Best regional jet outfit for a new FO?
05-13-2014 | 01:05 PM
#21
Fly-curious
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 64
Likes: 0
Right on! I built a lucrative law practice. I'm leaving the day-to-day in the hands of a young associates while I fly jets for twenty-something bucks an hour.
05-13-2014 | 01:27 PM
#22
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 1,272
Likes: 0
From: Another RJ FO
I know that sounds easy, but...the number of people with Ivy League degrees, whose net worth is enough to own and operate a turbine aircraft, is extremely, extremely small. To attain that level of wealth requires that you either be a very successful entrepreneur, or in the C-suite at a Fortune 500 company. It also requires many decades of 90-hour workweeks, usually with endless days on the road.
I say this as someone with two Ivy League degrees, my own (piston) aircraft, and nearly two decades in Fortune 500 style jobs. Heck, I'm writing this from a cube at Google*. But none of my Princeton classmates have come anywhere remotely near that level of wealth, and unless you get very, very, very lucky and work very, very, very hard for multiple decades, the odds of getting to the point where you can afford your own turbine aircraft are very slim. Realistically, to own even an entry-level jet (call it $2M acquisition and $400K/yr operating costs), you'll need a net worth well north of $10M and a yearly income in excess of $2M. There are very few people in this world who can touch those numbers.
Bottom line: If you just want to fly, I'd agree that there are better options than the airlines. Do a non-aviation job for money, and flight instruct on evenings and weekends, maybe pick up some charter gigs. But if you want to fly jets, I have never seen an easier time for pilots to get into the right seat of a jet, if they go to the regionals. It is many orders of magnitude harder to rise into the rarefied ranks of turbine owners, as it is to get a job in the right seat of an RJ...
*And yes, I'm leaving that career to go fly for the regionals. Call me insane, but there you have it ;-)
I say this as someone with two Ivy League degrees, my own (piston) aircraft, and nearly two decades in Fortune 500 style jobs. Heck, I'm writing this from a cube at Google*. But none of my Princeton classmates have come anywhere remotely near that level of wealth, and unless you get very, very, very lucky and work very, very, very hard for multiple decades, the odds of getting to the point where you can afford your own turbine aircraft are very slim. Realistically, to own even an entry-level jet (call it $2M acquisition and $400K/yr operating costs), you'll need a net worth well north of $10M and a yearly income in excess of $2M. There are very few people in this world who can touch those numbers.
Bottom line: If you just want to fly, I'd agree that there are better options than the airlines. Do a non-aviation job for money, and flight instruct on evenings and weekends, maybe pick up some charter gigs. But if you want to fly jets, I have never seen an easier time for pilots to get into the right seat of a jet, if they go to the regionals. It is many orders of magnitude harder to rise into the rarefied ranks of turbine owners, as it is to get a job in the right seat of an RJ...
*And yes, I'm leaving that career to go fly for the regionals. Call me insane, but there you have it ;-)
I think a lot of pilots like to talk tough on the internet about hating their lives and leaving the career but hardly any ever do.
05-13-2014 | 01:48 PM
#23
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 12,531
Likes: 1,128
I hardly ever meet any pilots who have actually left the career. The one I personally know left the regionals to take an ATC job so he did stay in aviation. I've met plenty of pilots who worked other great careers before making the jump to the regionals though.
I think a lot of pilots like to talk tough on the internet about hating their lives and leaving the career but hardly any ever do.
I think a lot of pilots like to talk tough on the internet about hating their lives and leaving the career but hardly any ever do.
I left a stable and very comfortable paying job with a BS/MS from a top tier school to go to a regional. Sometimes the paycheck sting gets me a little blue, especially when talking to my former coworkers. Other than that, I am magnitudes happier than I was in my previous life and would only encourage someone whose dream it is to fly for an airline.
05-13-2014 | 02:05 PM
#24
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 632
Likes: 0
From: RJ right-seat warmer
I left a stable and very comfortable paying job with a BS/MS from a top tier school to go to a regional. Sometimes the paycheck sting gets me a little blue, especially when talking to my former coworkers. Other than that, I am magnitudes happier than I was in my previous life and would only encourage someone whose dream it is to fly for an airline.
There are only so many afternoons you can spend in a cube, staring longingly at the big iron flying overhead, before you say 'Enough is enough.' (In my case, anyways.)
And, thankfully, since non-aviation jobs don't have an airline seniority system, if you realize that the airline life just isn't what you had hoped it would be, you can always go back to your former industry without starting over at the bottom...
05-13-2014 | 06:11 PM
#25
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 314
Likes: 0
I would go with any one that's not parking all the airplanes. Period.
05-13-2014 | 06:15 PM
#26
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 632
Likes: 0
From: RJ right-seat warmer
05-13-2014 | 06:58 PM
#27
Line Holder
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,909
Likes: 7
From: B767
I love how people just assume it's all rainbows and unicorns outside of the aviation industry.
Mustang, living in BUF...I would try to find a regional that has LGA as a junior base. I haven't looked at the loads but it looks like there is at least 7 direct flights a day to LGA. I assume you're looking at the regionals as a way to make you app look better for the Legacy carriers...have you applied at Jetblue? Are you flying in the reserves? I would avoid a double commute at all costs and would reccomend living near your Guard base. You'll make more as a part time pilot in the Guard than your first year pay at a regional. So it's a massive pay cut from AD but still manageable for a while. With any luck you won't be at the regionals for very long. Goodluck!
Mustang, living in BUF...I would try to find a regional that has LGA as a junior base. I haven't looked at the loads but it looks like there is at least 7 direct flights a day to LGA. I assume you're looking at the regionals as a way to make you app look better for the Legacy carriers...have you applied at Jetblue? Are you flying in the reserves? I would avoid a double commute at all costs and would reccomend living near your Guard base. You'll make more as a part time pilot in the Guard than your first year pay at a regional. So it's a massive pay cut from AD but still manageable for a while. With any luck you won't be at the regionals for very long. Goodluck!
05-13-2014 | 07:10 PM
#28
Line Holder
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 71
Likes: 0
Yes, everyone is required to, but not all are friendly with it and there are many ways to screw a military guy over if he has to leave. You've never had to deal with that. How do I know you've never dealt with it? You wouldn't have made that statement. It's a widespread problem. I don't meant in the airline industry specifically. I'm talking all around, you'll find companies that either don't know the law or they are fully aware of it and do things to get around it. I've seen guys not get hired because there was a chance they'd have to leave for a deployment. Of course that's not what they were told. The guy doing the hiring was military and told me thats why he didn't hire them. I told him he was a hipocrite and he didn't understand why I said that. There are some real tools out there.
05-13-2014 | 07:52 PM
#30
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 492
Likes: 0
From: Cloud surfing
I know that sounds easy, but...the number of people with Ivy League degrees, whose net worth is enough to own and operate a turbine aircraft, is extremely, extremely small. To attain that level of wealth requires that you either be a very successful entrepreneur, or in the C-suite at a Fortune 500 company. It also requires many decades of 90-hour workweeks, usually with endless days on the road.
I say this as someone with two Ivy League degrees, my own (piston) aircraft, and nearly two decades in Fortune 500 style jobs. Heck, I'm writing this from a cube at Google*. But none of my Princeton classmates have come anywhere remotely near that level of wealth, and unless you get very, very, very lucky and work very, very, very hard for multiple decades, the odds of getting to the point where you can afford your own turbine aircraft are very slim. Realistically, to own even an entry-level jet (call it $2M acquisition and $400K/yr operating costs), you'll need a net worth well north of $10M and a yearly income in excess of $2M. There are very few people in this world who can touch those numbers.
Bottom line: If you just want to fly, I'd agree that there are better options than the airlines. Do a non-aviation job for money, and flight instruct on evenings and weekends, maybe pick up some charter gigs. But if you want to fly jets, I have never seen an easier time for pilots to get into the right seat of a jet, if they go to the regionals. It is many orders of magnitude harder to rise into the rarefied ranks of turbine owners, as it is to get a job in the right seat of an RJ...
*And yes, I'm leaving that career to go fly for the regionals. Call me insane, but there you have it ;-)
I say this as someone with two Ivy League degrees, my own (piston) aircraft, and nearly two decades in Fortune 500 style jobs. Heck, I'm writing this from a cube at Google*. But none of my Princeton classmates have come anywhere remotely near that level of wealth, and unless you get very, very, very lucky and work very, very, very hard for multiple decades, the odds of getting to the point where you can afford your own turbine aircraft are very slim. Realistically, to own even an entry-level jet (call it $2M acquisition and $400K/yr operating costs), you'll need a net worth well north of $10M and a yearly income in excess of $2M. There are very few people in this world who can touch those numbers.
Bottom line: If you just want to fly, I'd agree that there are better options than the airlines. Do a non-aviation job for money, and flight instruct on evenings and weekends, maybe pick up some charter gigs. But if you want to fly jets, I have never seen an easier time for pilots to get into the right seat of a jet, if they go to the regionals. It is many orders of magnitude harder to rise into the rarefied ranks of turbine owners, as it is to get a job in the right seat of an RJ...
*And yes, I'm leaving that career to go fly for the regionals. Call me insane, but there you have it ;-)
Same boat here: getting ready to leave a very well paid engineering gig in a Fortune 500 to fly for peanuts. I just hope the regional stay will be as short as possible.
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