I mean if you want to fly Minneapolis to Thief River Falls every day, go for it otherwise suck it up and CFI for another year, yeah it sucks but everyone has to earn their keep somehow.

To piggy back on what M20EPilot said, I know a few guys who went to Great Lakes because it seemed to be their best option at the time. They have all said that the flying is great, but pay is not so great. A friend of mine stayed at the company for 7 years and loved every minute of it, but left for better pay. I know several guys who went to Great Lakes and got hired straight into Frontier Airlines. I know a couple others who left Great Lakes and went on to fly jets at various part 135 companies and later move on to the majors. Your experience may vary.

I debated going there several times, but the reasons why I did not were:
1. no pay during training, and I couldn't afford that, but some people can afford that
2. 15 month contract (begins after training is complete). I knew that I would get to 1500 hours well before the 15 months and would want to fly somewhere else
3. I made more money flight instructing than I would have made at Great Lakes
4. High chance of PRIA event. I have a lot of friends who made it through the company successfully and I don't view myself as being behind the power curve on this one, but the idea of high attrition in a training program was a secondary factor for me.

I'm sure this is a naive follow-up, but how do the schedules work? Are the 10 days off just scattered around the month ??

Thanks!

and thanks for all the info and chiming in. it seems that people have big feelings even about tiny airlines...

I see none of this slowed you down. Ok, we told you what to expect, it isn't just our random "feelings" but ok, go to Lakes and make the best of it.

I dont understand what you mean. I never care about the airplane I fly - I tell people I would fly a metroliner if you pay me right and I do not have to commute. Most people agree. Except people who actually have flown the metro who then slap me saying I am talking crazy.

Why not Cape Air out of STL?

Get hired into their program as an FO to build your hours.

Certainly a heck of a more reputable organization than Great Lakes!

I also believe they have the Billings MT base now too.

Cape Air requires 1000 total to be an FO whereas Great Lakes (I've been told) only requires a multi commercial so 250ish hours. From 250 hours at 90 hours a month you will be hitting atp mins right when the training contract is up.

Again, this would be the fastest way to hit 1500 all while getting paid (very little) and flying a turbine powered aircraft in a crew environment. If you get out of there clean you will be able to go to any regional or maybe even Frontier (some guys have).

In my opinion it's able all about getting your time fast. Why "grind it out" as a cfi if you don't have to?

Because being a CFI might actually pay better (it has for me) and get you to ATP minimums just as fast (guys flying 900 hours a year at my school), plus being a CFI is valuable experience.

Last I checked, Great Lakes was asking for 600 hours TT.

The biggest problem people have with Great Lakes is that they lower the bar. If they came up to the same level as other companies or even raised the bar, people wouldn't be wishing for them to go away. It is definitely good experience, but at what expense?

The biggest drawback of going to Lakes in my opinion is the possibility of a failed training event. Is getting your time a month or two sooner really worth the risk of going through a program with a rather high washout rate?

I'll go ahead and say it: Looking back from where I am now, I didn't know my @$$ from a hole in the ground at 250 hours. I've always been pretty good at studying and memorizing things, so I very well might have been able to make it through their training with no problems... but holy crap that would have been sketchy. And not just during training either.