what would you do?
 

I am thinking about trying to get on with skywest. I have an ATP, 3500tt and a BE300 type rating. Currently I fly a King Air 350 and a baron. I am about to quit this job to be captain at a 135 charter company. I hear that the upgrade time is pretty short at skywest so I am thinking that might be a better way to go especially since I am still young (26) and single. By the time I am 30 I think I would rather be a skywest captain than staying here and flying king airs. Would I be making a mistake to try the airlines?

what do you want out of life? Does the 135 get you home every night? What's the pay like? perks? You could probably go 135 or corporate 91 in a nice citation making more then kick over to a major and not have to take the regional paycut. How much multi do you have? You're close to where my instructor was when he was hired by NetJets as an FO and he loves it there. If interested I can get you his email and you two can chat. He'll walk in a resume too. Great guy.

Netjets or Citationshares would be my first choice for a flying job but I haven't been successful in getting hired by either of them. I got a call from CS but thats as far as I got. They sent me an email the next day telling me to try again when I get 6,000 hours. I have about 2450 multi and 400 turbine PIC, how much time did your instructor have when he got hired?

He had one strike against him in that he wasn't a US citizen at the time. He's from zimbabwe originally. He had about 4k hrs. Maybe a touch more. I just remember breaking him of his 4k hour when he was working on his applicaiton.
Check your PM. I'm giong to send you his email. Don't be afraid to ask questions. He loves the place and always says he'll walk anyone's resume in.

Stay where you are!!!! You aren't presently getting screwed by the industry and it sounds like PIC time is just around the corner... don't fall for the supposed glamour and become ill with "Shiny Jet syndrome". A man isn't defined by the size of RJ he flys, so trust me in that you will be much better staying put than chasing a (currently) quick upgrade. I would trade you jobs in a heartbeat (assuming you work for a decent company... of course). Be careful and decide what is important in the long term.

Would you rather be a Skywest cpatain or a Southwest/FedEx/UPS pilot? you spend 4 years building turbine PIC then make the jump to the airlines, you'll be in a better place than if you make the jump now... the regionals are an abyss that some get lost in and never seen again. SKywest is a good place to be right now, but remember that at Skywest "the KoolAid runneth over." Everything can change literally overnight.

Listen to groovin', for his comments are just that. The regionals are no place to be now. So many are stuck there and can't get out. The pay and qol is miserable. I was lucky to get out early, thanks to a few friends and a "favorable" gender. Stay Put!!!! keep trying for net jets and be happy!!!!

I didn't mean to make it sound like I was miserable... nothing could be further from the truth. I love my job and my QOL is not bad at all, but many others are not as fortunate.
All companies at one point in time had a quick upgrade that was pursued by many and ultimately ended up dissapointing a lot of people. Get somewhere and stay put... this industry is entirely too cyclical to chase anything. Don't look back in 5 years and realize that you have 4 different uniforms in your closet and have a bunch of useless turbine SIC that is only worth enough to get you another year of first year FO pay.

The KoolAid recently turned sour here at AWAC, but there is no way I would bail and go to Skywest... You must use some wisdom in your decisions and plan for the long term.

Sure AWAC is a fine place to be now....however, what happens when mainline decides they have had enough of you? The bottom line(and the point i was TRYING to make), is that an express pilot mustn't think that ANY regional(except eagle) is a GOOD place to be. Be miserable and you WON'T get complacenent. If I see a guy(or gal) who is just "putting their time in" at a regional, I respect them. Those career captains who are complacent and happy......LOSERS!!!! "Oh I made 100k last year". Sure and it only took you 8 years to reach that level and you had to work your ass off. whatever. I really don't care..all of that express stuff is behind me. However, I am trying to do my civic duty to bring much needed awareness. :(

so you think it is better to stay here and keep logging pic in king airs instead of going to the airlines? i dont have the shiny jet syndrome, i was just under the impression that logging jet pic was the most important thing if you want to move up. I would like to work for southwest one day but so does everybody else, there's not much chance of that happening. Airtran would be nice because I could live at home in GA if I work there but they require 121 pic. So I guess my options are stay here flying the king airs until netjets hires me or try to get some 121 pic so I will have a chance at airtran or sw.