Wow, go to Ari Ben

www.flyaviator.com

They sell 100 and 50 hr blocks. Ask Mike if he would be willing to let you buy a 20hr block. It would be easier to go there in person and speak with him. You'll get the gate keeper from hell if you try calling. PM me if you have any questions.

BTW, Florida is aweful to commute from. Even positive space flying is painfull.

av8tr - thanks I may do that... I ate lunch at FPR yesterday at the Tiki... where is Ari on the field?

Noleone - try Capflying.com that is a decent club - way less costly than Air Orlando... they have a Grumman Cougar that is about $100 and hour dry - we could split that and build some time...

Dfw
 

I'm going to the 10/1 class with PSA and live near DTW. Friends at NWA say that flights to CLT are full of commuters as well, so you may have problems in both directions.

Have you heard about reserve time at DAY? I'm thinking about bidding it but would like to know how long I would be on reserve.

Hey WammerJammer...I'm in the 9/10 class. From what I understand, DAY is the most junior base and CLT is the most senior. I don't think you'd have a problem bidding DAY in training. I hear from people that reserve in CLT can last a LONG time (14+ months), but reserve in DAY is generally less (6 months or so). As far as commuting goes, I hear PSA has a decent commuter policy, but again I lack the details. Once I start ground school next week and find out more details I'll pass it along. I know commuting can be rough. I was just wondering if many of the CLT lines are commutable or not (later report times on the first day and earlier release times on the last). Anyway...see ya around PSA :)

Florida Flyer, I would certainly appreciate anything you can send me. I suspected the long wait for CLT, so I am going to try and build some seniority out of DAY and then see what happens. Since I live just north of Detroit, DAY works well for me anyhow. For what it is worth, look at TYS (Knoxville). My NWA friends say that the trips out of Detroit to TYS are usually fairly open and don't have a lot of commuters.

Heya Florida Flyer..10/1 PSA class here too. would love a heaping spoonful of anything you pick up next week. See you around

To get there I think you take charlie, or whichever is infront of the tiki, east to the end then take a right to the ramp. There aren't any signs, it's wierd. Ask for a progressive and look for a bunch of gray, white, and red striped Dutchesses.

Thanks AV8 - I probably will have to do that... I was thinking I need about 100 more hours so that I hit 1500 and can do the ATP as well....

Would having an ATP and 1500 help in upgrade times at the smaller regionals?

FlyingDog, I'm not 100% certain about this, but my understanding is that each airline has it's own upgrade criteria - sometimes multiple criteria. For example, Pinnacle has a "Pilot Mentoring" program that allows for an upgrade at 1500 hours as long as you have 1000 in a Pinnacle CRJ. Otherwise you are looking at about 2500. The issue is low-time pilots (I know someone hired into Pinnacle at about 194 hours) and that, if you consider it, by the time he hits 1500 hours, he will have almost 1300 in the CRJ and he already has his ATP written. That is just as much time, if not more, as someone who hires in at 1500 hours after CFI'ing and then upgrades at 2500.

I will leave the discussion of low-time pilots to other posts, but 1300 hours as an F/O should be reasonable time to consider an upgrade, regardless of what your numbers were when you started.

Good luck!