If you've got talent, treat the regionals like graduate school. Get in where you can upgrade quickly and graduate (Multi engine turbine pic) and then get out.

ALL my friends in grad programs started out at 30k+ in their 1st year. Show me all the regionals that give you that kind of money.

QOL, work rules and crew meals don't mean squat switch to your future major airline's hiring board.

If you think that QOL and works rules don't mean anything just because it's a stepping stone, don't complain about pay or fatigue. Ever.

Like it or not, the Regionals are now a career-destination for many-a-Pilot...They've outgrown the dated "get in and get out" times. I say do your best to make it the best ride possible, 'cause you never know what's around the next corner.

AB...the sooner many wrap theirheads around what you said the sooner things will start to improve

...how about you go to a 4-year school, join AF ROTC, apply for OTS...and fly in the Military. Guaranteed gov't benefits/pension/steady paycheck from day one!!!

Bypass the regionals, and go fly for FedEx/UPS...and make all of us regional pilots jelous!

enough said...

Looked into that. Answer is because AF doesn't guarantee anything. Got a brother right now who wanted to be pushing the throttles by now but instead(5 years later) is still pushing a pen. He was promised 6 months before flight classes. 60 months later.......

Looked into that myself as well...Busted my tail and even got a coveted AFROTC Type 2 scholarship. Lucky me got it yanked thanks to budget cuts just before my school received their first check.

A lot of my friends, also hoping for their wings are now not getting any stick-time. It's not for everybody, and just like the Airlines, it's all about timing. Three years earlier and I would have had college paid for by the government, with the AF asking me to resign prior to commissioning, minus the penalties and paybacks, due to lack of officer slots for graduating seniors.

And there's always the ANG ;)

I hope so...it doesn't matter where you are or how quickly you plan on moving on - the only right thing to do is make sure you do anything in your power to make it a better place for those climbing the ladder below you.

The lack of a guarantee is one reason I never went the military route. Ive heard tha argument that they're not looking for pilots, they're looking for officers bla bla bla. They're probably loosing out on a lot of great pilots. I'm not very interested in the "officer" bit and all that goes with it, but I'd do it if they guaranteed me a flight spot. I know lots of people who feel the same way.

Senior -

Even if they did guarantee a flight slot - you still have to do the "officer bit" as you put it. You are probably still going to have soldiers/airmen/sailors or Marines working for you and you have to take care of your people. Also - except for *maybe* the Army WO program (and I don't know anything about it), there are a million other things to take up your time while you're trying to fly - most of them "officer" related in some way.

In short - if you didn't want to do the "officer bit" then you took the right road.

USMCFLYR

you know, i think if it wasn't for 9/11 there would be far fewer people who'd look to the regionals as a long term career type of location, as opposed to the simple stepping stone. Problem (as i see it) was that many individuals who would have made the jump ended up stagnated for an extra 6 + years, and when things at the majors finally started looking up again, these guys were senior, stable, and comfortable which in turn caused them to "stick around". Not saying it's a bad thing, nor a good thing, but the truth seems to be that we're all a bunch of dogs fighting each other over the scraps that get thrown off the table......And as long as we're in that situation, we'll have a hard time making things better, FOR ALL OF US.