Don't know much about Key Lime but pilots were leaving in bunches from Colgan during 2005-2007. Many left for Airtran, and Continental. Some went to SWA and Allegiant. Many had zero jet time. I would bet many will leave in the future for the majors, it doesn't matter what anyone says on this message board. 121 turbine PIC time is valuable.

 

As others have said, 2 year upgrades at Colgan don't exist anymore. I would GUESS more like 3-5 years. And unless Key Lime is so bad, they can't keep people, I would question the 12 month to a Metro promise.

Another 1000 hours instructing will not improve your chances to get hired with almost any airline; but, as slowly as hiring is going right now, where ever you go, you will be at the bottom of the seniority for a LONG time. Be sure the life you have at your new job is an improvement over instructing. You will probably be sitting a bunch of reserve making $18,900 the first year at Colgan.... and commuting to reserve SSucksS! And a big unknown for Colgan is the contract: when will we get one and what will it be like.

I flew 135 for several years and liked it. Great experience if you don't do something stupid and kill yourself (if you know the regs, the airplane's limitations, the wx, the terrain, and how to fly ugly IFR, you will do fine.) Flying the 'jo in Colorado could be exciting.... especially single engine! After that, flying coupled ILSs in an RJ will be boring. If they offered a base that I liked, I would be tempted.

I DO NOT like the "First officer training program" (aka Pay to play) that Key Lime has, but that is just my opinion. Remember though, if the program attracts many people, when you do go to the Metro, you will be MEI-ing any idiot with 10,000 bucks burning a hole in his pocket. I wouldn't want to do that in a 15,000 pound aircraft, in the mountains, while trying to keep a schedule.... but that is just me.

Good luck

 

Key Lime. PIC time/experience. Unless something very unexpected happens, the upgrade is gonna run well over 2 years at Colgan.

 

Funny... When those were my choices I quit flying. But thats just me

 

Spoliers, it's killin' me, where DID you get the avitar??!??! Priceless!!

 

are you seriuos or just being sarcastic??.. I'm sure the thread starter's career goal is to fly a Global Express, G-V or end up at a major..

I don't think he cares about the retirement options at colgan or Key lime

 

Key Lime doesn't have the best reputation...in fact, I'd wager it to be worse in professional pilot circles than Colgan.

A prudent pilot might check the NTSB database to see just how many incidents/accidents Key Lime has had in the last decade...and the nature of those events.

 

For the record, before this post I had never heard of Key Lime Air. If it's the one listed on APC under charters then I'd say they're telling you more of the truth than colgan likely is. APC claims they have 31 active pilots and 40 airplanes. I guess with that math all of their "pilots" must be captains and all the FO's pay to play? I obviously never support pay to play operations, however if you aren't one of the guys paying then that would be ok in my eyes. I would keep in mind however that you'll be getting to use that MEI more there than you would at colgan with a properly certified captain.
Colgan Air according to APC has 48 aircraft and 429 pilots. Lets assume that you have to be in the top half of a list to become a pilot (math no one ever bothered to explain to me when I was joining the airline world) So you have to be in the top 215, meaning you won't get an upgrade until 215 guys in front of you have left. You're a CFI now so perhaps you ahven't noticed, but as of lately no one is leaving. When I started at the airlines 3 years ago, I too was going to get a 2 year -ish upgrade. Then the flowthru agreement we had slowed down and stopped, those 75 captains that were supposed to leave never did and I eventually got furloughed.
I DO NOT think you should go somewhere chasing the upgrade, but if you insist, it sure seems more likely that you'd upgrade (maybe even direct hired captain) at Key Lime Air before Colgan. So if that's all you care about there's your answer.

Additional info, I have no idea the work rules at either and thus my comments do not discuss work rules. Either one of those could have work rules that would make it a vastly superior choice, but you'd need pilots from both to find out.

 

Dare I say, I think 1000 turbine PIC or better will be competitive when hiring picks up again. A large amount of pilots are currently working as RJ captains making between 55-100K per year. The current downturn has lasted over 2 years and many pilots just missed getting into a major during the last hiring spree. Every month that goes by these pilots are another month into their lives. People have houses, kids, wives, cars, motorcycles, child support, BILLS. How many RJ captains are in the their mid 30's and beyond? Many will not be able to take a pay cut of 30-40K a year to start over at a place like Delta or Continental, even though the long term pay off would probably be worth it. They will be somewhat of a slave to the regional. I bet a guy is looking at 3 years to get back to 80K a year if they left for a major. How many can swing that?

How many times have you heard a guy say "I would only leave for UPS, FedEx, or SWA"? How many are those three going to really hire in the future?

How many senior regional pilots made no attempt to leave during the last hiring boom?

Lots of pilots were getting called or hired by the majors in 2007 with less than 1000 turbine PIC despite everyone right after 9/11 saying that it would be ultra competitive.

I predict anyone hired at colgan as of late will do just fine long term.

 

Thanks! I forgot to mention that. Key Lime has a terrible reputation, and that is sugarcoating it. Ask any of the locals in Denver, the majority will tell you to stay far away from that place. It is not worth it, just for the training contract itself. Did I mention that it was for 18-months worth $7500 to fly a Navajo? And again, if you leave after 17 months, you owe them $7500 and they will come after you! And if you upgrade at 12 months, you sign another contract!

If you want to get some good experience and want to advance into Turbines, I would recommend looking at Ameriflight. They are picking up new guys every month. Friend of mine is upgrading to the BE-99 next month, and he's been with AMF for a year now.