A day in the life of.....

[ksallaz]

leaving corporate for regional. what is a "typical" day in the life of a newbie fo on reserve? How bad does commuting really suck? Seems like 6-8 weeks away for training which seems pretty grueling anybody out there have any insight before I sign a training contract?

thanks.

 

[HelloNewman]

leaving corporate for regional. what is a "typical" day in the life of a newbie fo on reserve? How bad does commuting really suck? Seems like 6-8 weeks away for training which seems pretty grueling anybody out there have any insight before I sign a training contract?

thanks.

are you nuts??? why go to any job that makes you sign a contract?

 

[SkyBoy1981]

With your kind of time you can be pretty picky where you choose to work. I did the same thing a few years back and only applied to the more reputable regional carriers with halfway decent pay and QOL. Skywest, Expressjet, and Horizon are probably as good as its going to get for regional airlines, depending of course on where you want to live.

 

[svcta]

Man, what are you doing? Have you really looked around on this place? This is like ice skating up a hill......you're plugged in to the corporate scene.....just find a better job if the one you've got is a downer. I say this becase the whole airline industry is a downer. I left because I was lucky enough to find a corporate operator that would hire me despite my airline background. Life has NEVER been better for me. What do you expect to find at the regionals?

Is this flame bait or are you seriously serious? Seriously.

 

[MMO 0.705]

I left charter/corporate for a regional and left to go back. The training will be pretty easy if you've been flying anything jet...however the pay not the training will keep you up half the night. Wondering why you left a higher paying job. Then it'll be over. Commuting is horrible, but if you can sleep on an airplane comfortably between two fat people who smell like sweat and butt crack you'll be fine. In all seriousness....commuting for 1-3 hours isnt bad over 3 hours you'll hurt. I couldn't live on the poverty wages after flying corporate/charter, its a hard transition. For a CFI, it isnt a big deal. But, when your flying to the park lane hilton in london eating dinners for 200 pounds....its tough. But, I wish you all the luck. PM me if you want more info

 

[ksallaz]

are you nuts??? why go to any job that makes you sign a contract?

considering going to Republic, I understand they are one of the better regionals. I don't know this to be true just what I've been reading. they have a 2 year contract I think

 

[ksallaz]

Man, what are you doing? Have you really looked around on this place? This is like ice skating up a hill......you're plugged in to the corporate scene.....just find a better job if the one you've got is a downer. I say this becase the whole airline industry is a downer. I left because I was lucky enough to find a corporate operator that would hire me despite my airline background. Life has NEVER been better for me. What do you expect to find at the regionals?

Is this flame bait or are you seriously serious? Seriously.

The job I have/had was a dream job. Jet 10 minutes from the house going to fun places for great money. BUT the plane is now for sale. I'm just trying to find something to fly and I'm considering everything at this point. This board has a lot of guys that are flying the line and I just want a realisitc look at how bad or good it is. Certainly not flame bait. whatever that is.

 

[ksallaz]

With your kind of time you can be pretty picky where you choose to work. I did the same thing a few years back and only applied to the more reputable regional carriers with halfway decent pay and QOL. Skywest, Expressjet, and Horizon are probably as good as its going to get for regional airlines, depending of course on where you want to live.

Thanks for that.

 

[belchfire]

I don't know where you live but PSA doesn't have a training contract and CLT is a great city. I don't know the crash pad situation nor do I work there-things got better for me after they shot me down in the interview anyway-but regionals suck. Too many CDO's, Too many O/N's sked to legal mins, too many youngsters thumping their chests when they get their first "Command".
I know that fatigue was a factor in an accident two years ago and will probably be mentioned again in an upcoming NTSB Final Report.

Even though it kills people Management does not care. "Legal to start, legal to finish". Single pilot 135 cargo has better rest requirements!

Look up the thread about Mesa pilots carrying a board around and you will get a picture.

Another thing to consider-and I don't know how old you are but it is going to be a very, very long time until the major disaster, er, "legacy" airlines start hiring again with all the folks they have on the street and as long as they stay top heavy with management that keeps getting 72 million dollar parachutes for beating unions down (Don Carty for instance) the wages will never recover.

 

[Quack]

Find another corporate job...don't come to the regionals! You'll regret it~

 

[Gofish]

Don't sign a training contract. There are plenty of regionals hiring that do not have one.

 

[svcta]

Find another corporate job...don't come to the regionals! You'll regret it~

Repeat this every morning for a week. Then come back for a check up.

 

[SSDD]

By the time these guys are done with their "advise" the midnight shift at a 7-11 in Compton is going to look real good.

 

[SkyBoy1981]

Every corporate job is not a bed of roses either. Yes, I would say that a large number of corporate jobs may be an improvement, but I also know of quite a few that make Mesa look good. After 2 years at a decent regional airline I am much happier now than I was when I flew corporate. As a matter of fact, I turned down a 91 corporate job in my hometown not long ago. I don't want to work 6-7 days a week even if it is another 20k a year.

 

[:-)]

leaving corporate for regional. what is a "typical" day in the life of a newbie fo on reserve? How bad does commuting really suck? Seems like 6-8 weeks away for training which seems pretty grueling anybody out there have any insight before I sign a training contract?

thanks.

I've done both. the only positive for an airline, any airline, is that you might be able to avoid a move when you change jobs.

As a professional aviator, you will change jobs, so the way I look at it, the airline jobs allow me to keep the current house. Otherwise, it's a crapshoot.

But, that isn't what you asked, so... a typical day resembles sitting in the crew room at some podunk FBO for 18 straight hours. Except the coffee isn't free and the food comes from the "case lot" section at Costco. Then you get to repeat that for 21 days a month. Commuting sucx. Even when your company has a decent "commute" policy, you still get ulcers. Don't try it unless your base is withing 500 miles and only one leg away.

Don't sign a contract, too many carriers are begging for pilots.

 

[JettBoii]

Commuting is a huge waste of time and it is an expense! You will have to fork over around 250$ a month for a (decent) crashpad and the money to keep food in it. That may not sound like much as you read this but it will be considering the ridiculous amount of money you will be making if you decide to take a regional job. The actual amount of time I spend in the plane for the commute to ATL is 2 hours; of course that time is subject to change as we all know. Here is where the waste of time comes into play. Lets say that you have a 09:40 duty in and the flight you want to catch to your domicile leaves at 05:30 and arrives at 08:50; that means you have to get up at 03:45 to get to the airport in time to make it down to the gate to get onboard. If you have a nice long five leg day that finishes late that evening you will be toast before half the day is even over. Sure you could commute up the night before and get plenty of rest but it is time that you are spending for your job that you are not getting paid for plus it is time away from home. There are many different combinations to how you would work a commute but they all add up to one thing; wasted time. I also enjoy planning my commute flight home based upon my "planned" arrival time only to watch it push back from the gate while I am sitting on ramp 4 waiting on a parking spot. This results in me waiting around the airport for another 3-4 hours (sometimes less-sometimes more) for my next flight home. You will also be on reserve for awhile; commuting on reserve is for the devil. Someguys don't mind it albeit they have a very short commute but it just stinks all the way around. Do yourself a favor and stay at your currrent job unless you can find a regional position that has a domicile in your city of residence. And no...I would rather eat glass than move to Atlanta. Another person's opinion on commuting.

 

[SkyBoy1981]

I commute 3.5 hours each week halfway across the US. I don't have a crashpad, never have, and I have never missed a trip nor have I ever spent a night in the crewroom. I will admit, however, that I did not commute while on reserve. Again, if you get on with a decent airline that has a solid commuter clause in their contract then commuting isn't the end of the world.

If you're looking to go somewhere that you'll be on reserve for a long period of time then commuting is probably not a good idea.

 

[CubanSmoker]

Every corporate job is not a bed of roses either. I don't want to work 6-7 days a week even if it is another 20k a year.

Bingo,
I left a much better paying corporate gig for Mesaba and even with the crap that's going on here, my quality of life is TONS better than it ever was in corporate. Of course, every corporation is different, but never knowing when you would be gone or home, 3 day trips turning in to 15 straight, getting the call at 10pm at home and finding out you were rented out to a company tomorrow and your flight to the other side of the country leaves at 5:45am. Oh, and we don't know when your trip will end so you "might want to pack for a week or so." No thanks.

I love showing up for a trip (yes I commute out the night before often), flying your butt off and then going home and (aside from missing your commute home) know you will be off for X number of days. Need a day off and you're scheduled to fly? Trip trade or drop it, come up with some random 24 hour flu. At least you won't have to explain to your boss when you call in sick for a trip that 1) you just got home from urgent care with a 101.5 degree fever and 2)that you don't think it'll be down by tomorrow morning's departure and then have him argue with you that if you took the trip, you'd have a few days sitting in BFE to feel better!

My company sucked. Rant over. You need to talk to a lot of people away from this board so get a real picture of life at a particular regional. Don't listen to much of what these 1000 hour SJS wonder boys say because they haven't seen both sides. It's easy to say your grass is greener if you're not big enough to see over the fence.

Cheers