alpha23

Question for all you experienced guys/gals at the regionals. Thanks in advance!

I have a corporate job flying a Barron with about 2000 hours TT. The owner is going to trade it in for a King Air. That is good and all since it would be turbine pic. Ultimatley would meet my goal to eligible for the majors. Im thinking two to three years.

Should I stay and fly the King Air, or continue on with the interviews I have scheduled with the regionals? (Is 121 time better than King Air time)

Mr Spooner

121 times is always a plus. Plus a King Air, although turbine, is not that impressive by itself on a resume. You would be much better flying a Beech 1900 for a 121 carrier I think.

xkuzme1

It would not be the norm to go from flying a King Air on a 135 ticket to getting hired at SWA. Those two jobs have nothing in common. I would say that it all depends on your desired career. If you are thinking about Netsjets or Citation shares, then I would go with the King Air. Really though unless it has a type rating, you really wont get the desired outcome that you are looking for.

Just my $.02 worth.

Fly the King Air, get at couple hundred hours of PIC turbine, gain some expirience, them make a decision.

X

Sanchez

As stated above, it all depends on what your career goals are. Specifically what company your trying to get on with. The majority of the majors would probably prefer to see some 121 time, of course sometimes it's also who you know.

In my very humble opinion, depending on where you want to go, I would talk to folks that work at that particular airline, and try to get an inside on whether or not the King air time will be good enough to get you the job.

Best of luck.

flynavyj

I'd say the king air flight time will be great experience, but i don't know how much good it'll do with getting you on with a major, especially when you consider that all the people competing against you for that major job will also have their turbine PIC time, and it'll be in larger and heavier transport category aircraft. If you did get some turbine pic time, i'd still see a jump the regionals before heading to the majors, which sucks. Wonder if you could stick it out, get your 1000 tpic, then head over to the regionals, get a little bit in type in the crew environment and then get on...but it might be a crap shoot, and that'll make it take more time than you would probably be interested in.

FlyerJosh

What type of king air? Is it a larger variety that will require a type? How much flying? What are the working conditions like?

If you've stuck out with this owner for a while and he treats you well and has good pay, why give up a good gig just to go fly something bigger? Especially given the low pay, poor QOL, and the way the airlines mistreat employees these days.

Despite what folks say, turbine time is turbine time. Although it might not be in a "high tech" crew environment, it still counts for a lot. 1000 PIC in a King Air can get you a job at an air carrier that might not be a major, but is definitely above a regional.

Clue32

I recently attended dunker training with a couple of regional airline / Army guard FW drivers. As I am a C-12 (BE200) pilot they advised me to get my 2500TT and 1000 FWME Turbine PIC and move to AirTran. That may not be a legacy carrier, but based on this recent advice and the number of Army pilots flying for AirTran this doesn't seem like a bridge too far, and similar jobs may pop up. Also, AirTran would be a fantastic carrier to work for and the pay is good enough to support my family on.

As far as flying the King Air, it is a very nice airplane. If I could find a job paying in 70-100K a year (or more) flying the BE200, for a great boss, in a good location to raise a family I would stay there for the long haul. From the barron, you will be upgrading airframes. If it is a new King Air you will be up grading to a glass cockpit. If you like your employer, like the flying and make good enough money for now, why leave?

While your job may not be Part 121, think about the kind of flying you do, the responsibilities you have away from the airplane now and in the future and then decide if that could make you different enough from other applicants at the bigger carriers with just 121 experience. While you may want to hit that regional for a year or two to get on par with all the others out there, leaving your current job may mean missing out on some great career experiences that could get you to your ultimate goal.

XtremeF150

Well, let me give you some advice....since I pretty much did what you are thinking about doing. The difference is most of my KA flying was instruction. The job was great and the benifits of a good employer were without a doubt unmatched by either of the 2 airlines I have worked for since. I made as much as many 50 seat CA' s do their first couple years. However, every good thing must come to an end right. The job vaporized and I had about 30 - 40 days to find work. I thought this would be easy with a 4 year degree and over 3000TT and about 1300 T-pic in the KA. I applied at every airline I could. I only recieved interview calls from 2. Both were regionals. (This was a few years ago when jobs weren't as easy to find.)


In the end, the only thing I really managed to do was get a B-190 CA job with all that KA time. There weren't any more KA jobs where I lived and I couldn't commute for a corporate job, so my wife and I decided I should take the CA job and try and get some 121 PIC and see if it made a difference. So I took a street CA job with Air Midwest....Long story short, after 1.5 years and about 700 hours 121 PIC in the B-190 I still couldn't get a decent interview. Sure some airlines with larger a/c started calling, but after a year of commuting on crap schedules I don't want that anymore.

A good corporate job is golden...In my opinion more so than any airline job, although MUCH harder to find. The thought most ppl have today though is that as soon as they hit 1000 T-pic, FedEx, UPS, SWA, NWA, DAL, CAL, and UAL are going to have a bidding war to see who claims them. Truth be told, 10,000 hours of T-pic aren't going to get you a major job today without a few internal recs. So the real question has to be do you want to work corporate or start fighting it out with the rest of us in the world of mass transit.

Good luck either way, you going to need it for decisions like that.

Nacho

Alpha 23,

For some unknown reason to even myself, I happen to be browsing the Regional Forums this morning and I came across your post and the replies. Very good question on your part and many good replies. If you tie all the replies together you get a decent answer. I believe it was mentioned that you need to figure out 1st and foremost what is BEST FOR YOU. Where do you want to be in 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years. Being a pilot for a 121 Major, I can rest assure you, you could fly that KA for 1 million hours and the majors will not really consider you (assuming no nepotism). If flying for the majors etc is what you want, then you really need 1000 121 PIC hours ideally at a minimum. Yes, that means a Regional for a few years. All have advantages and disadvantages. The better paying ones take longer to upgrade usually such as SkyWest. The quicker upgrades come at the Turbo-Prop level such as a Colgan. Downside there is the pay sucks. If you wish to take a corporate route in your career, then by all means, fly that KA. Xtreme 150 pretty much hits the nail on the head with his/her reply. It's all a ladder. You just need to figure out which ladder you want to climb.

SharkyBN584

Turbine PIC is Turbine PIC. Nothing says you can't build some hours in this King Air and then blow off to some regional to get "121 Experience" and be outta there in 6 months.