JoeyMeatballs

I lose this gig I am done, you have to be out of your mind to work/commute for a regional airline, and dont give me the "what else am I going to do?" you can make 20k anywhere and shame on you for getting an Aeronautical science degree

V1 Cut and Run

Um...perhaps waking up sober one day. That, or maybe losing my crack pipe...

Ih8GoJet

For my son,

There is a surprising amount you can do outside of aviation with the skills you learn as a pilot. I left the industry after I lost my captain's slot due to an alter ego company (guess which one). I was able to get into a top ten MBA program because of my unique aviation experience, and I will soon start working for a great company at a salary I barely dreamed possible. There is nothing special about me at all - you would simply be shocked by the amount of people that are impressed with what we do - and yes, in my experience, our skills - the math, the coolness under pressure, etc are transferable to many careers.

I may be a bit biased, but I would never encourage anyone to go to an alter ego for one simple reason: it is a sign of weakness. It shows you were not able to "hack it" like everyone else, and though I doubt many alter ego types will suffer dramatically you just never know.

Example,
About ten friends of mine from my MBA program are going to work at United, Delta, Continental, Airtran, American, FedEx, and UPS - all at the associate VP level. They are very familiar with the fact that I have 4200 hours, and I lost out on a captain slot due to an alter ego. An ex friend of mine who is being furloughed from my old airline is planning to go to the alter ego airline. I explained this betrayal to my MBA friends, who are sympathetic, and they swore that this person will never step foot in their company. This is in addition to being vilified by many (now ex) friends of his who flew with him over the last 2 years. Will this prevent him from a job at these companies? Maybe not. Am I a bad person for doing this? Probably, but few know how much I sacrificed to get to that position in the first place.

My advice - stick with it and wait for a turnaround rather than looking for a short cut, and if this is unacceptable, look for a way out.

PM me if I can help any more.

BURflyer

Where's a violin when you need one. Notice how you're making it seem like your problems are because of GJ. You're going to take your whining into the real world as well huh? It's time to take personal responsibility. Good thing you're going to be management maybe you can start your own very pilot firendly airline where everyone makes bank and have limited scope. Good luck champ!!

Lowlevel

This was a second career for me also. I took a 2/3 pay cut to come to an airline from driving tractor-trailer. Yes, I made way more driving than flying....sad. People thought I was crazy for quitting and coming to a regional for low pay, but I guess it's that love of flying thing. Well, two years later, here I am, out on the street, unemployed. I have set a date of July 19 as the date that I will not go back to my airline if recalled. That is 6 months of being furloughed. If I do get called back, I will most likely be on the bottom of the list and on reserve forever. It's not really worth the hassle for the pay they give. I really do not see any recalls in the near future, so I guess July 19 will be the day.

In the mean time I am out there submitting resumes for flying jobs and driving jobs, and whatever else pays ok. Flying for any carrier would be fine with me. Money, that's all it is really about. It is a job, just like any other job. And you get a job....to make money. Pay me enough and I'll fly anything. I'm not one of those pilots with Shiny Jet Syndrome or dreams of flying the A380. If you gave me enough to live comfortably, I would fly a Cessna 152, ultra-light, or powered parachute. Who cares what you fly, your flying, and getting paid for it.

As a former Marine, I was always pro military and thought that my son could one day be a Marine. Times changed (read: GWB's private war), and now I tell him to stay away from the military (he is 19). I don't want him to die for a useless purpose.
As a, now, former airline pilot, I would steer him away from this profession too. He makes more as a manager of a Pizza Hut than I did as a first year FO, and almost what I made as a second year FO. Now, if recalled and in third year pay, I may be making more than him, but I'm 40 and he is 19.

BURflyer

first and second year may be worse but 3rd till retirement at 65 will be a whole lot more.

To the original poster, I probably wouldn't ask advice from washed out pilots or people that have left this profession. The problem is that too many of them believe that there is something wrong with the profession when it was just them. For example, Ihategojet is a 23 year old FO who was promised a one year upgrade and when he didn't get his promise after 12 months he blamed the whole world including his company and left the whole profession. Me, me, me, he thinks that his upgrade is owed to him. Most pilots that are working, and have some seniority under them are very content with the job. It's not as well paying as it was pre 911 but it still beats doing anything else. With that said I would not do this job unless you KNOW it's in your blood. It's one of those jobs that you really have to love.

jaded

Hows GoJet BUR? And define personal responsibility, please...

BURflyer

Hey brother, I've never taken any struck job, I know that it's just like any other regional out there, no better, no worse. What you dream about it being anything other than a scab job is your problem. I think it's very sad that pilots take out their frustration their problems on other pilots.

ExperimentalAB

BUR, why don't you get rid of "Furloughed" under your position...

And to the OP, It would take a lot to get me out of a 121 cockpit. I am going to fly until the day I die, whether it be the 744 or a C-182 on floats. And I will absolutely take the latter, in a heart-beat, over the option of a bottom-feeder or Alter-Ego any day. Again, I will NOT sell myself out (nor a fellow Pilot) for the privilege of flying a Jet. That is how I sleep at night.

Foxcow

To the original poster:


If there were an opportunity for something else stable with decent pay, there is a good chance that I would probably go for it. With the things the way they are at my company (scumbag alter-ego), there is no future.

However, I am going to stick things out and work to improve things as long as I am here. I am not going to let the a-holes in management or the scumbags at the alter-ego get me down.