Thanks for the info.

I saw u said your multi time was old. Make sure u are multi current in the last 90 days or u probably won't get the chance to interview and will have wasted time and money going out there. They had been sending people home for that but Im not sure lately with lack of qualified applicants

You mean lack of pilots willing to accept 13K a year

EFIS Tubes true x4

Flight Director: Partial true... All CA's have FD, only a few 1900's have a FD on the FO's side.

I got an invitation to Great Lakes interview, however, I am trying to see if I can get some good, honest inputs on how the heck FOs survive on the pay? Are there any secret bonuses attached to the pay that I don't know about? > 15k a year based on the APC payscale is hardly anything... :/ Can anyone shed some positive light on this?

Well, there isn't much positive light unless you want to include perdiem at 1.35 an hour. Many guys on ramen noodles or pb&j sandwiches etc. You forgot the outstation basing and the training contract. It's 15 months at $7500 not prorated.:mad:

I know I've also been crunching the numbers and it looks pretty tight. On the other hand the pilots there seem to be able to make that 1st year work so there must be ways to figure it out. It seems like a very close knit pilot group so I'm guessing everyone kind of helps everyone else out (finding crash pads etc..)

If you don't mind me asking are your times around the 750/50 minimums? I meet the multi and all of the recency requirements they want but I'm about 100 short on Total Time and I'm wondering if they are calling people under the listed "preferred" minimums. Thanks!

I don't meet the minmums either... I guess that's why they can pay us so little.

As 1500 hr rule approaches, minimums each month continue to increase, as far as Lakes knows, there will be no "grandfather" rule. Great Lakes wants to ensure when the rule is in place, FO's will be able to meet the new minimum time requirements for part 121 pilots.

Why would anyone work here, going to Eagle over this place was the best thing I ever did. I made almost 30k my first year a EGL and will make 40+ 2nd year. I have a friend who went to Expressjet at the same time and is doing even better on pay.

With the mins to get hired going up up up, pick some place better, this place is trash.

Lakes is 100% about the PIC time. Doesn't help too much if noone is hiring....If you want to know the life of someone who spent wayyyyyy too much time there, absolutely hit me up. I got 2K PIC outta the place. May not sound like much, but it's definitely enough to let ya know what is up over the 4.X years I spent there....much like a family environment...like a family environment where daddy smacks you in the face each and every day..

Is there any consensus on what might actually happen at Great Lakes (this time next year) ahead of the 1500 hour rule?

They will probably be hurting for pilots... but will still manage to get by and turn a profit as they have done for years.

I dunno, ask that same question in 5 years when your captain is an ex-laker and your an FO at the same major airline. We do it for the quick PIC time and then move on to bigger and better things. Hows upgrade looking for you at Eagle? ohh wait...nevermind!

I heard from a friend a while ago that it is mostly day trips so you do not get per diem most of the time. What is it like currently? Do you get more overnights or per diem when you are working?

It all depends on which base you get! MSP and DEN has a bunch of 3, 4 and 5 day trips, while PIR, FMN and CYS does indeed have a lot of day turns. Their is enough movement though, you should be able to hold the base of your choice (with poissibly the excption of DEN) within 6 months.

Their is currently a guy in my upgrade class who has been here 8 months, so if you meet the ATP mins, you can upgrade pretty quick. I would throw that in the "good light" colum. After all, you don't come to lakes to be a career FO!

17 years ago a Capt. I was flying with told me the hardest thing about going to a great commuter airline is leaving. I left flying the metro for a 135 co. and went to Continental Express to fly the 1900. Upgrade was quick a and the experience and people were great. It was a fantastic place to work, but I keept moving. If you don't plan on making a carrer out of a commuter or getting rich I think GL is the best way to get a jump start on this crazy carrer.
I have been a Capt. at Frontier for 11 years and flown with many exlakers. I have always had the highest confidence in there ability to fly the airplane.

This guys a joke..he must be so bored sitting reserve for eagle with no upgrade in sight that he has to hang out on lakes threads and try and recruit people to his airline that isn't hiring and will probably furlough his a$$ w/ in the next 6 months. Good thing you didn't come to lakes you wouldn't have made it very far.

He must have washed out of training at Lakes! Either way, glad to see Eagle will fulfill his career dreams!

Try not to stoop to his level guys.

you have to be kidding me, are you trying to defend your horrible work environment, the place that got kicks out of taking you TV away in the crew lounge. Come on guys. Get a job at expressjet the second you have the time to bail, greatlakes is not worth anything.

Not to bash on lakes, or say another regional is better than other because i am staring at stagnation and an uncertain future at Eagle! Lakes is a place where you go do your time get T-Pic and get out to bigger and better things, but with that said let's say you upgrade with around 2,000 hrs and then get your self 1,000 T-Pic... Now what? There are a lot of RJ captains out there who has 1,000s of T-Pic and a lot of these guys who were hired in the late 90's or early 2000's are young enough to make a move, they too have time in smaller turbo props like an SF340 but also have time in sophisticated aircraft! Must of these guys needed 1,000s of hours to be hired at their regionals so they have a better resume. With that in mind, US Airways has done limited hiring this year and the average new hire has 5K T-Pic! Not to bash you guys but in this competitive environment what does 1000 hrs on aircraft that is a transport category do for me?

You guys have to become good sticks or you die, plain and simple... But with the aircraft you fly now in days there is more to it than just stick and rudder! Pushing buttons it's easy once you know what you are doing and the reasoning behind the system! Most at Lakes will be captain before most of us at other regionals but one has to ponder what do 3K TT & 1K T-Pic in a 1900 get you these days. I agree wingtips is being a little over the top, I am not sure what she gets by acting like this (I normally agree with her).

I have to agree with this. Ask Commute Air pilots how many of their guys were picked up by JetBlue, Virgin, ect when the short hiring window opened... Most of these guys were told they needed FMS/glass time and re-apply. The dash 2-300 hold a lot more pax than a 1900. Now, at Colgan on the Q400 which has glass and FMS, there have been numerous guys picked up by these airlines. Something to think about. The 1900 is commuter category not transport. Just my .02

I hear what you guys are saying and it is true for the most part. We all know that right now 1000pic in a 1900 doesn't mean your getting a job or even make you competitive. Although it does make you more competitive than an r j f/o w/ 4-5000 sic. What is the point in being a 7 year f/o w/ no upgrade in sight when the majors start hiring. Of course we know the guys with 5000pic in a jet will get the first calls but, i would think that when it makes it way down to lower time pilots the 2 year lakes captain with 1200 pic would get a call before a 8 year f/o w/ 5500 sic. People bash on lakes for a lot of reasons. Lakes is a means to a better end, and that's all that anyone here looks at it as. There is no such thing as a lifer at lakes. Its a good pilot group that gets treated like dirt, but we have fun doing what we do and hope that pays off down the road.

Um, I think you're mistaken. I personally know 6 good friends from ExpressJet and SkyWest that were hired recently by Virgin, Blue and Spirit all were FOs with 0 121 PIC time. I think 5000hrs of jet time is worth a lot more than BE1900 PIC time.

FWIW
Great Lakes Airlines pilots ask mediation release

BTW, I am a lowly laker and i just got hired by a major.

Congrats Lopez. I didn't say that 5000 sic jet was worthless. But Pic time is much more valuable than sic time overall. Just this month we had at least 6 lakers go to majors, 4 of them to Alaska. Which I would take over jet blue, virgin, or spirit. Not to bash those places at all just saying lakers do get hired at majors with just 1900 pic time.

Never said it wasn't impossible. But personally, I would choose JetBlue over Alaska. Just my .02

It will be interesting what happens with Alaska as they have ties with AMR and Delta out west with the current contract being negotiated at Delta and whatever happens with AMR. Jetblue's cost are starting to rise and is a very junior group, Alaska has been around for a while and seem to doing relatively well. It's a crap shoot. Congrats to who just got hired by a major, it's good to hear guys are moving forward.

I'm a regional f/o about to be furloughed and have considered Great Lakes for the quick upgrade. My concern is with the 1500 hr rule they will have a tough time getting pilots with the low pay. I fear if I were to go there I might get stuck in the right seat with no one coming in behind me. Thoughts?

I believe they operate under part 135, not sure if the new rule applies to them or not :confused:

Lakes is 121, not 135..

There ya have it. I have my head buried into OO. :rolleyes:

Lakes is a 121 operator but utilizes 135 FAR for scheduling purposes!

What, I'm not sure exactly what your purpose is but you sure seem to like stirring the pot on the Lakes thread right now. You are correct on this, however it seems like you are trying to bash us for some reason?

Lakes does have an opspec that allows using Part 135 rest rules as a Part 121 operator. It is because of the seating capacity / payload of the aircraft in our fleet. Basically it allows us to do 1200/yr, 120/month, and 34/7... as opposed to your 1000/100/30. I don't think it's a big deal considering I'm at Lakes to build hours and experience...

It will be interesting to see what Lakes does (if anything) to attract new pilots once the 1500 hr rule kicks in. As far as I know, the plan isn't to go out of business due to lack of pilots...

How is it at Great Lakes I am going to be interview there 6/6 how is reserve if any?

Lopez could have gotten a job with 2 hours of EMB FO time because he's just so danged handsome! That's why I'm still here. It's tough to get jobs when you interview with a paper bag over your head.

Probably every question you have about Lakes could be answered by reviewing the threads.

Just have a mission statement in mind if you come here. You need to study hard through training, fly as much as you can, and upgrade. Be a good FO and learn from your captains (become a chameleon). Keep your nose clean here and try to do everything as a professional. After about 1 year you can upgrade to Captain (if you meet ATP requirements) and enjoy that for a little while. Then move on to whatever will further your career. You will make lifelong friends and have a great time flying in our environment. There will be days that are not so fun (junior man / extensions) but if you keep the end goal in mind then it helps.

We seem to be stretched thin on pilots (whats new?) so even if you are on reserve you will be flying a bunch. In all reality you will probably hold a line right out of training as some of the outstation bases have lines that are "open".

Just keep an open mind and please do as much research as you can before making a decision on where to go. For me, the pros outweighed the cons and I don't regret working at Lakes. I am looking forward to moving on one day though :)

That is what I was doing and so far I talked to the asst chief at the job fair and he was putting it all out there the pros and cons.

Nobody is stirring the pot, a guy made a mistake and he was corrected and then I explained to him that Lakes is a 121 operator but utilizes 135 for scheduling! On the replies earlier today I didn't put lakes down, we exchanged the competitiveness of 1000 hrs T-Pic on a 1900. Also someone was bashing lakes and I stated she was over the top. I don't see lakes stuguling any more or any less than any other regional because people will still seek the quick upgrades!