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Airnet or Airlines?

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Freight dog it baby!

I learned more about flyng my first three months in a Caravan than I did in the previous 15 years of flying. In this business there are few substitutes for having been out there in the WX making the decisions by yourself. Also, you will never regret having flown the Learjet. A truly great airplane. It's not hard to fly, but if you can fly a Lear smoothly and precisely, the rest of the jets are cake.

Regional flying is a lot of fun too, so you really can't go wrong regardless of which path you chose. Heck I did em' all. If you chose a regional, choose one with a good operation and crew culture. (Horizon, Skywest and Express Jet are ones that come to mind, though certainly not the only ones that would a nice place to work.)

PS- back when I used to be a Captain:rolleyes: the very best FO's transitioning into the Lear were ALWAYS ex-freight dogs. Period.
 
Qol = 0

Princedietrich said:
But you've got job security and better QOL over the regionals.

dude that is the most retarted quote i have heard all day, QOL sucks big donkey d&*** you have to be on the night schedule that screws your body in the long run,

and you can not have a regular life and have meaningful and fulfilling relationships with girls or family , especially if you commute

but if you dont have a life , no girls no friends , no family and if your hand is your best friend then night freight is the place for you

do your one year get the experience and go to a good regional that is what i did

As per higher pay now that does not make any sense , it does not matter what you earn now what matters is how fast you can get into the job that you will retire at you will make a lot of money there in the last few years compared to what you make now remember we all 121 guys have to retire at 60


Airnet to majors is not happening during my time there i did not see a single lear captain get hired by the majors and jetblue ,southwest fedex etc had been hiring
 
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Best experience you'll ever get...you'll never regret it! Night schedule does get old after a while though. At a regional now...still miss the boxes every day. Just don't get stuck in those big skyhawks they've been buyin.
 
No regrets!

Barons are fun, got to fly the Aerostar (GREAT airplane), and the LJ-35/35 are awsome airplanes. The flying is great and lots of (legal) fun! Gives you experience the comuters will not. Besides you can actually handfly, if your into that;)

After instructing I wanted to go solo! I liked it (instructing), but never got to fly. At AirNet that will not be a problem.

Might also be a little scary the first week or two, depending on how much inflight ice you encounter or how long that line of T-storms is. My first night, first leg, RVR 1800 and VV001. But since you are the only pilot (in the pistons) you get to practice that PIC authority. The company is (in my experience) pretty good about not second guessing you.

Nights can be tough (I like it) and it is tough on your social life, but I can't imagine when you start out at the comuters that it is that much better. Besides it is what YOU make out of it! I'm on a 8 on and 6 off schedule and I'm bored after five off. I can only speak for myself, but the longer I'm in this industry the more important it is to have fun, or enjoy what I do.. if you will. I don't think I could look the TSA in the eyes (every day) and deal with their petty squabble. Having to listen to and deal with passengers! I feel like I might be missing out on not having flight atendants, but if I'm to belive what is posted on this forum, I might not be missing that much.

Pay and benefitts are allright!

Future? I think my odds of retaining my job is about as good as most pilots! Getting a new one? Well, it isn't exactly easy no matter where you are applying from. Besides, it seems it depends more on who you know, these days, and not so much on whether you have the listed requirements.

Like someone suggested, you can have both! Try AirNet first (I think that involves a one year contract these days) and if you don't like it, most comuters will love to take you onboard!

Good luck, and don't forget: have some fun!
 
I am having a blast flying freight right now. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else for the time being. There is nothing like being asked to do an immediate turn out after t/o and just as you suck the gear up rolling right into a tight turn and completing that 180 turn while still over airport property...now it is even more fun when you do it in the lear. Oh yeah, you will also never hear "that was cool" from the tower controllers while working for the airlines either...something that happens pretty often around here...just ask Purv about CYOW today. (some of you know who Purv is)

Now i am sure airlines will get make you happy, but from what i have gathered from most people is that they are "boring." Most pilots say they never get to have fun...and the ones who flew freight will usually say how much they liked the flying at their freight carrier much better than their current carrier. But to each his own, and there will always be positives and negatives about both...but if you choose the airline path, just stay the he!! out of my way. I cannot stand those darn REF and 10 approaches, especially when it is my last leg of the day and i am ready to see the family!!! Never go slower than 200 to the marker, and if one of our props can beat you down from the marker, you know you are going too slow and probably will not be having any fun.

Good luck with your choice, and feel priveleged right now, since there are lots of people out there who would be happy just to have one company interested in them.
 
If you are going to try your hand at night cargo, you can't do much better than Airnet.
Flying freight is the best job and the worst job all in one. But be wary that you do have to sign a one year contract at Airnet. So if you don't like it, too bad. But just think of all the money you'll be saving not buying sunscreen!
 
I havent flown cargo but i am at XJET and i love it. The flying is great. I dont usually go to the same place more than 2 or 3 times a month. Other than the hubs. Good variety. The ERJ is a good airplane and the schedule isnt bad at all. I am on reserve and its 4 on 3 off most of the time and based at home. When i was commuting i had no problems doing so. Made it home everytime. I would say Regionals. It may be 3 or 4 year upgrade but QOL is important. Plus if you are coming out of instructing it wont hurt you to sit right seat for a while and gain experiance as opposed to quick upgrade right out of instructing. Just my 2 cents
 
starchkr said:
...but if you choose the airline path, just stay the he!! out of my way. I cannot stand those darn REF and 10 approaches, especially when it is my last leg of the day and i am ready to see the family!!! Never go slower than 200 to the marker, and if one of our props can beat you down from the marker, you know you are going too slow and probably will not be having any fun.

I hear that! I'm glad my run does not take me into airports that have airline service on a regular basis because I'm just not sure I'd have the patience for it. It's pathetic when you're flying a prop and they're telling you to slow down on final becasue you have a 50 knot overtake on the jet that is ahead of you on the approach. If that's what I'm in for if and when I ever head off to a boring job of punching autopilot buttons and reading the newspaper in the airlines, I think I'll hold off for a while.

Flying freight is a ton of fun and you'll never be sharper. Ask any pilot who has flown freight and gone onto other things in their career and they'll most likely tell you that they've never been a sharper pilot than when they were flying freight, and that freight was more fun to boot. What is the rush to get into a do-everything-for-you jet? Flying freight while making more money than the regionals and building a really solid foundation of skills won't hurt you, it'll only help you later on. If you want to build a skyscraper you start with a really strong foundation- in your career why not build the strongest foundation you can get before going vertical? You might even have some fun, if you're into that kinda thing . . .
 
freemind270 said:
Airnet to majors is not happening during my time there i did not see a single lear captain get hired by the majors and jetblue ,southwest fedex etc had been hiring


That is surprising. Seems SWA is interviewing pilots with 2000 or more T-PIC at the moment. Two years of flying PIC in the Lear at Airnet ought to be enough to get an interview with SWA, JB and with the internal rec, UPS and Fedex. Maybe all your lear buddies are going the corporate route instead.


BTW freemind270 I absolutly love your avatar. Could stop laughing when I read it! Don't change it.
 

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