I'm probably gonna get flamed a la flightinfo style for saying this, but someone with a wife and kids shouldn't be entering the regionals with the idea of racking up credit card debt. That's a downward spiral that most people just can't get out of. If you want to fly professionally, I would probably look into a job such as Airnet or Ameriflight, something a little more stable with you being home at night (errr, I mean day :)) with the ability to earn more money (average at Airnet I hear is in the low $30's first year). Flight Express just gave its pilots a raise, first year pay ranges from $23,000 to almost $44,000 if you want a 14 hour duty day run. The issue with those companies is you generally can't commute (at Airnet you can, I believe they have an 8 on 6 off schedule for some runs, but I'm not that familiar with their operation).

[quote=fosters;82839] I would probably look into a job such as Airnet or Ameriflight, something a little more stable with you being home at night (errr, I mean day :)) with the ability to earn more mone [quote]


APC lists Amflight pay at about $1900/mo. Not much better than a 1st year regional:(
The difference is that at some regionals you can upgrade fast and ger $40+/hour while at Amflight the salary increases at a slower pace.

Its true that its a big financial hit to get a job at a regional, but I guess it depends where you're coming from. Many guys come from crappy CFI jobs where they might make less than that....so they are getting a raise in effect!

See but that's where your knowledge of the company is lacking. Yes; their Navajo pay is ~$23k/yr. Little do you know their BE99 upgrade is 2-6 months, and that's only if you don't have the time needed to get it when hired. You're looking at ~$28k/yr with retention bonus. The Metro upgrade is at the 1 year mark - that's $41k/yr. Do that for another year and become a check pilot - they have been there two years and are now making $55k-$60k.

If hired on at similar time at Skywest (1200TT) you won't upgrade for at least 1 year, most likely 1.5 years due to their requirements to upgrade. Another quick upgrade carrier - Colgan, has their upgrade at over two years now according to an inside source which puts you making low $20k's for two years.

The downside with AMF is the duty days suck at first. I hear with senority it gets better. As with anything in life, it's a tradeoff.

Buffalo...you've been on this site for a long time. I can't believe you are NOW just figuring out that first year pay at the regionals sucks. I don't know what you are doing now (I think I remember you said you were flying corporate?) but have you thought about opportunities at your current company or moving straight to the fractionals? If you haven't crunched the numbers by now you may want to pass on the Comair job. If something happens with Delta and Comair shrinks or goes away completely then you will find out real quick the furlough pay is even worse than 1st year. I guess what I'm trying to say is this: it's one thing for a 22 year old CFI to chase the dream and live in a crappy apartment with 2 roommates and eat ramen. But it is another thing entirely when you have a wife and kids and are not financially stable with less than your current level of income. Don't sell out your wife and kids to chase the dream. Not trying to be a downer, just make sure you aren't wearing rose colored glasses and drinking lots of kool-aid.