How bad would it look...
 

So I have a class date with Endeavor in June, and am a 1500 hour CFI. I have an offer to fly King Air's for a local 135, who have a training contract. I realize I should probably just teach for 6 more months, but how bad would it look on a resume/professionally if I flew for 6 months, then left to go to a regional? I also have an interview scheduled with NetJets but am going to put that off until I give 121 life. shot, I think.

Thanks!

I seriously doubt that Endeavor would gripe that you spent the six months before class flying King Airs instead of sitting in the right seat of a c152 doing patterns with a student. Nor would leaving a 135 flying gig to go fly 121 look bad on a resume, assuming you left in the good graces of the 135 company. The risk would be the terms of the training contract and the expectation of the 135 company hiring you. If they are OK with this being a six month gig, likely no problem. If they hire you and train you with the assumption they are going to have you for a few years, that could be a problem.

You’d do better just to do 6 months of CFI work rather than get a bad recommendation or legal issues from the 135 job. While twin turbine time would certainly be nice, you’ll get that at Endeavor. Don’t screw up a good thing by getting greedy.

Go fly the King Air -> Get ATP -> Skip regionals & go to LCC.

Or get a ATP in a Seminole and go to Spirit now. (assuming you have enough x-country time to not be restricted ATP)

The 135 said they would "work with me" if I needed to depart early (re: contract), but who actually knows what that means haha. They initially type you SIC, but after 90 days you go PIC I guess and get the ATP - which obviously adds to the contract amount with two trips to FSI. So the Spirit route could be interesting, actually.

Make sure the KA time is loggable and that they have the proper Opspec to allow it.

They do have the PDP for logging. I'll probably just end up with mostly SIC time, but I figure I'll learn more in that time than teaching.

How long is your initial training? You mention they start you out as SIC then 90 days later upgrade into PIC. If all you are looking at for your timeline is 6 months, it is quite possible you spend half of that in training, only to then go spend another 3 months in training at Endeavor. That's a lot of time spent in training mode with not much reward.

It's 3 weeks indoc and systems, then off to Flight Safety (I'm assuming that's a week)? with holidays, etc. I would think that puts me at a checkride late Jan...so best case scenario 4 months of SIC flying. Unless I somehow discover I love it, and stick around. This is sounding less worth it though.

Is this really happening? Are they taking newly minted ATPs off the street without doing time at the regionals? Or is this only a deal with ATP flight school?

This isn’t a king air operator out of CA is it? 🤔

Can you cite a source on this?

yeah those are the mins but is Spirit REALLY hiring a wet ATP?

According to their forums there have been CFIs in class who got an ATP on their own. Probably not a regular thing but I'm sure it is happening especially for those who go to a MTC etc...

They've been hiring people at regionals who were still on IOE so I guess it's not really far off anyway.

The one caveat with that is at least on ioe you’ve proven you can complete and be successful in a 121 program. Cfis are almost exclusively from atp. I wouldn’t doubt getting the atp cert on your own could get you in but it’s not a common occurrence.

Also make sure the 135 has reputable training arrangements, and operational and maintenance practices. Don't want to end up at a fly-by-night where every day you have to chose between risking your ticket and life vs. leaving on bad terms. It may not be awesome for your future prospects if the 135 doesn't give you a good recommendation... they might expect more than a six month ROI if they bring you on.

Skip the 135.
Have a good adult conversation with them and tell them you are very appreciative of the offer but you respectfully decline because you don’t want to take a job, run up their training cost and leave.
You’d also need a couple of 135 checking events like a 135.293/297/299 that could jeopardize your 121 start if you fail.
If anything get a head start by learning as much about 121 as you can.
Learn about jet engines, systems, regs.
You’ve got 6 months to become the smartest of the class.
Get your ATP with your local DPE.

Completely agree with the last 2 posters. If your intent is to go part 121, then by all means, go part 121. Skip 135. Sure you could log some turbine time, and fly a faster airplane, but there are so many ‘unknowns’ in 135 territory. There’s countless stories of people who have been burned in some way or another by some bullxxxx chief pilot, director of operations, company president, or the customers themselves, etc. I have heard of far more shady practices in that business than anything else.

Chances are, if you go that route, you will probably end up kicking yourself in the rear end for not skipping it altogether and just heading to the airlines. I haven’t done 135, but just about everyone I talk to who has done it, said they wish they would have just skipped it and gone straight to the airlines.

If your gonna go part 121, definitely start prepping for it. Know SID’s and STAR charts like the palm of your hand, know how to read them and brief them quickly, know turbine airplane systems (I.e. APU, hydraulics systems, fuel systems, electrical, bleed air, etc.) v speeds, derived alternate minimums, etc. You don’t need to dive deep into systems because you will do that in ground school, but have a basic understanding of the stuff you will be exposed to going into it. I studied a good bit on this stuff and I feel like it only helped. Gave me less headaches. There’s too many people that don’t do any kind of basic prep going into it that are coming from a part 61/141 CFI background with experience dealing with only piston engines. Can they still get through? Sure, but it will be more painful though.

I recommend picking up a copy of ‘The Turbine Pilot’s flight manual’ or something similar as a sort of generic prep guide. Don’t try to search for or obtain aircraft or airline specific stuff though, whatever company you go with will give you that info. Also recommend sections of ‘everything explained’ as well.

Thanks everyone for the advice, it’s seeming the 135 isn’t really worth it at this point.

Question: obviously the regionals pay for CTP, but is it worth self-financing and doing ATP in something like a Seminole? I guess theoretically that would open the door to ULCC applications?

https://i.imgflip.com/4trjss.jpg
I respectfully disagree with one part of what Cleared4Approach said.
You have 6 months to learn everything there is to learn.
Treat it like your life depends on it, because it does.
How many threads do we have here asking about 121 failed rides? Do you want to be average? Do you want to start class not knowing nothing about nothing or do you want to walk into class knowing pretty much everything about that airplane and you can regurgitate verbatim?
Throw a couple of hooks out and see if you can snag the actual manuals too.
Be humble and never stop learning.
121 world and flying a jet is a different parallel universe from what you’ve been doing.
Only the basic aerodynamic principles carry over, everything else is different.
The knowledge is out there.
Best of luck to you.

just get your ATP when you do your LOE/Type ride. No point in spending money on something you can get for free.

JHC whatever happenend to showing up ready and prepared.

If anyone wants to share any CRJ 700/900 materials I’d love to study!

If an engine craters at rotation it will climb well. Been there, done that.