Great Lakes
 

What does everyone think of Great Lakes? I know that get a bad rap and have lower pay than most of the other regionals, but I am considering them because of their base in Denver. I would rather not commute and being based at home in Denver definitely has its appeal.

Hey,

One of my buddies flys for them. Yes, the pay does suck ($15/hr and $1.00/hr per diem your first yr). But, if you are looking to build turbine time to move onto something bigger and better, they understand that. My dad's FSDO used to deal with their company quite often, and he assured me that they were a decent operation - meaning they had no violations that he could think of. So you are safe there...I don't really have much more to say about that...Good luck

D

I flew there for a while. Pay sucks, 10 days off a month, but you can upgrade quick. They also hire low time guys.

Does anyone know how low time we are talking? I have about 400 hours total and 20 multi. Does the get me any shot with them or do I need to build more time?

500TT and 100ME will probably get you an interview... 750-1000 and 50 will most likely do the same from what I hear...

Ace,

My buddy that works there said that I could get in there with low TT and 50-100 ME. In your case of 400 TT and 20ME...If you really want to go there, just get another 80 ME, and you should be all set. Any more questions, don't be afraid to ask...

D

Hey Guys:

It has been such a huge help reading this thread. I love it when pilots put their collective heads together to help out! I find myself in a similar position to the pilot who started th thread, but I have another question, does anyone have any idea how quick of an upgrade time these guys have?

CitationJason

I think it is around 15 months.

I know my time is really low, but i have a lot of multi: 317 TT and 115 ME with 33 turbine. What realistically will get me an interview?

I checked there website and it says 750 TT and 50 ME. I plan on sending out resumes when I get around 500 TT. Is it unrealistic to send out my resumes to companies that state minimums higher than what I have or do some companies take into consideration if i have gained more experience with ME's? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,

-Nick

Showing that you cannot follow directions (or even come close) is not a good sign. Minimums are there to reflect the amount of experience they want. So if your are 50 TT short but have 250 actual instrument then that may be an exception. PIC that is not "instruction given" is experience. Be realistic.

I have heard that airliners like to see people apply before minimums and continue to update thier resumes as thier time increase. This shows strong interest in the company. Remember they like loyalty and this is a small way of showing it. Good Luck!

By that arguement, AWAC shouldn't be accepting the resumes of many of the people they actually hire since they require turbine experience in their minimums.

Here's my advice- don't send a resume in if all they will do is laugh at you (IE submitting to FedEx with no turbine experience and 1000TT). But if you get close, by all means, send something in.

A good rule of thumb for the regional carriers is that 100 hours of ME time can be substituted for an equivalent to 100 hrs of TT. IE if the minimums are 1000/100, but you have 800 and 200, you probably have a chance at getting an interview.

Most companies evaluate resumes on a points system. For example:

1 point for each 1000TT, up to 4 points
1 point for each 200ME, up to 3 points
1 point for turbine experience
1 point for bachelors degree
1 point for advanced degree
1 point for aerospace degree
1 point for a type rating
1 point for clean driving record
2 points for 135/121 experience
2 points for time in type (applicable aircraft to the company)
3 points for internal recommendation

If you have 10 points, you get an interview...

So....

If I have the following qualifications, I should be able to get an interview with an regional that is hiring?

1100 TT
500 ME
400 Turbine
Bachelor Degree
Recommendation of former Air Force fighter pilot
Clean driving record

I would say that you have pretty good chances at getting an interview!

Lakes
 

I got hired at Lakes with about 600TT and 150ME. I was about the lowest in my class, with the highest being somewhere around 2000TT and 600ME. Upgrade takes about 15 months right now. I haven't seen Lakes go lower than 400TT 50ME, but to get even spit on with less time that the published mins you need a recommendation from someone at Lakes. Otherwise, if you don't have the mins and don't have a recommendation, you probably won't get an interview. Lakes stays away from people who don't have employee recommendations, aren't CFII's, etc., because they don't need to waste their time with people who don't have the knowledge/skills/scan/guts to precisely hand-fly a 1900 with 4 MEL's in hard IFR at night over the mountains in moderate icing & turbulence with no autopilot, GPS, or flight director to an uncontrolled airport for 15 bucks an hour. I'm not exaggerating, I'm doing it. Once you land an interview your TT is irrelevant.

Lakes just hired one with less than 500TT, but she bought a BE-1900 type. You can get in with less than 750TT and 50ME, but you pretty much need an internal reference. And you're right Lake n Bake, if your skills and scan aren't there yet, don't waste your time...because Lakes is definitely not shy about washing people out.

Keep in mind that a lot of airlines won't hire you if you are only flying 200 hours per year. Most would like to see about 200 hours in the previous 4 months.

A friend of mine got hired about 2 years ago with only 280TT and about 50 Multi, but this was with the old chief pilot, so I say why not, he did and got the brakillya and just upgraded to capt this month in the 1900. Never hurts to give it a shot.

up grade I have heard several senarios. I started a thread with the same theme (Great Lakes). I have heard as low as 6 months (I think highly unlikely) and I have heard a year to year and a half. As far as time goes I have tt 750 and ME 80 which I hear is good. I got a post card saying they were reviewing my credintials but no call yet (that was about 2 weeks ago.) Like I said I have a thread going so check it out maybe someone will write something helpful on it

What is the training like at Great Lakes Airlines?

They just hired in November and those guys have not recieved a training date yet. I have quite a few friends flying for Lakes and have also interviewed there. Training is pretty intense and you do the ground in Cheyenne. The sims are in Atlanta. My friend just upgraded in the Beech in 10 months to Capt. The interview is really easy and straight from the gouge on aviationinterviews site.

where is the Interview? how do you get there?