jeffang53

May I ask what airplane the charter company flies? I'm in the same boat... retiring in Oct. I have offers to interview with Expressjet and American Eagle but I've already been offered a position with L3 to fly King Airs on an OCONUS rotation.

Anyone think L3 is an acceptable route to the majors?

PittsDriver

Jeffang, the company has 2 C-414s and is in the process of getting a C-90. I would definitely skip the regionals and take the L-3 job, too good of money to pass up IMO. Been trying to get on there for 2 years myself. The only downside I could see to going to the desert is being offered a job interview with a major while you are gone, and maybe miss out.

130drvr

Sure, especially if it is mostly or all PIC. 121 exp would look good, but at the end of the day the two are a wash and what matters most is what is best for your family.

130drvr

I have buddy who retired from the AF, got a regional job for a few years, then got hired by a major. Having a retired check to offset the regional pay probably made that a more acceptable path.

mpilot153

I looked back at some of your posts and saw where you said you had a bunch of helo time, and 500 fw time. In this particular case, I think its a gamble either way. Some of the other mil guys talking here already have close to 2000 jet pic - as they already exceed the mins at the majors, they need a placeholder to maintain currency.

Either choice you make, the bulk of your next hours will be SIC time. At the regional, you will get the 121 stamp, and flying something with MGTOW 40k+. Going to L3, your time will be SIC, no 121 stamp, you will probably upgrade quicker, but MGTOW < 12.5klbs - but you will be able to pay your electricity bill, and then some.

If the goal is to fly for the Majors, I'd give some serious consideration to the regional. Probably worth sitting down with the EC guys + Judy and ask their thoughts - they've seen the types of resumes that get picked over the years.

FlyFastLiveSlow

I just looked up starting pay for a regional and was shocked. I seriously hope that changes. While those folks may be building hours, they are still flying jets and keeping 75 people alive. That level of pay is a disgrace to this profession.

USMCFLYR

I would agree with mpilot in this case regarding the applicability of the L3 King Air job when it comes to usefulness towards a major/legacy P121 job.
Having already met all of the minumums with regard to TT, TPIC, and ME time - I see it as a good flying job that will keep you building time in most, if not all, of the blocks above - plus it seems to be interesting interview fodder.

If you are struggling to make the TT mins, FW mins, or any other category of required times to be competitive for a legacy P121 job I would think that it would have some serious limitations. In this case - I think getting the P121 smell on your resume would be more beneficial - but that is just my guess as i have not walked in those shoes.

One small correction though to mpilot's post; I think that L3 flies all KA350s with a MGTOW of 15,000#s - not that it would matter much for the purposes of this discussion, but it could be the difference between a formal training program and a type rating.

jeffang53

You're correct...they are all 350s so it does come with the type rating. I also believe they train straight through to PIC. As I see it, I will build ME turbine time (PIC). From what I can tell, I need 400 more turbine hrs to meet the mins at the legacy carriers. I will easily get that in a year. The only advantage of a regional would be the jet time and P121 experience.

Thanks for all the great inputs!

USMCFLYR

Which considering your previous background and experience are significant advantages.
Yes - I believe when you go through the training you will be given a full PIC type ride - but you will probably be assigned as SIC initially for a majority, if not all, of your flights OCONUS. If you are interested in building that ME TPIC time for the majors then you'll need to only log the time when actually assigned as the PIC of the mission as PIC time - otherwise you'll be logging SIC time. Hopefully some of the pilots we have here on APC who are actually flying OCONUS missions for L3 will be able to answer the question of PIC -vs- SIC time for new hires and projected upgrade time in conjunction with how much time they usually fly as the PIC and how much time they fly on average in a year (or during a 60/60 rotation).

PittsDriver

It is my understanding that the L-3 pilots split PIC/SIC duties so everyone gets some PIC time.