True statement. I would not have jumped into this profession in today's world.

Honestly, I have trouble understanding what many of these kids are thinking today. A regional career does not offer enough compensation to justify the hassles and uncertainty. Not planning on staying at a regional?

Unless you have outside employment/income sources, or are absolutely certain that you can get a job flying for a great major (ie top-level family connections), you are taking a big risk if your entire game plan consists of SWA/UPS/FDX.

 

No I am not saying this..... Never did I post anything about gaining more respect from your captains by having more time. What gains your captains respect is your ability to operate the aircraft safely and according to set procedures, having a good grasp of the ATC system and the ability to make good sound decisions. All of the above come from experience. Lets face it a 1000 hour pilot is low time, heck even 4000 hours isn't all that much. Personally I didn't feel like I really had been around until over 5000 hours. When I got hired at a major airline the average male in my class had over 10,000 hours and 4 type ratings! Did this make us great pilots? In itself no, but what it did do is provide the guys we were flying with a level of competence and knowledge that was garnered from experience.

 

I dont know about that rick. I have a friend that has been at a regional for about 12 years now andhe is quite happy., he flies four days a week and has three weeks off. That sounds pretty goood to me.

 

Amen... and that just might tilt the supply/demand curve in our favor.

 

There still are freight jobs. Mountain Air, Ameriflight, AirNow, Flight Express, Star Check, and others still occasionally post job openings. Not many, but more than any of the regionals. You probably will end up living in Toad Lick, Arkansas and wont be able to commute. They pay better and have higher standards because they need Captains who can (or could) hand fly an NDB in non-radar environment , not "captains in training".

You keep asking where are these 135 jobs. How many aviation job boards have you joined? I have been a member of Climbto350, Avianation, WillFlyForFood, FindaPilot, and US PIlot at various times. How many FBOs have you gone to and passed out resumes?

And you said the only offers you had were "crappy" CFI jobs. Crappy how? not many hours? Low pay? Old ratty airplanes? Well, guess what.... that is what many of us had to deal with.

Sorry if I sound unsympathetic, but it can be done if one works hard enough.

 

You can never really criticize somebody's decision to stay at a regional for whatever reason. Your buddy enjoys a decent enough QOL that suits him well. And in reality, that three weeks off is probably more than that. At my shop, 1 "week" of vacation usually equates to 21 days off, with no hit in minimum monthly guarantee. So three weeks would be 63 days off a year, and possibly more depending on how you bid. Not too shabby.

But some things that have to be considered;

He's been there 12 years, how old will you be if you reach that level? If you got hired today, how long would it take you to get into the CA's seat and start earning a better paycheck than an FO gets?

Again, 12 years. How much career crap sandwich did he have to eat in those 12 years? By that, regional CBA's aren't what they always were in the past. How many years did he spend making sub par wages to get to that point? Was he fortunate enough to get into the CA's seat quickly and not have to give it up a time or two? Or did he have to sit FO for years before upgrading? Also, 12 years, depending on where he's at, PFT was the norm, not the exception.

And here's the most important, it's STILL a "regional" airline. Regional airline employees will ALWAYS be subject to the same problems. Watching the flying be parceled out to another carrier, being forced into concessions because the legacy they codeshare is losing money like crazy, regional airline management, etc. Long workdays and short overnights.

Can that happen at a legacy/major as well? Of course it can. But being the whipping boy of a management who is THEN the whipping boy of ANOTHER management is no fun. In other words, being a regional pilot means you're the whipping boy, twice removed.

 

Here we go again with the "I did it this way so you should too".

And talk about a waste of money, those aviation job boards are useless.

And yea, the CFI job compared to the regional job was craptacular. Old airplanes, shoddy mx, low pay, the whole shabang. Would I have taken the job if I had nothing else lined up?... yes. But I did, so I didn't and I'm thankful I didn't have to go through it. Would I have learned a couple of things doin patterns and steep turns in a 172 all day? Maybe, but I've learned much more where I am today. And I know all the naysayers out there are gonna say, "LEARNED? you shouldn't be just learning things when you're at a 121 with pax in the back!!!!" BULL, you learn new things almost every trip no matter how many hours you have, and I'm not talking about the basics like how to pick up clnc at an uncontrolled field. By the time you have your CFI or commercial you should know that (hell you should know that before you have your private) and if you don't that's where the training department should come in and kick your asz to the curb.

Just the other day a captain gave me some pointers on how to land without a yaw damper in a gusty crosswind. Now, would I have learned that CFIng it, or flying some checks around in a Baron? No. And it's a two way street, I showed him that there was multiple ways to identify the FAF on our LOC approach when the VOR was out (seemed kinda obvious to me but I guess even with his 10,000 + hours of experience he didn't know that there was).

All I'm saying is that from my perspective it doesn't make sense to put a minimum number of hours to sit in the right seat 121. It should be left up to the carrier's training department with strict oversight from the FAA on who gets to become and stay an airline pilot.

 

BSouth, what do you know about being a PIC?

Outside of flight school environment, have you ever been a PIC? When was the last time you had to make a PIC decision?

Now, do you think our customers deserve to have a captain who's JUST NOW learning how to be a PIC? Bear in mind, airlines don't hire career FO's unless it's Eagle or USAirways....


Just a thought...

 

That is because you have never sat in the left seat and flown with a no/low experienced pilot. I can assure you that hours make a huge difference in ability and competence. The hours gained being a CFI are excellent because you are able to see others mistakes and learn from them. Is flying freight or teaching others the only/best way to garner experience? No there are lots of ways as others have pointed out. But sitting in the right seat for a 121 pax operation with less than an ATP isn't asking too much. Using your philosophy there wouldn't be a minimum number of hours for a commercial or ATP certificate either. Heck even my some has minimum driving experience required prior to being able to operate a car.

 

How about require an ATP or XXXhrs Dual Given as a CFI