school and it was paid for by the company.

In time I became well-known as the CRM "go-to guy" in corporate circles. I did consultations for several departments on CRM issues. As a result I got invites and gave presentations at 17 NBAA related speaking events. I wrote articles for some of the aviation publications.
I seriously considered returning to flying about a year ago; things were changing and my position was being eliminated (I could keep it by relocating to Toronto). I interviewed and made the short list with 8 Fortune 500 flight departments (they knew me, I gave them training.) It all came down to the same issue...lack of recency (all my time in the last six yrs is single engine recip). The "we hire the guy not the type" never turned out to be true in my case.

I have paperwork in at all the legacy carriers. I have six internals at AA. Not a peep. It was obvious I was going to have to step back to go forward (coming from a guy that flew MU2s single pilot in the middle of the night from Detroit City). I threw paperwork in at AWAC mid Feb (two internals). Got a class date in March. Put in notice at the current employer. A week later a close personal friend at an LCC pulled off a Hail Mary and got me an interview. Declined AWAC when I moved to the next phase at said LCC. Swimming endlessly in the pool for months. And it may or may not happen because of the recency issue (It was a concern and was brought up, despite my strong internal advocate).

I think it's fairly obvious I can't stomach regional pay for anything other than short term. I'm 44 with a family and mortgage and would be taking a $67,000 pay cut from the 142 job. The terms of a Mesa agreement would be one year at $11,000 prorated per month. Interestingly enough it gets cut in half with 45 days notice. Not saying I'm going to take the offer; the LCC is obviously the first choice. But if that does not come through I'm between a rock and a hard place because the 142 job is gone (so in reality $22K is better than zero now that I think about it!). As for Mesa, the IAH base is better QOL. Actually DFW at Eagle would be even better but they have not called me either (1 internal).

Originally Posted by Std Deviation

Great question. I'm in a unique situation. After Independence folded I took a fractional job with a TX base. I left to go to a 142 school (the really expensive one owned by the billionaire) because I needed to be home for a while to cover a family situation. I thought I would go back in two years. I got lazy. Two became three. And four. And I enjoyed what I was doing. I became very involved with human factors and CRM (psychology degrees). I attended the NTSB accident investigation school and it was paid for by the company.

In time I became well-known as the CRM "go-to guy" in corporate circles. I did consultations for several departments on CRM issues. As a result I got invites and gave presentations at 17 NBAA related speaking events. I wrote articles for some of the aviation publications.
I seriously considered returning to flying about a year ago; things were changing and my position was being eliminated (I could keep it by relocating to Toronto). I interviewed and made the short list with 8 Fortune 500 flight departments (they knew me, I gave them training.) It all came down to the same issue...lack of recency (all my time in the last six yrs is single engine recip). The "we hire the guy not the type" never turned out to be true in my case.

I have paperwork in at all the legacy carriers. I have six internals at AA. Not a peep. It was obvious I was going to have to step back to go forward (coming from a guy that flew MU2s single pilot in the middle of the night from Detroit City). I threw paperwork in at AWAC mid Feb (two internals). Got a class date in March. Put in notice at the current employer. A week later a close personal friend at an LCC pulled off a Hail Mary and got me an interview. Declined AWAC when I moved to the next phase at said LCC. Swimming endlessly in the pool for months. And it may or may not happen because of the recency issue (It was a concern and was brought up, despite my strong internal advocate).

I think it's fairly obvious I can't stomach regional pay for anything other than short term. I'm 44 with a family and mortgage and would be taking a $67,000 pay cut from the 142 job. The terms of a Mesa agreement would be one year at $11,000 prorated per month. Interestingly enough it gets cut in half with 45 days notice. Not saying I'm going to take the offer; the LCC is obviously the first choice. But if that does not come through I'm between a rock and a hard place because the 142 job is gone (so in reality $22K is better than zero now that I think about it!). As for Mesa, the IAH base is better QOL. Actually DFW at Eagle would be even better but they have not called me either (1 internal).

Originally Posted by RV5M

We had a highly qualified guy bail for an LCC as soon as he got current at Mesa. They didn't make a peep about the training contract.

Originally Posted by skillett

Thanks squall, this internet is running so slow it feels like I'm reading in echoes. You obviously answered this question way before I had an opportunity to respond. Archer, only 10 CRJ's have yet to be officially announced. The 4 coming online now are for CLT. 10 more slated for LAX flying. US was huge in the west via America West in the past. I would start my trip PHX-LAX or PHX-LAS first leg of the 4 day. Then LAX-LAS-SAN-SFO. I would not land back in PHX until the last day of the trip. I assume with the merger with AA and Eagle's connection routes they might bring this back.

Originally Posted by rickair7777

Here's a nasty little bit of info for those considering mesa...

Most airlines have 1-2 year seat locks. Mesa has what is essentially a lifetime seatlock, with a couple exceptions...

FO's can upgrade into any airplane.

CA's can transfer to a higher paying airplane (if one exists).

I knew this was the case back in the day, but I was astounded (well not really) to learn it was still in the contract.

Point being, if you're looking for a specific base, be careful what airplane you go to.

Originally Posted by Paid2fly

They actually bought PSA(the real PSA) long before Cactus, but then proceeded to pull out of many of the routes that PSA had been flying.

Originally Posted by cartean

Ha. Why? Is the mighty Emb so hard to fly you have to have prior 121 time.

Originally Posted by BaronRouge380

Ask that to Mesa! Apparently so LOL...

Originally Posted by skillett

We have captains with no experience on the E-Jet. Better to have an FO with some jet time in the right seat than playing flight instructor on an aircraft your gaining experience on.