Has anyone told you guys and girls that you get a raise the second year and if you make CA, your pay nearly doubles. Not sure what job out of High School (no degree needed to fly for a regional) you could get where this happens?

On one end everyone thinks they should make $50,000 as a first year FO. On the other hand the sky is falling at the regionals and they are going to run out of pilots. Is anyone in the middle here?

Just about every skilled job out there and even more plus they get to be home all of the time, you probably haven't been to any college recruitment events have you? Regional FOs average around 30K for being gone half the year. CAs around 60K for the same amount of work assuming you fly a jet. These are starting wages at many companies for college grads and all they do is sit in a cubicle.

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like to travel AND I hate cubicles!!! Ergo I chose to be a pilot. :D

If the major/legacies don't like the fact that they are losing the flying then they should not CONCEDE it.

Believe me, I don't like it either. Whatever 'regional' is, it should be capped at 50 seats or less. Or a certain distance or less. Or between airports of a certain size/capacity or less. I really do believe that. The flying I did for AWAC from ORD was real 'regional' flying as United Express. It was to/from smaller towns in the Midwest and the occasional longer flight like JAX or SAV.

All the pilots whine about how it is all going to contract carriers (so-called 'regional' airlines) but do nothing to stop it except raise the scope clauses and not come up with a better solution.

The pilots need to figure out a new paradigm that management/owners can work with. The managers/owners are smart, well-funded, highly educated and greedy individuals. If we want to compete with that we must do so by playing their games.

HMP is right, as much as I hate to admit it. But if we want to change it we must play by their rules, as they set the rules for the game.

hmmm, i have a hard time considering a four day "travel"...your crews, airplanes, and hotels must be better than mine. damn.

4-days blow...............................

Well said. We may see better negotiations in the near future. The top of the seniority list and the bottom at our mainline, can't seem to agree so they got what they got. It all starts with them not me. Many forget how our two Mgmt battles in as little as 5 years played out. We have a strong labor coalition. But in the final analysis who really won?
350 skilled pilots are gone. Times change and people come and go. We get good contracts and we get bad contracts. We loose the battle...but we'll win the war!!

good pay at the regionals will never be an option. they'll just keep lowering minimums (e.g. Mesa) to just a commercial ticket. and if that doesnt work, theyll take guys off the street and turn them into pilots. if they go that low, yes they'll easily find enough pilots. do any of us want this to happen? of course not, but whos going to stop them.

Ultimately there is a practical rock-bottom in this industry, and I think mesa has already reached or exceeded it.

If you recruit pilot wannabees off the street, you're accepting folks who haven't passed the traditional initiative test...Quality of service becomes a huge issue if you don't have effective people in key positions (which includes flight crews). And if QOS alone is not a problem, flight safety will quickly become one if pilots are recruited ab-initio through day-time TV commercials :rolleyes:

I think at this point we can focus our attention on how to improve the profession and not worry too much about it declining further. I think.