I left a nice 91 operation to come to Republic and moved into base. Don’t regret the pay cut at all. On year 3 pay and with some pickups and knowing the contract I’ll clear 80K if I stay around. Still spending ample amounts of nights in my own bed.

I got my 1,000 Part 121 in 12 months. Work hard and it’s possible. The quick upgrade will be back soon. Republic has been a pretty good place to work at with a great group of pilots. Good luck.

 

I went from contracting Part 91 in a super midsize with a 135 background to Endeavor. The quality of life was great for me once I got some seniority, even though I took a huge pay cut.

Having a set schedule with a bit of flexibility with trip trades and drops was amazing compared to no schedule. Commuting sucked balls.

My idea was to get my time, upgrade fast, and move on. We stagnated in growth, so what I thought would be a 6 month upgrade never happened in 3.5 years. Ultimately, I was able to move on to Spirit. If anything, it was a good primer and introduction to 121 flying.

It is really nice to just go to work and fly the airplane. No coffee, ice, papers, no last minute trips, no lav cleaning. You have a team of people working with you to get the job done, etc.

Anyways, I was in a similar situation and made the jump and it worked out for me. I enjoyed my time at Endeavor.

 

Sit tight and wait for JB. Work on more internals.

 

99% of the 91/135 flying I did was to comfortably long paved runways. I don’t use the autopilot any more or any less at a 121. Landing in Mansfield, OH, isn’t any more exciting than landing at ORD. If I want the excitement of landing on grass I’ll rent a bug smasher.

I do not miss having my decision making and continued employment come into question every time a rich owner with 0 aviation background thought the weather was fine. I also don’t miss spending my off time hunting down obscure catering requests.

 

Being that I’ve never heard of a hand flying override, I’ll take the autopilot all day long. It’s all about dollars per hour with minimal hassle. Kissing up to corporate bosses, cleaning the airplane, making arrangements for catering, etc. sounds like a giant hassle, so I’ll just show up according to my set schedule, do my time, go home, and collect my pay.

 

Serious question how do you fly the airplane with a lack of “standards profiles and flows” I got yelled at in the sim in the 121 world because I didn’t say balked landing...

 

There’s nothing wrong with autopilot. However going from mainly 91 and a little 135 to 121, it’s clear most guys can’t fly without it… FO or CA. Pretty sad to have a guy click on the autopilot on a CAVU day after takeoff without you asking because they can’t handle their business, regardless of seat position!! It does suck having crappy clients. Anyways, to each their own.

 

Where do you work? In my 15 plus years in 121 aviation I haven’t met anyone as inept as you’re describing.

 

In ~3500 hours of 121 flying, at both a regional and a legacy, I have never once had someone engage the autopilot while I was flying without me calling for it. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times someone has even said something about not engaging the autopilot shortly after takeoff. Sounds like an issue with your carrier, or more likely, that particular captain.

 

1000 hours of 135 turbojet PIC counts.

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/practice_areas/regulations/interpretations/data/interps/2015/duncan-afs-1_3%20-%20(2015)%20legal%20interpretation.pdf