Smoke Toliet

I waiting for the sound advise of RICK777, He seems to have all the answers for he is a Mesa pilot.

BURflyer

Contrary to what you might hear, all regionals are mostly the same. The difference might be that management at one regional uses leather whips where as another uses wooden paddles. Just get on somewhere where they will be around for a while. Actually if I was you I would look at charter flying, find a learjet or citation job around your local airport. You don't want to go into the hell world of regional flying. And if you haven't commuted before in your life you will be in for a treat.

However, if regional is the only way to go for you and since you live in GA, I wouldn't go for Skywest or Horizon, no need to move to the other side since most Regionals are on the East anyways. Try PSA, I know a PSA captain, he makes around 100K a year and is happy there. Try ASA, Air Wisconsin, Expressjet. Avoid Eagle, I have heard some real bad stories of real abuse. As I have stated before, regional is not the only way into the airlines. Look into charter or 135 cargo.

AirWillie

22 years of age,1100TT, and a wife? Slow it down buddy, you don't have kids do you? Do you have college? At 22 I was trying to figure out whether to eat chicken or beef ramen. I wouldn't worry much about the regionals, just shoot your resume to everyone and tell us who hired you, then we'll give you advice. No sense in debating about going to airlines that haven't offered you a job yet.

JATAGA

cont. pref hire = yes

40 - 48 first year capt. - no

Colgan is what you make of it. Don't expect to be placed in IAH and if you don't like the winters in the north Colgan is not your place.

As a Capt. first year you can expect mid 30's to low 40's. (SF340)

Plan on working if your in the beech and no matter what stay away from maint. bases.

Colgan is becoming very stable (by Colgan standerds) right now so expect the upgrade on the Saab to get closer to two years.

The cont. pref hire is for 500 PIC instead of 1000 but its really the senior folks getting the jobs. Senior at Colgan is 5 years.

Hope this helps.

hatetobreakit2u

ya thats prefferential hiring with continental if continental is hiring...........which they are right now, but this is only cause of there expansion push, once those spots are filled which will happen soon because there are thousands of regional captains that meet criteria.....then guess what....continental wont be hiring anymore!
i really feel bad for kids who say im gonna go to colgan for a quick upgrade and then apply to continental when they dont realize what happens today will not happen in a few years. Well im pretty sure in 2 years the continental push is gonna be filled up and then they will only hire a small amount as retirement dictates.


go to a "good" regional, that way if something happens drastic to the industry your not stuck a few more years in a ****hole because you wanted some quick PIC time.

would you rather be an 8 year capt on a CRJ or a turboprop if you get stuck, go look at the payscales and its a no brainer.

MikeB525

Sources say 50% retiring in the next 10 years. Thats over 2000 pilots, so about an average of 500 retirements per year (very rough estimates). My internal connections at CAL say theres going to be massive hiring in the next 10 years,but yes, things can change in a moment's notice.

Browntail

What about all the military pilots looking to get on with CAL? Majors prefer military pilots over commuter pilots anyday.

JATAGA

if your stuck anywhere for eight years it doesn't matter what the airplane is... jet or turboprop

a plane is a plane, we are all bus drivers. Except bus drivers get paid more than we do.

If you do have to stay somewhere then stay somewhere you can stand to work and make sure you get paid enough to live.

zeak73

Hi, I have been at AE for almost 8 years now and your exactly right. There's alot of bad talk everywhere. First where ever you work do whatever you can not to commute, especially if you want to have any sort of family life what so ever. Also where ever you go plan on not making any money till you upgrade which with today's industry is just a guessing game. Also, all airlines are the same, they all have contracts, they all have pay scales, and they all have disgruntled employees no matter where you are. Sure some people are happier at certain places, it justs how the person handles each situation they have put themselves into. If your looking for just plain old PIC time, then my honest opinion is to find a charter company (135) and build yourself around 1500 hours of PIC which may take you 3 years or so to do this. During that time you will be making more than you would at a regional as an F/O plus you could still Flt Instr on the side and make extra. After that then see how the airline industry is doing and if you still want the 121 time then do 1 year at the regional to gather your 121 time. At that point you may have spent 3-4 years to become very marketable to go to the majors like Southwest, Jetblue, or so on. Plus you never know what oppurtunities may come around during your 135 time. There will be more options for you at that point then going straight to a regional airline and sitting in the right seat for a long time. Also keep in mind that if you go to a regional and decide to move then look at the domiciles first, this might help you make up your mind on where you decide to go. Hope this helps. At least you have the right frame of mind to ask these questions first before making the leap.