Jet or Prop?
 

I'm sure this has been discussed many times before but its late and I'm bored so here we go again:

I've flown them both and feel that each have their unique set of challenges. I love them both and don't feel one was either harder or easier than the other; just different. (shot approaches at the same speeds, many times faster in the prop just cause we could; flew a little lower in the prop, cruise faster in the Jet... etc etc..) I know a lot of T-prop pilots who think they are "better" pilots than RJ drivers and vice versa. I want to know what others think. For lack of a better way to ask this; do you feel that a jet pilot should be paid more, less or the same as a t-prop pilot (assuming the same # of pax) Also what is your experience in either?

Not to stir the pot, but I've found just because you're in a prop everyone thinks you shoot approaches at 90kts. Max speed with flaps 15 on the dash is about 148kts. which is about what we do till about a 1/2 mile final before putting on the brakes.
Added Bonus: If Mesa's behind you, land flaps 35 which slows the ref down to about 88kts. If they go around, captain owes you a cup of coffee. Has to be in the air though, no slow taxiing on the runway....

Now that's funny :D

Anything fixed-wing is easy to fly (jet or prop). For stick and rudder skills, helicopters are a true challenge.

Only Dasholes should be paid less...:D

Former YV here.:)

Flew the Beech and CRJ. Pay should be based on the revenue potential of your a/c(number of seats). Method of propulsion should have no bearing.

That makes me really want to fly a Dash 8. :D

I also think pay should be based on number of seats, and little else.

Perhaps t-prop guys come out as being known as "better" sticks is because of a multitude of contributing factors...

More props flying around there without an autopilot or flight director (i.e. the mighty Beech), which no doubt makes you more solid.

Props tend to fly much shorter hops, meaning one has to think a bit quicker most times, even though the airplane is slower.

There are just generally less "goodies" in the props (FMS, GPS, etc.), so it seems to all come down to your abilities in the end...

Just my .02.

Well, that just seems like a GREAT thing to post in a public forum...

One could argue that since the T.O. and Landing environment is inherently more dangerous, that T-Prop pilots deserve more since they are in the more hazardous environment longer per duty period.
That being said, same rate. Flown Small, medium and big jet, Baron, Seminole, EMB-120. Military and civilian.
Environment and avionics have a big play in skill sets. One of the most impressive skill sets I witnessed was a Ag pilot cropdusting at 0200 in the morning. Was in El Centro California doing Field Carrier Landing Practices (FCLP's) when I saw a single headlight coming towards us, but down the road a bit at the base (90) at about 475' agl. Asked tower about the light after the 3rd time. They said it was the cropduster ops below us that was on ATIS:cool:

it occurred to me during IOE. doing an arrival with a bunch of stepdowns close together and a "descend via" clearence. Coming from the beech, I never really worried about descent planning (the plane just did whatever you wanted it to) So the arrival challenging but I did fine. After I was on the ground, i realized that I never gave much thought to what courses we were flying! (being so worried with descent rates, 250kts restriction, tailwinds and just being able to get down to make the restrictions) The FMS just cycled through the courses and we flew them. With no FMS or GPS in the beech, we had to tune in each of the courses at the course changes and fly them manually so we had that to worry about while hand flying but none of the rest of the stuff. I love this job. By the way, in the approach environment we in the beech had to slow for every jet there was. It annoyed us to no end because we had to slow for them to get ahead of us on the arrival and we had to slow the most for the dashes! (good thing I didn't work for mesa) If we needed a beech can hold 248 till a 3 mile final and still land just fine.
Ps. the cropduster at 2 in the morning is some crazy stuff!

I wanna fly one soo bad! First year FO pay just doesn't leave much for "extra" ratings...