Originally Posted by tpersuit (Post 618066)

You guys make me laugh. Well I guess I should have just gone to the lowest paying jobs out there when I got my 200 hours. You do know that regionals were hiring pilots with as little as 200 hours don't you?

And yes, waiting to get on with a more reputable regional does help make small difference. By your reasoning, I should have gone to the first and lowest paying job I could have.

800 hours is a huge difference than 500 hours. Some people even held out to a 1,000 hours, which is even more because they wanted to go to Skywest.

As for bashing on Colgan, save the grief. I am not on here to trash the Colgan group. But, if for one second you want to get on my case for pointing out a Colgan FO makes about 70-80% of the pay an ExpressJet FO makes for doing the same flying, but with 20 more seats, by all means keep it up.

A Colgan FO, which flies 70 seats, makes 70-80% of an ExpressJet FO who flies 50 seats.

DMEarc, I'm really excited for you that you got your mainline gid in under 2 years. I'm so glad you didn't care about the regional you went to so you could build "your time". I'll tell you one thing, I could make a career at ExpressJet, would you be willing to make a career at Colgan?

Originally Posted by tpersuit (Post 618086)

Based on your theory, why don't I just go to GoJets then?

Originally Posted by Yzerman (Post 618073)

Bad spelling aside, some might make a case that a repo flight that killed only the arguably irresponsible pilots vs. other flights I'm not going to name that killed innocent passengers as well is slightly less embarrassing. Not trying to burn or defend anyone, but I'm just saying...

Originally Posted by wes3001 (Post 618093)

Holding out for a regional isn't going anywhere. Regionals should be a stepping stone period! 10 captain on an rj getting paid $90k doesn't help this industry. In fact it hurts this industry cause you undercut the majors so you can fly those routes(and paint the majors colors on the side) If you wanted to do it right you should volunteer in your union and try to make the industry better. Cause you blaming the Colgan pilots doesn't make you innocent. You are part of the problem also.

Originally Posted by DMEarc (Post 618078)

Hmm...Management would love to hear you want to stay there for your career! You're willing to sell yourself just to fly jets, huh?

Originally Posted by mooney (Post 618268)

Not true. Management hates anyone above year 4 payscale. They want you to upgrade in 2 years, get 1000 pic and get the heck out so they can keep everyone under 4 year payscale.

Originally Posted by dashtrash300 (Post 618261)

I couldn't agree with you more sir!!! Regionals should be a stepping stone period. Lifers give the industry a bad name. I can't tell you how many times these guys have tried to defend their whole QOL bull crap. I am sorry, but $80 an hour to fly a Dash 8 or an RJ is not QOL especially when you can be making that as a 3rd year FO at most majors. "Well I could have gone but I didn't want to move my family." BULL CRAP!!!!! You couldn't make it at a major. You couldn't deal with being the low man at the company again. You just didn't want to deal with being an FO again and not being "in charge." You would rather have an easy to fly Dash 8 or RJ for your career and make $80-$90 an hour then to do something real with your lives. You lifers don't even try to defend it. You are bringing the industry down and you need to go find a real job.

God that felt good!!!

Originally Posted by tpersuit (Post 618456)

Somebody is upset they haven't upgraded yet. You just proved the point that regionals should NOT be a stepping stone. It should be a career choice.

You know, you do sound like someone in management trying to convince everyone it is OK to work at the regionals for peanuts, because pilots will only spend a couple of years there.

Originally Posted by DMEarc (Post 618462)

And you sound like a person who is completely fine with undercutting my ALPA union contract and flying around a 50 seat jet for FAR LESS than my pilot group would.

Colgan is undercutting you. You are undercutting me. Thank you for putting me on the street, tpersuit.

Originally Posted by dashtrash300 (Post 618261)

I couldn't agree with you more sir!!! Regionals should be a stepping stone period. Lifers give the industry a bad name. I can't tell you how many times these guys have tried to defend their whole QOL bull crap. I am sorry, but $80 an hour to fly a Dash 8 or an RJ is not QOL especially when you can be making that as a 3rd year FO at most majors. "Well I could have gone but I didn't want to move my family." BULL CRAP!!!!! You couldn't make it at a major. You couldn't deal with being the low man at the company again. You just didn't want to deal with being an FO again and not being "in charge." You would rather have an easy to fly Dash 8 or RJ for your career and make $80-$90 an hour then to do something real with your lives. You lifers don't even try to defend it. You are bringing the industry down and you need to go find a real job.

God that felt good!!!

Originally Posted by IBPilot (Post 618494)

let's see...10 year plus regional CA, 18 days off, PIC, live where you want to, bid what you want, make 100k........

10 year CA goes to mainline.....12 days off, reserve god knows how long, bottom of the barrel schedules for who knows how long, being an FO for 10+ more years all for just 25-30K more per year.......plus furloughs.

the line is not as clear as you may think it is. Not everyone needs 175k to be happy in life, there are other things...and not everyone needs to fly a 74 to feed their ego.

when you get more experience you might see it this way....

Originally Posted by dashtrash300 (Post 618543)

I pray I never do. Enjoy the respect you think you are getting from your 23 year old FO and 50 year old FA. But hey, you might just be a lucky guy and get 2 FAs!!!!!

Originally Posted by IBPilot (Post 618547)

actually I get quite a bit of respect. More than you'll ever get with that attitude.
23 year old FO? yeah you know it all already don't you? so much wiser than the CA....:rolleyes:

In general, most 30 year old plus CA's get more respect than you 23 year old FO"s anyways...enjoy that cool factor/respect you think you are getting...you don't hear any jokes about us older CA's walking thru the airport with our ipods, frosted hair and backpacks....SJS at it's finest

Originally Posted by dashtrash300 (Post 598618)

My plan WAS to get hired after college with a regional (at 21), spend 2 years in the right seat then upgrade when I turned 23. Spend about a year and a half as a captain and then move over to a certain major to fly with my Dad for like 5 years before he retires and my cousin for like 15 years before he retires.

So far, I got hired after college at 21 with a regional. Sadly, it was with a retirement regional so 55 of our current captains were hired before I was born and 93 of our captains were hired before 1990 with the most junior captain being on for 4 years! Not to mention the top 3-4 captains were hired before 1980. So because of these guys that wouldn't move on to bigger and better things, I am now worrying about my job in the right seat praying that I don't get furloughed. Since when did a regional airline become a stopping point in aviation?

The moral of the story is that having a plan is great! It helps to set in motion what you need to do to get things done. Just make sure that you are flexible and know that not everything works out the way we want it.

Originally Posted by dashtrash300 (Post 608447)

Yeah, I wasn't sure. I have only been here at Piedmont for just under 3 years so I wasn't around when any "contract" was signed for jet flying. I am just going by what every angry lifer captain here at Piedmont has told me. Which isn't saying to much about my intelligence. ;)

Originally Posted by dashtrash300 (Post 618549)

First off buddy, I never said I was 23. And who cares if I was. I have met 23 year FO's and CA's that could fly circles around 50 year old CA's. Age has nothing to do with it.

Originally Posted by dashtrash300 (Post 618261)

I couldn't agree with you more sir!!! Regionals should be a stepping stone period. Lifers give the industry a bad name. I can't tell you how many times these guys have tried to defend their whole QOL bull crap. I am sorry, but $80 an hour to fly a Dash 8 or an RJ is not QOL especially when you can be making that as a 3rd year FO at most majors. "Well I could have gone but I didn't want to move my family." BULL CRAP!!!!! You couldn't make it at a major. You couldn't deal with being the low man at the company again. You just didn't want to deal with being an FO again and not being "in charge." You would rather have an easy to fly Dash 8 or RJ for your career and make $80-$90 an hour then to do something real with your lives. You lifers don't even try to defend it. You are bringing the industry down and you need to go find a real job.

God that felt good!!!