What would you do?
 

OK so I now work for silver and according to the new staffing bid I will be holding a line when complete. I live at base and there are 70 people in front of me for upgrade.

I now have a offer to fly for MESA on the Ejet in houston(OCT class) I will be 50-60 on seniority FOs for the ejet, so I will hold a line here also. However I will have to commute not so much fun.


I have two questions,

Would I get hired with a Marj. faster if I am flying a ejet or a tprop? I have my 1000 Hours PIC but is all part 91.

Which would you choose and why?

Not flaming, but who's to say mesa doesn't meet their contract obligations and they lose the e-jet flying. Not saying they will, just they could. Happend with delta.

Happen to MESA with Delta??????????????


Hmmmmm the pay is about the same either way I go.

PIC is king.

Freedom Airlines....

Living in base is priceless!

I am sure you will receive more responses than you need to your question, but I'll offer you my .02. First, if you currently have a job flying an airplane and you do not have to commute you are one of the LUCKY few. Commuting is a miserable experience.

Secondly, I don't believe there is a magical formula for getting hired at a Major. I know LCA with well over 10,000 hours TT who are great guys not getting hired and I know guys / gals with 3,000 hours who are getting hired. Some of those guys / gals went straight from flying the B1900D to a major. I don't think jet time is a requirement, but it probably does not hurt.

Finally, I say all of this and I am in the same boat as you. I am an FO trying to figure out how to crack the code on a job at a major. There are approximately 18,000 regional pilots and presumably the majority are doing the same thing we are doing. My perspective is that if you are having fun flying an airplane, able to pay your bills and have a good QOL then stay where you are currently employed...and don't get violated. If you are miserable then a change of scenery (equipment) might be a fun time.

SP35

Wow nice fear grenade. "Not flaming".. yeah whatever. Who's to say what will happen at any regional in the future. The next 9/11 could happen tomorrow. Might as well not even get out of bed.

I heard United is not happy with it at all.

I can't believe I'm saying this but you should stay here at silver.

Damn that was weird to say...

Ok, man. Take it personally much? Trying to tell him to educate himself on it. I was looking at making a move to mesa too, but the potential of being stuck as an FO for this reason has prevented me from doing so. Especially on with their current contract. Who knows, it could work out just fine.

That's not "educating" that could happen anywhere including Silver.

Just remember we are facing a looming Pilot Shortage....

Who owns the 175s? United.

A million times, this.

United has a pretty good thing going with Mesa. I can't envision our partnership diminishing anytime soon.

But to the OP, yeah, stay where you are. Turbine PIC is turbine PIC.

Unless they can't fulfill the flying. That has happened in the past from what I understand.

I worked at silver. I learned a lot and got a lot out of it. I will never forget many of the people there. That being said, for once the grass is greener. It's green as ****. The training department there is a joke. Management and scheduling deal with pilots by threatening and through arguments. They once told me they changed my showtime in the computer to an hour later so that I wouldn't duty out. This was at the end of the day not the beginning. They will violate you in more ways than one just to save their own skin. Leave now and be happy you did. People there are great but there are better options. And from the word on the street, many RJ FO's are getting picked up by majors with no pic but there are countless people with lots of pic prop time that can't get a call from allegiant let alone the big three. Make your own decision but I would leave. Maybe not Mesa but somewhere.

As a former Silver pilot I'll echo what Chris said... Don't walk run from Silver. You won't realize how terrible it is there until you're gone. Look around your fellow captains and FO's there and see how many are leaving for a Major or LCC. Very very few where as my time at Horizon and Skywest I've met more FO's moving on to greener pastures than Captains at Silver. Commuting sucks but living in a Silver base is worse than commuting to a "better" regional. As far as Mesa... Well you'll be making the same as you did at Silver only difference is the equipment you fly.

It's not at a regional. I'll commute to a legacy carrier any day vs being based at home at a regional.

Well, not quite priceless, but....

Crash pad or a couple hotels per month: $1800-4800/year
Losing about 2-4 days off each month: ohhh, okay. You're right: PRICELESS!

Some things to possibly consider.

1.) Where will you be based at Silver? Silver appears to be in major transition with their bases. Some of the Florida bases appear to be closing as well which I'm sure is a major upset at Silver for the pilots that have been there a long time.

2.) How long to upgrade at Mesa?

3.) What will year 2 pay be at either airline?

1: I will be base in FLL and I am number 16 for FOs.
2: Upgrade I am told will be 16-24 months
3: Mesa is 29/hr Silver is 28.43/hr plus 6000$ bonus.

Here are some things to add to the list of pros and cons:

Flying turbo jet aircraft means you will be operating at higher altitudes, for longer distances and thus will gain experience in that environment.

You will experience swept wing aerodynamics, that you get with a straight wing turbo prop. For example, swept wing aircraft have a tendency to get squirrely when slow or hit with a crosswind.

The type of flying you will be doing is the same as at a major airline, just shorter legs.

In a turboprop you will be flying more shorter legs down in the weather, so you will get good experience, but you will definitely earn your $1.98/hr.

Overall TP flying is more exhausting, sweatier, louder, and generally less comfortable, but can also be a lot more fun for a while.

Not squirrelly in the least! They behave exactly the Germans predicted 60+ years ago. If you think it's squirrelly, talk to your training dept.

GF

have you started or completed ground ? if you have then stay there, if you haven't started ground or at least made it to the sim, then you owe them nothing, id say that if i was part of the recruiting team of a major and im looking at an applicant that left for greener pastures after only being on the job for a month, id have a bunch of fun questions in that interview, so you better have a good reason, and i don't know if the ones you have listed would cut it with me, remember your judged by all your decision even five years down the road

You heard wrong or you're making crap up. I think it is more so the latter.

There are 6 airplanes in service, plenty of staffing and there have been MINOR mechanical issues that are normal with new airplanes.

The UA CRJ operation has seen a remarkable uptick in performance since the entire operation was moved to IAD. We are talking 7 MX cxls in the last week, 4 of which were caused by ramp damage taking the aircraft out of service for the day and 1 other was a bird strike.

Thank you for the pros and cons.


I have 2000 hours in a tprop(C208)
I have 1400 hours Jet with 964 PIC.
5600 TT

and to Aksleddriver

I have been here at silver now for 7 months.


My question really is whats going to look better for a major?

Just like many other pilots your experience is in the realm of what is needed to be hired by a major, so I guess its just a waiting game before getting the call.

It's a tough decision- living in base vs. 121 jet time. I think either way you are going to get the call pretty soon from someone assuming your apps are out.

Do you have family? Would you be moving them now and again when the major calls? Would that be a factor or would you be trying to commute to FLL from Houston (or elsewhere)?

Did you get the big signing bonus from Silver? Any obligations there?

Sounds like you'll get a signing bonus from Mesa which would probably just cover moving expenses after taxes.

I'm like 51% stay at Silver to get some 121 PIC time sooner as I think that is lacking if I understand your posted hours correctly.

Where will you be least unhappy if, for example, ISIS gets going strong and takes over enough oil flields to destabilize fuel prices and all hiring comes to a halt?

Before anyone comments, it could be ISIS, or a hurricane in the Gulf, or speculators, or the great rerecession, or a couple planes hitting office buildings, or whatever.

You think any of that would cause United to stop taking delivery of fuel efficient aircraft that are replacing archaic 50 seaters? If something like that were to happen, I'd be more concerned for places like Skywest/XJT and TSA.

I was making no statement about the quality of one company over another. I was simply stating that one should be able to live with his decision and survive if he were to be stuck in the botom of the senority list for a looooong time.

Former 3M driver here. Spent nearly 4 years sweating my ass off for miserable pay bouncing through the weather in their 1900s and Saabs. Never upgraded, got caught up in the DEC mess, finally got frustrated enough to bail back in May for XJT. When I first started, it wasn't too bad, based in EYW, living in base, things ran smoothly. I actually enjoyed working there.

As time wore on and mgmt. botched the expansion with the Saabs, things started to turn to crap. It finally got to the point where I could reliably make triple-digit credit on reserve thanks to the lack of staffing, and I was the senior reserve FO in the entire company that month (deliberate bid for days off), ergo the last to get called. Things eventually got to the point where CS didn't even bother to pick up the phone when you were getting reassigned mid-trip as a lineholder, one of the rampers would simply shove a release through the whiskey hatch with your name on it. After spending 20+ minutes on hold with CS to actually find out *** was going on, they would act like they didn't have a clue what you were talking about. Yet, they would also leave 2 urgent voicemails while you were in flight telling you to call them, only to be told your schedule for tomorrow was exactly what you'd been expecting it to be since your line was awarded over a month earlier!

Couple all that with aircraft that were frequently carrying around half a release page worth of MELs, that were brutally hot up front even when things were actually working, and a near-total lack of air carts throughout the FL system, and you have my definition of Hell. After just over 4 months at XJT, I can tell you that the grass is indeed greener on the other side. I can't believe the difference! APUs, air carts all around, FMSs that actually work on EVERY bird in the fleet, most of which have 2, planes with packs that actually work as advertised, longer legs at higher altitudes above the weather, an actual variety of destinations instead of the 24 usual suspects all over FL and the Bahamas, it's like I was blind and now I can see! I haven't been this content with my daily work environment since my early days in EYW. My only complaint is that they stopped hiring literally my second day of class. I only wish I'd made the move sooner.

All that being said, there are many great people working the line at Silver. I made many friends, and not seeing them every day is a bit tough to take sometimes. But every now and then, I run into one of them in a terminal or hotel somewhere, and it's great to catch up. Life goes on, this career is supposed to be an adventure. Sometimes you need to step out of your comfort zone and expand your horizons. If you really want to stick it out at Silver, then I wish you the best of luck! The experience I gained there is invaluable to me, and I will carry it with me forever. Always try to listen and learn as much as you can, there are many great people there to learn from. Being in the trenches together forms bonds stronger than steel.

You have SEVENTY people ahead of you to upgrade. That is literally going to take forever. The gulfsteamers comprising the top 1/3 of the list will never move on. You'll be waiting on that upgrade for years. Plus, if you do get the upgrade what are the odds it will be where you live?