Yeah..you seriously let US know when YOUR company is hiring....

 

A few universal truths:

91/119/135
1. Almost always live in you base.
2. Bases don't change too often
3. Career pay is flatter (starts higher but doesn't increase as much)
4. YOU file flight plans. YOU make all the decisions.
5. Very limited travel benefits
6. May never had "hard" days off
7. If you are flying two pilot, you will probably fly with the same person (or 2-3 people) your whole time there.

121
1. Live wherever you want, but deal with the commute.
2. Bases can open and close fairly quickly
3. Pay starts crappy. If you hit the lotto and get on with a mainline and spend 20+ years there, the pay gets pretty good.
4. Dispatchers (or rather the computers they use) calculate and file flight plans.
5. Good travel benefits
6. Have a minimum of 10 days off (at my company-I think the lowest). Not bad if you live in base, but, depending on your commute, that 10 days could turn into a quick slap and tickle with the Mrs. while doing your laundry.
7. You can bid to avoid that one "jerk" captain.


Having done both, I prefer:

the schedules of 121
the flying of 135
the smaller companies of 91/135

Good luck

 

I flew for Air Wisconsin for 23 months and have been in my current 91 job 22 months; you'd have to drag me kicking and screaming away from my current gig to go back to a regional airline. Yes, its much different than the airlines in almost every way (other than flying Point A to B) and as you well know, there are corporate pilots that want nothing to do with airline flying and some airline pilots that want nothing to do with corporate flying. I personally think having an airline background helps give a bizav pilot perspective (in customer service or rather how not to do it, flying in challenging weather, etc) and there is no denying the quantity of quality experience you can gain over a short period of time at a regional airline.

If you did leave your job, you wouldn't be the first person to have a career path of entry-level 91/135, regional airline to build turbine multi time, then back to the 91/135 world with a substantially fatter logbook and experience bank (and lighter checkbook)!

That said, Netjets will require a bare minimum of 2500tt and an ATP; will you get both of those in a reasonable amount of time at your current job? How long until you can upgrade to the King Air?

 

I have done both-Part 121 for many years (left as a Boeing Captain) and Part 91 for the last 5. No comparison. 121 builds up your time, your confidence. Part 91 tests all the things you learned in the years of 121 every flight.
Pay in a good Part 91 flight department is much better than 121. Besides salaries that top the wide body 747 Captains, the benefits cannot be beat.
Warm destinations in the winter, Asia/Europe in the summer.
There are 3 types of corporate flying:
Part 135: enough said.
A bad part 91 job: good while you are looking for:
A good Part 91 job. Time off, mentally challenging and incredible job satisfaction.

If you just want to fly from A to B, corporate is not the way. If you want to challenge yourself both personally and professionally everyday, it does not get any better.

 

A few years ago I came upon a fork in my career path. I was not sure what to do and a good friend of mine told me this "choose one path and go with one heart and if it works, then well and good. If it doesn't, then move on and have no regrets" R.I.P Victor

 

I should be able to build the 2500tt pretty quick. I fly about 40-50 hrs a month. My company will pay for me to get my atp. As far as upgrading to the king air. That may be a few more years. But then again it may be a few more years before the regionals start hiring again. Thanks again for all the advise.

 

Sorry to go off topic but I had a quick question. What job duties/description do you all have on your resume for being an FO? I am just unsure how to word getting atis, clearance, weight and balance, preflight, etc....

(besides gear b$itch, flap operator, bag carrier to the flight attendant, worthless, etc...)

 

Here's what I had on my resume when I got my current Part 91 job; the formatting may look jacked up to read here but it fits in the overall context of my resume:

 

"When you get to the fork in the road, take it"
- Yogi Berra

 

Thank you very much!