Regionals out of ORD
 

Hey guys, I'm a CFI living in the Chicago area racking up hours to apply at the regionals. My goal is to stay in Chicago whether it be a livable commute from ORD or being based here. Which regionals do you think would give me the best shot at that and when do you think I should start applying?

Currently I only have 450 tt and 50 me so I know it won’t be for a while but I want to at least start thinking about it. Thanks

SkyWest, Mesa, Eagle and Shuttle all come to mind with ORD bases.

GoJets.......

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Indeed, I second that!:D

Skywest is opening a MKE base...this should go very junior so I imagine worst case you start in MKE then work your way into ORD.

Don't go to Mesa or GoJets. Don't.

Its a short commute to MSP for Pinnacle. UAL and NWA have flights pretty much every hour between ORD-MSP.

Just out of curiosity, where are you instructing?

A couple of questions, why would he want to work for Pinnacle? Is he already overqualified with 450 TT? Commuting out of ORD to work for Pinnacle? Are you serious?

I'm instructing at the new Chicago Executive (formerly palwaukee PWK). I do have people who can walk my resume in when I'm ready at Pinnacle, AWAC, and Skyway. Several of the instructors who have recently left for the regionals where I work have said they would try to help me out too at Skywest and Eagle, don't know how much that would help though...

Also is Pinnacle really that bad? I know about how much they pay, what I'm curious about is the QOL. On this site they are claiming the upgrade time is between 2 and 4 years, which will probably come down in the future. I have a family member in management with them at MSP and from what I've heard it is pretty senior there? Any ideas?

Pinnacle has to hire inexperienced pilots because they can not attract others. People would not go to Pinnacle if their minimums were 1000/200 or whatever their website says. I am from MSP myself and moved to Chicago to work out of ORD for that reason... and am happy where I am for now. My suggestions, wait till you get 1000/100 then go where you want to go instead of starting over again. You have plenty of opportunities out of Chicago... and check out Republic or Skywest.

My advice is to talk to a captain (preferably a person who normally does not complain about anything) who has been at pinnacle for more than three years. Ask them what they think about the company, would they do it again, and if they recommend that you apply there. I can promise you this, it will not be a happy conversation

Talk to a captain at Chautauqua, ExpressJet, SkyWest, or Horizon and the conversation will go better.

There are better regionals out there than pinnacle, but remember that all of them suck. Unless you live in Mini, Detroit, or Memphis... I would recommend that you not even consider working at 9E.

I know a guy at Pinnacle and he upgraded in two years there. He says the crews are decent but is always complaining about screw scheduling. Then again most pilots out there have good stories about scheduling. He is putting in his time and looking to move on as soon as he can. You have to decide what will be the best fit for you and your QOL. Good luck!

I met a Pinnacle FO yesterday who has been with company 1 year 4 months and is upgrading within next couple months due to the number of CRJs that they are bringing out of storage (desert) and back into service.

Pinnacle isn't the best, but it's better than Mesa. The IDEAL Chicago regional is SKYW!

Know a guy... hired by Pinnacle at age 22... upgraded to Captain age 24... just interviewed with Delta Air Lines at age 25... hired by Delta age 25.

Woooow. Talk about catching the wave. Pinnacle FO pay is not quite up to the standard, but their captain pay looks fair to me. But given that I work for Lakes, maybe my perception is a bit off.:D

Not just cathing the wave. He got the interview because he knew a few Delta pilots who helped him out. Otherwise, he would have been just one application in a stack of 15,000 (yes, 15,000).


20.73/hr 1st year
24.39/hr 2nd year

Captain pay is obviously much better, comparable to ASA, but below XJT and Eagle.

First of all, when I was in ground school, most of us had over 700 hours with around 500+ multi, a good number of them were over 1300. We did have a few with 300 or less, but they did fine in training and are now on the line. Besides, you act like Pinnacle is the only airline that does this. Yes, Pinnacle has it problems, second year pay as an FO, and screw scheduling, but what regional doesn't have problems, they are the regionals. The pilots and FA are a great group of people. The upgrade is 2 years or less depending on what you got hired with. It is a great place to earn flight time and move on with your aviation career. Unlike some places where the upgrade is 5 years plus, 4 years from now, I will be applying elsewhere with some good PIC time.

Bend over then. I really hope you guys get a good contract. Fight the good fight but taking 4-5 years of abuse for quick PIC time is what's really hurting this industry. We are competing against the majors. They are outsourcing our future jobs to the companies we are presently working at. With age 65 coming up, you might be at that regional a bit longer than you think. By the way Pinnacle hires guys from Jet University... enough said

"Earn over $20 per flight hour" (that's for flying the jet)
"Become an Airline Pilot Right Away!"
"No more wandering about for years risking life and limb trying to build time in a piston or turboprop because you can now qualify for your dream job with specific training available only from Jet University"

at one time it said "Why waste your time being a CFI when you can be an airline pilot today" - what a joke, this is what our industry's coming to

How long ago was that? Not that I don't believe you but Delta had furloughs for about 7 years and is now just starting the application process again.

The guy would have had to have been hired last week! I think he means "Delta Connection", ie SKW :rolleyes:

I didn't really believe him either, I was just saying that. haha

Brand spankin new!

Interviewed January 23 (I think)?

Got the class date February 5th! He starts Monday!


He is "PeanuckleCRJ" on flightinfo forums.


He posted about others who interviewed with him...

"The makeup on my interview day was 1 Pinnacle (me- duh), 1 Shuttle America, 1 Eagle, 2 AirTran that were both former ASA, and the other 3 were ASA.

All except the trannies were current captains- the trannies had been captains at ASA before they left. All except for 1 AirTran were hired- everyone was extremely professional and obviously well qualified for the job."

Rickair, no no no!


I personally know this guy!


Hired by Pinnacle at age 22 with 1700 hours TT and 300 ME.

Upgraded in March 2005 at the age of 24 on the CRJ (Pinnacle).

Just interviewed with Delta AIR LINES on January 23, I think it was.


Class date for February 5th, this Monday.

His bday is late February 1981. He turns 26 in just a few weeks. But the bottom line is he is 25 when he starts class at Delta.


He had a few Delta AIR LINE pilots who helped him out to get an interview.

Alright... now i believe you

Believe me, I have no intention of flamebaiting/lying.

You can look on over the flightinfo forums for his posts if you'd like.

I'm actually very happy for him... it's so refreshing to see this kinda thing happening. We need more and more of this kind of hiring!

As of right now, my goal isn't to fly for a major airline anyway. I didn't know that we hired guys from there, I haven't met any yet. No comment on that one, I really don't agree with the whole Jet U thing.

Thanks for all the info guys. Anybody know whats going on with Shuttle? I don't know much about them ie: QOL, hiring or not, based etc.

So if any of you could do it over again would you choose to go to a place like Pinnacle or scrape by on instructor wages for another year or two at least and apply at a place like SKW?

My logic is that I yes, I will be scraping by at Pinnacle too, but at least I will be getting better experience than s-turns and non standard traffic patterns and I will be able to get on to greener pastures sooner. Any comments?