Quote:
Originally Posted by BZNpilot248
Its a pretty messed up situation. In the past 135 companies had a tough time keeping people around and now I feel its reversed. After 3.5 years at my company I cleared almost 50K for the year and still get small raises every 6 months. I usually only work 5-6 hour days and I"m home every day with weekends and holidays off. I can't fathom going to a regional for a substantial paycut with a drastic change in QOL and not seeing more than what I'm making now until a captian upgrade which looks like 5-10 years at a lot of places.
The big downfall where I"m at is we don't have turbine equipment which makes taking a big step up a lot harder. For now I enjoy going to work and respect who I work for and work with. I'm ok taking 50K flying a Navaho vs. 25K for an E175 or CRJ-700. Unless I saw fast upgrades or massive pay raises I can't justify leaving home for 18-20 days a month just to commute and fly a shiny jet.
I got tired of putting my life on hold for an aviaion career so I bought a house and I"m starting a family. If better options don't present themselves when I"m lacking the turbine time I'll probably leave the industry. For now I'm happy where I"m at and even small 135 outfits have competitive job security with the airlines. Remember to make your job what you do and not who you are.
Well said, and you are the perfect example of the kind of guy that the airlines will have to compete for if / when their available and qualified supply of cheap labor dwindles. Which could lead to rising wages in the 135 world as well, which is a good thing for everyone.