forgive my newness to the airline thing. When do you find time to move after finishing up training? Is there a few weeks or something to relocate? I do not live out West so i am trying to figure out if it would be even feasible to do something like GLA. I suppose you do not know your base until the end of training?

Haha, a few weeks? Are you serious? The or something is much more close, maybe 3 or 4 days if you're lucky. Enjoy the suck..

Well, they try to give people a few days after training to get situated. Basically, I live out of a suitcase and wasn't planning to moving. So when given the option I finished training and went straight to base. It wasn't that big of a deal to me. I'd say about 3 or 4 days seems to be what others got. So if you plan on moving to base I'd say have everything packed, in storage and ready to go before headed to training. Then your move would be limited to load u-haul, drive to new town, unload u-haul, ready to work. I know moving to base seems like the better thing to do. I'd say if you have roots somewhere, just try commuting even if only short term. Then when you know the town your in and when you know the place you want to live, you can make a better decision and probably get a better deal on a place. And you will perhaps be in a better situation to get more days off in a row. Just one guys opinion though, I'm sure there's a million more out there.

On the other hand, when others try to make you feel like you're in a miserable situation, or that you've made a terrible mistake, such as by telling you things like "enjoy the suck". Just remember they choose to be miserable. Make the best of your regional career, "it builds character" some old and wise guys have told me ;)

Rationalization has always been my favorite defense mechanism. Stay classy :)

Ben's just being positive. He is happy with his career choices and his "rationalizations." He doesn't need your opinion or comentary. Go spread your hate elsewhere.

1. There are legitimate reasons to applying to and working for Great Lakes Airlines, however modest the company is, and
2. Once you are there the best thing to do is make the best of it and get what you came for- turbine time.

What part of this do you disagree with? We do not want to wear rose color glasses all the time but it pays to be at least slightly positive.

Your outlook may not be as "rose colored" once you obtain employment from a regional airline. I remember my outlook before starting with my first airline, experience will change your views on the industry.

Get hired at a poor regional, work a year, and see how your attitude has changed. I started at a poor regional with the "plan" of getting my turbine time and getting out. I pretty much did that, however it is impossible to focus on "getting your time" while constantly being subjected to the tortures of what actually makes that airline a "poor" regional airline to begin with.

Do not doubt you one bit there. I have never worked for a bottom tier regional, but I am convinced they are the gritty equivalents of the bottom feeders I knew and loved in the trucking industry. There were always a bunch of companies in trucking that existed for and by exploitation of the abundance of unwitting entry level drivers. Same thing here, these companies scrape unwitting newbies off the floor and exploit them without conscience. You'll be on food stamps, literally. No problem- you signed up for it, so it must be ok to exploit you.

There is a classiness that does come with working at Lakes that you will get very few other places (Silver air, Cape air, Commutair, Kenmore, and a few others). That's the classiness of knowing you didn't fly a mainline route on mainline equipment (jets over 50 seats) for pennies on the dollar of your mainline counterpart.

I have my first interview with Great Lakes in the morning. Any advice anyone can give me.

Oversleep!

Yeah, great advice. Pass up an airline that's still upgrading guys/gals in less than a year and where pilots with 3-5 years there are still going directly to jobs at places like Virgin America, Hawaiian, Alaska, Spirit, and recently places like Delta, Southwest, and Allegiant when they were hiring (and yes, all without having a daddy in the training dept.), and not to mention XO jet, and many other corporate/fractionals/135's, as well as Omni, Kalitta, and other cargo and ACMI outfits. Yeah, sleep through the interview, because who knows, after 5 or 6 years at Skywest you could be upgrading in a shiny CRJ.

Looks like you got missed by a day with any replies for last minute advice. Hope your interview went well. As I'm sure you saw, it was a pretty technical interview, If your scan was good during the pcatd or sim event (not sure what they use these days), if you knew your Jepps, and the aircraft your currently flying, and you went in there with a positive personality and you were yourself, I'm sure you're good.

Despite what many on this thread say, Lakes is really a great place to get your time. Does the pay suck? Absolutely, being an FO and especially first year is going to hurt. However if you take the first available upgrade ( which looks like its running under a year), then you are where most FO's are pay wise at places like Skywest, Republic, XJet, etc where you wouldn't upgrade until 2017 at the soonest.

Does quality of life suck? That really depends on your outlook. I had a blast there, the planes were fun, the other crew members were awesome, the overnights were generally a good time. But again, it wasn't all rosy, the regular jr. assigning( basically having to work on days off) stank, the minimum 10 days a month off on reserve wasn't fun, the constant irregular operations (pretty much not flying what your schedule for the month said you were going to fly) was occasionally stressful. But you get through it, get what you can from them ( a type rating or two, pic time, a check airman or instructor position), and quickly move on

In the end its all extremely valuable experience and definitely opens the door directly to much better opportunities, much faster than pretty much any CRJ/ERJ/ E-Jet outit.

319 is right. There's positives and negatives. The best thing to do is look at the positives and negatives and YOU make the determination as to whether or not you want it.

Those of us who made the move did it for our own reasons, whether it was base location, future possibilities, or maybe even it was the only thing available for us at that time. Nonetheless, we all made it work for us. We have a good group of people working here, as well as a good group of people who are determined to try and make things better (contract, training dept, pay, etc).

I hope your interview went well, and best of luck with your career.

Holy overreaction batman! You might notice I posted this after his interview was over, since he had no other response... The "Big grin" icon may have indicated to you that this was a joke? Guess a "sense of humor" is not a requirement at Lakes??

Sorry, no advice, but how'd it go man? (or ma'am :confused:)

Great Lakes Interview
 

Thanks for all the responses. The interview went well. I arrived about 45 minutes early the 9:30 interviewee was a no show. They were appreciative of my timing. There were two individuals from the company. One was an administrative and only went through my application and relevant paperwork and gave me the 20 question test.

The assistant chief pilot was the only person at the interview. He reviewed my logbooks while I was taking the test. During the interview it was very relaxed and professional. We discussed my work history and why and how I go into the flying industry with my Masters Degree and Business background and Army work history. All of my hours except for my turbine time have been in my own plane even my recent twin hours are in my 1966 Piper PA30 Twin Comanche. I am current in everything; (Single, Multi, Instrument, Night, Turbine) I hope that doesn't hurt me since Ive never become an instructor or anything. I decided after I my enlistment with the army was up in April that I wanted to continue my career flying professionally.

We then went over A Jeppessen Enroute chart with basic questions like what do they numbers mean in this quadrant. Minimum Enroute Altitude. What do the numbers mean at this airport. Rwy length.
Next was a ILS DME ARC Jeppessen Approach. More detailed with the approach asked how I would do the approach the quickest with no GPS and can not ask for radar vectors. Asked for DME intercept on specific radial. How to know when to go missed on VOR and ILS approach. Lots more questions on the approach. I think the oral questioning went well.

Next asked what questions I had and talked about which aircraft I preferred and the bases. Said with my hours at 1021 Total 235 Multi I would be eligible for upgrade to Captain in about 6 months. SO suggested that the Beech 1900 would be a quicker upgrade path since there are more aircraft.

Also said the company is hiring for the rest of the year and the training class the are interviewing for is October 1st. After all the mixed reviews I am very impressed with the company and their facilities at Denver. I understand that this is a small airline and the pay is very low for 1st year First Officer. But we all also know especially with the new law to be a First Officer need ATP and 1500 hours that all of us pilots that are stuck around 1000 hours that used to be enough to get a good job now desperately need the hours and their is no better or quicker way to get the time than gaining valuable twin turbine time. I would much rather work for low pay and bad hours than go spend another 7k on flight training for all my CFI ratings then go instruct for no money in a single engine plane instructing. Just my view.

I am anxiously awaiting the phone call. They said a no would get an email and a yes would get a personal phone call from him. Hope to be starting class on Oct 1 and look forward to the opportunity to work for Great Lakes or any other professional organization.

Hope this answers everyone's questions. There were a total of 5 interviews and one didn't show up. I only talked to one other pilot and he had around the same time as I did just not as much twin and no turbine time.

Wow. Somebody building time the right way, instead of buying experience. Keep this up, and maybe pay at your first gig willn't be so horrendous.

Bscalis,

I got the phone call a few years back but chose not to take the position. My interview experience was very similar to yours, and I understood the expectations. I talked to current and former Lakes pilots, and I think it would have been a great group and incredible flying. If I lived out west in/near one of the bases, I probably would have taken it, but because I would have had to commute, I passed due to family constraints at the time. I don't think Lakes is a bad move for someone going in with their eyes open. The pay isn't great, but you aren't paying for training, and the flying will really hone your skills!

Good luck, and blue skies!

I say this as a GLA alum. Why would you go to Lakes right now? We are on the verge of a massive hiring boom, where companies like SkyWest, ExpressJet, and Republic will have massive hiring due to attrition, and dropping upgrade times. Why go to Lakes and endure their low pay and non-existent QOL when you could come to a premier regional and have the same end result in the same time frame? Serious question.

You must not realize that some of those places you mentioned and others (Jetblue, Spirit, Airways, Virgin, etc.) have recently hired RJ FO's with 0 turbine PIC time. No upgrade is required!

Capt Tony or anyone else who also has any information.

I am finding myself in a predicament with my current time and all of the airlines that I have researched continually upping their minimums. I have my resume on many sites including airlineapps.com and personally spoke to expressjet. I do not meet there minimums yet and they are raising them every month.

I currently have
1014 TT
239 ME
961 PIC
167 Instrument
144 Night
21.8 Turbine PIC

With these hours if anyone else has an idea of where to apply and be able to get hired I would be extremely grateful for the information.

But for everyone to be harping on the pay constantly is getting old. Please lets keep this forum informative and helpful to pilots not a place to complain.

Personally I have my phone in hand waiting for the phone call and will be thrilled to get it. I am Veteran of the US Army hold a Bachelors Degree and Master Degree, and a current Commercial Multi Engine Instrument Pilot.

But in this economy it is very difficult to find any job as I have been unemployed since May. For everyone complaining about pay be thankful that you have a job it can always be worse and many people are experiencing worse. I will be thankful for my new job and will look forward to upgrading quickly if it is with Great Lakes. If it is not I will also be just as thankful or any other opportunities that come up.

But as a closure; If anyone does know of any positions for me to apply to that I am qualified for, I would be very grateful.

Most other places require more total time than what he/she currently has.

1000 hours PIC in a 1900 is better than 3000 hours SIC in an RJ, no matter where it came from. It is true that those other places will hire without turbine PIC, but should someone experience furlough at some point in his/her career, that 1000 hours PIC in the 1900 will get you hired somewhere else much more quickly.

My .02

ATL

If it's so easy to just "get your time and get out" why isn't everyone doing it? There are no shortcuts in this career and anyone who thinks they're taking one by going to a crappy operator like Lakes better think twice if they want to actually support themselves. I had a friend who tried to convince me to go there while I was instructing. I refused to go due to their insulting pay and QOL. What's funny now is about a year later, I'm trying to help my buddy get on at ExpressJet because he was going crazy there, and what's even more funny are those who think that once they get their magical 1000 TPIC that Delta, UPS, SWA and FedEx will come bursting through their front door wanting to hire them. Going to a place like Lakes or Silver to just get the time and move on sounds much better in theory than it is in real life. Sure, the gamble works out for some, but for most it doesn't.

I don't think you can argue 1000 hours PIC in a 1900 is better than 3000 hours SIC in an RJ or vise versa without looking into specifics regarding individual companies.

Sure you can. I just did. It was My .02, not a fact, remember.

Interviews
 

Did anyone else interview on Sept 14th?

If so has anyone received a phone call or email?

Do some of the majors still have the 20,000 lb min weight requirement for TPIC or has that been dropped? What about the RJ FO's getting a PIC type but not upgrading (for HR 5900) on the same plane that some majors operate (170/190)? Would 1900 PIC time still be better?

I don't know about the 20,000 lb weight requirement, but I think 1900 PIC time is still better.

Great words.

What you say is absolutely true, but it's also absolutely what keeps there from being good pilot jobs.

The potential for a quick upgrade may be a consideration for someone that is thinking about working for a regional. There is a great deal of unpredictability in this industry, so saying Great Lakes is a better choice than one of the "top tier" regional airlines is purely subjective. However, claiming that Great Lakes Captain pay is comparable to SkyWest FO pay is flat out incorrect. On 3rd year CRJ pay you would make $10/hour more (assuming a nice mix of 200/700/900) trips than you would flying left seat at Great Lakes. When you also consider the difference in per diem and the availability of open time for additional income, the two don't even come close. Again, there are lots of other factors to be considered, but from a purely financial standpoint, there's no comparison.

Really what crack are you smoking? I did a 2 year stint while on furlough, upgraded in 6 months and gladly accepted my recall to Xjet. I never made anywhere close to what I was making at Xjet while at Lakes. Second year pay at Xjet is greater than the top pay on the E120. Trust me I am not saying our pay is great at Xjet but it's light years ahead of Lakes.

Going to Lakes is a tough decision there are many CA's at Lakes who thought they would be gone by now but are still there. Heck the FA's make more than FO's on first year pay, contract talks are going now where currently.

Please, enlighten me as to what a "good pilot job" would entail?

I have someone very close in my life who flew F-15's then went to AA. He has been an FO for 20+ years. No Captain because of the lack of growth in the company. Guess what? He loves his life and his job. He makes the best with what he has to work with. (which is significantly less than what he thought he would be making at this point)

Anyone who thinks that little baby Great Lakes is keeping there from being good pilot jobs is mistaken. You can't say a BE1900 crew is holding back the industry because of their pay/QOL. The legacies don't give a care as to what a small turboprop operator is doing. Oh, and we don't take mainline flying away, as if that isn't said enough on here.

Only thing GL does is produce some excellent pilots who are willing to make ends meet on low pay. But don't be mistaken, when the time comes the pilots at Lakes will make a stand for better pay/QOL.
A good pilot job is one that the person who is in the seat upfront is enjoying what they do. I would say flying F-15's is a good job. I would say flying a 777 is a good job. I would say flying the BE1900 is a good job. They all pay you money, some more than others. Get over it.

My .02

Been negotiating a cotract for how long now, most people at lakes weren't on property when they started negotiations, sure to make a stand!

Dude, you have no idea what you're talking about. It's a little more complicated than that and what you said is very disrespectful to our union leadership who have spent 1000's of personal hours taking care of our negotiations. Again, spread the hate elsewhere.

Anyone on here who has never worked a Lakes but has an opinion about working at Lakes is ill informed. Their opinion should be taken that way. If someone is interested in working here, then please ask any questions.

How long has lakes been negotiating for a new contract?

Pilot Jay I have questions for you about working at Great Lakes. I can not PM yet. Can you email me at [email protected]

How long was AA working on "negotiating"? I don't care how long we have been negotiating. I knew what I signed up for with Lakes and why I came to the company. I've gotten everything I wanted plus more. No complaints. If we have the opportunity to "take a stand" as a result of our unions tireless efforts then you can bet your a$$ we will "take a stand"... You have no idea what point we are at in "negotiations" so don't sit here and preach like you know what we are going through. It may be 30 days it may be 3 years before we reach a point that YOU would even begin to see what we have been working on for so long. Sorry, I just annoyed by ignorant people.

I already told you that it wasn't as simple as how long. I already told you it was more complicated.

I don't remember if it was before or after our current contract expired when we ousted those crooks at the 747 local who embezzled all our money (unity). We then voted in our current union(unity).

Then, negotiations started for the flight attendants, as they hadn't had a contract for 9 years. These negotiations held up the pilot's negotiations for a big chunk of the time since our last contract expired. When the flight attendants hit an impass, they told the company they would strike and the mediator said they would be released. The company said they would park the 120's and just fly the 1900's. The mediator said he would also release the pilots since we are now in the same union (unity). The flight attendants had a new contract a short time later.

Our union leadership has had over 50 negotiation meetings with the company and mediator. We have been waiting on the government for things to continue. If we get released, I think we will strike with over 99% agreeing to (unity).

If your statement implies that we have no unity you are very wrong. Your statement that most pilots on property are new since the contract negotiations is wrong. If your statement implies that the reason we don't have a contract is because we have no unity, you are dead wrong.

Considering the reality and circumstances of our situation, this has gone as quickly as possible.

By what I can gather from your info, you have an interest in RAH. I have never worked there, have no idea what your union has gone through, and I have zero idea about the state of your unity. Therefore, I would never be so stupid or brazen to make a blanket statement of the affairs of RAH's pilots or union. Spread the hate elsewhere.