Staying at a regional
 

Just out of curiosity, how many regional guys out there intend to stay at their airline indefinetly(maybe 'til retirement)? A lot of the guys that I fly with intend to do just this. I know that there are pros and cons(like anything), but I think that the biggest con is that you are cheating yourself(and family) of a good amount of money(considered over a career).

Some of us would make our career at a regional, but then again this is post deregulation and the regional can vanish in a heartbeat!

Risk
 

Life is risk. I had similar aspirations and left my regional in attempts of reaching my dream job and now pound nails. The reverse is that had I stayed I would be a fairly senior captain earning less than a school teacher. For some it is worth it, not for me. I took the risk and lost. Though my job today is less glamorous I earn much more and have a better life, but have to suffer loosing my dream.

That's Life,

SkyHigh


Think not what you can do for your company, but what your company can do for you.... SH

With the thought of keeping costs low, I don't think that most regionals want you to stay very long. Everybody (in mgmt.) likes employees who are lower down on the senority list.

Skyhigh,

If you had to do it all over again, what would it be?

um and just what do you think school teachers make?

School teachers in some places (like cali) really rake it in on the benefits...my in-laws take home $70K EACH in retirement pay (yes 70 x 2 = 140K) which is more than they made when they were were working 15 years ago. Obviously this is a pretty secure deal, more so than an airline pension lol. And they had summers off too :eek:

But it takes a lifetime of work to get to that point.

Yes, that is Mesa's strategy, as stated by JO publicly on numerous occasions and to me personally.

It used to be easy, everybody would bail to the majors but since that is not an option for most folks even mesa is getting pretty top-heavy. I think their current strategy is to make the place so miserable that their senior guys just give up on flying and quit; they have to get rid of them somehow.

That was a joke....I think. Regional pilots need to get out of the time-building mentality, because most of them are going to be building time for a very LONG time.

Thread
 

There is a thread about this very subject. In it I prove that teachers earn much more over a career and have a much better quality of life. In my state an average school teacher earns 42K and start out earning more from day one, have an actual state funded retirement plan, enjoy stability in their career, have every state holiday and the entire summer off. In addition, they don't need the additional 40K plus in training expenses.

SKyHigh

Do Over..
 

Honestly I would have gotten a geology degree instead, bought a house with the money I wasted on my flight training, enjoyed a good life and forgotten all about this flying non-sense.


SkyHigh