cfii2007

So what majors tend to hire GCA and Scenic captains?

DitchDog

Dont know about Scenic but GCA has had one line captain go to the majors (SWA) in the past four years. This is out of probably 30 to 35 pilots that I have seen come and go. Unless you have really strong connections or are EXTREEMLEY good at interviewing, you will probably have to head to the regionals. However, after gaining some PIC Turbine at GCA, Then a short stint at the regionals to boost your 121 skills, you could then look attractive to some majors.

Just my two cents but GCA is not the place to go if your looking for an airline career. Especially if your trying to make it to the majors quickly. With the low time requirements at regionals (and short upgrades as well) GCA just wont boost your airline career like it used to.

I think the best pilot for GCA is not the airline oriented type but more the adventure type. If your not in a hurry to make it to the majors, you want to have a little experience hand flying (no autopilot) with steam guages. The type that have enjoyed the GCA flying the most tend to be the ones that are interested in "Alaska Flying" or Fire bombing, or Float plane flying in the islands. It is a good time if that kinda stuff fits you, and ALL the captains there are WAY cool (but a bit overworked.)

The management there is not very pilot friendly. It doesn't take anyone very long at the company to realize that. But if you can ignore that stuff, go out and fly the line and have a good time with your buddies (it's a tight group) then you will get a lot out of it.

pilot221

I'll do Scenic. It seems like most people are hitting and quitting these days. There are some people who have been here for a while but if they were to go somewhere else, they would take a pay cut. So they won't move until they find something worth moving for. If you can upgrade quickly (which isn't hard if you have some time already) you can get a lot of PIC turbine time pretty fast and get paid decently compared to most other things out there.

Less than a year. Once you get the minimums for captain, they'll upgrade you. If you got over 1000 and less than 1500...you can do it in months.

For Scenic, we go to 61B (home), GCN and 1G4. It can get repetitive. We also do air tours from 61B as well as at GCN. Sometimes we fly to GCN, do air tours for the day...then fly back. Scenery is good and it's as fun as you want to make it. Challenging flying. I don't think it's any more boring than flying with any other airline...once you get good at the job, it's going to get boring at times.

Right now people are getting the max 120/month. If not max, at least 100. That will drop once done with summer of course.

pilot221

Is Allegiant considered a major? If so...Allegiant.

samstanton

Hey Pilot221,
What is the best way to get in touch with Bob and schedule the sim prep?
Thanks

pilot221

There should have been a number included with the details they sent you. I am not sure if he or another guy is doing the sim prep nowadays. Did they mention anything to you about it?

cfii2007

Do Scenic or GCA have training contracts?

samstanton

I got an email saying I was selected for an interview. “If you can attend please choose a date and reply to this email.” I replied on Sunday. Maybe a more formal letter is in the mail. Thanks for the help and I found an older number for Bob but I will give it a few more days.

cfii2007

Ask them during the interview if there is a training contract.

t207

GCA does not have a training contract at the present time, no idea about scenic.