Bailin' Eagle....maybe

[InstructorPuke]

I agree

Yeah RedHead I totally agree. I spent the entire IOE wondering why I made such a huge mistake. In his defense though, nothing that he said had any bearing on my decision to leave Eagle whatsoever. It was strickly out of monetary necessity. I accepted the job hoping that I would be able to commute. As it turned out, this happened to be when the rest of the BizEx guys came on and some Saabs got moved to JFK from DFW and LAX. I needed a huge number of guys to leave before I could even hold a line. In short, I loved the job, I loved the airplane, but just couldnt love at the expense of my family.

Anyway, I wish all my former coworkers well, and a long healthy flying career.

IP

 

[Socalplt]

I've been at Skywest 28 months now and upgrade is probably a year away at the minimum. When we start hiring again (probably begining of next year) I would imagine upgrades for those folks at least 4-5 years away. Though I believe Skywest is probably a much better place than Eagle, coming here wouldn't get you any PIC time sooner than sticking it out at Eagle. I couldn't imagine staring back over again on the bottom of another Regionals senority list at $18-$20 an hour and who knows how many months or reserve. Unless it's a start-up company movement must be slow just about everywhere.

Since you are looking for PIC time I must assume your goal is to become competitve for a job at the Majors. Have you applied at Net Jets, etc or looked for a Corporate job, where pay would probably be better. In these situations PIC time might only be a year away, you'd get a type or two, and it's still a crew environment. I can only Imagine that an HR department / interviewer at a Major would view the King Air Skydiver job as a step backwards. Sticking it out at Eagle would show the majors your determination to stay an AIRLINE PILOT. I wouldn't imagine that there will be to many Major airlines hiring in the next 3-4 years anyway, and when they do it will be like 97' when it was just guys with 10,000+ hrs or their fathers were senior pilots at the company.

Try to imagine the many different ways your resume could look in 3-5 years and pick the plan of action.

P.S. If I were dead set on working for Southwest and were willing to buy my own type rating I'd take the King Air job and get the 1000 hrs PIC as soon as I could -- but I'm not.

 

[English]

Socalpilot,


I disagree with your comments about a major airline viewing the King Air position as a step backwards. All they care about is PIC turbine time. DBacks has already shown he/she can make it through a 121 training program.

I've had recruiters at Alaska, Southwest and American tell that they want to see the PIC turbine time, whether part 135, 121 or 91. If an applicant doesn't have any 121 experience, then that is what they want to see. But if you've already checked off that box, I'd say go for the PIC turbine time.

 

[Lev]

AA's RedheadedBro,

I agree with what you are saying, but it's not reality. My whole April class was told by an Eagle union rep on our second day with the company. " Congratulations for getting this job, but this company is a bad place to work. The management will screw you whenever possible. My advice is to get through trainning and find another job ASAP". I shrugged him off at the time, but now after 10 months of sitting on forlough I should have had my ears open. The Captains I flew with were great guy's but the same comments were also made the minute I hit the line. What a sad way to start your airline career!!!

 

[AAsRedHeadedbro]

I agree. However, read the various posts spread around this board and in the General section. Right now most of the airline pilots out there are complaining about something - anything. Now is not a good time in this industry. We at Eagle just seem to have become the first to be disgruntled enmass.

Many of the problems we are having at Eagle right now are happening at the other big regionals. Look what's happening with the DAL wholly owned's. Go to the General Section and read some of the strings in there. They'll make your eyes pop.

Cheers!

 

[emb1452002]

hmmm....

To redheadedbro. Hey man, I know you have your opinions and I respect that, but you defending Eagle is interesting. You are on a whole different wavelength than the pilots on the bottom of our sen. list.

Me---On ATR CA pay for 1.5 years - used to the income - displaced to FO - 20 bucks till next payday - mega years till jet CA - pissed.

you---STILL a jet CA making 70-80k a year - still probably have a AA number - you may have been an FO for 7 years or one of the other 70% of the jet CA with only 400 SIC time at Eagle? Life is good hah?

I know you'll come back and say - "Hey, you may have 20 bucks till payday, but at least your not furloughed". While I was a CA in SJU, I also told FO's to bail out ---- and some were smart and did and they will get a major job before me. As a new hire, I was told by my CA ---- get out. I wished I did....too late now. I'm a stuck Eagle pilot now...too many years to leave. I had an offer last year as Jet CA at NorthwestAirlink....wish I took it...I would still be in left seat of a jet.

All I am saying........you have no right to knock the IOE CA who tells new hires to leave....we all have our own reasons. Eagle does suck------------face it! Thank you for your time.

 

[Freight Dog]

So much negativity about Eagle. Just thought to share this with ya as there are or were some people still enthusiastic about Eagle.

Last summer before 9/11, I was a brand new FO here at Island Air, and I jumpseated on Eagle from LAX-SAN and chitchatted with the crew. The captain was trying to get me to apply to Eagle and made Eagle sound like THE choice airline. He was aware of Island Air, and made it sound like... ahh, you need to come to Eagle. I had a couple of friends at Eagle who had JUST started there and both wanted LAX as a base (both were based elsewhere).

Couple months later 9/11 happened. My friends were furloughed almost immediately. Fortunately we never furloughed and we were actually still hiring. 14 months after my first day in ground school here, I'm a Dash 8 captain and this is post 9/11. Yes, I'm STILL counting my blessings.

 

[skydiverdriver]

We are getting a lot of Eagle guys at Comair, and they seem to like it here a lot more. Come on over, there is plenty of room. I wouldn't leave an airline to fly skydivers, though.

 

[skydiverdriver]

Hey redhead, I work for a Delta WO, and things couldn't be better. We are growing and moving into new places. So, what's the problem?

 

[knucklehead]

BAIL...

DUDE! You need to leave, like NOW!
I was with Eagle for 3yrs based in ORD. Left Eagle 3 months ago for a Fractional and have'nt looked back since. Lifestyle and pay was very much an improvement. Don't get me wrong, the flying on the RJ with Eagle was awsome, but man there's better condition and movement outside of where you are now. If it's a King Air so be it, as long as your getting better pay and PIC. Good luck my fellow eagle guy, by the way, with the amount of hrs you have and the experience with eagle, you should be able to rack up a corp. or frac. job. They love those RJ guys with that 121 experience.......

 

[emb1452002]

Your right...

You hit it right on man. I justed applied to NetJet and Flexjet 2 days ago.....along with updating AirTran. The AMR news coming out in the next day or two is shaking me up. I may be ready for a lateral move.