competitive times required.

[Airpiraterob]

it seems im at a crossroads, very qualified for a regional/'small national. and underqualified for something larger. Im extremely interested in Airtran and carriers like them....ones that appear to have a good future.
so for airtran, whats the usual competitive times seen?
any chance to tame a PIC loaded freight dog? im almost at the 1000 turbine golden number. i need out before the next winter up north here!

 

[Cokie907]

Better stick w/ the "Taco Bell King Air"

Hey Airpirate,

It sounds to me like you are flying for Business Airfreight, aka Airnow out of Bennington, Vermont. I remember well my days of suffering at the hands of that place and its maniacal chief pilot, Doogie!!!! Ask around, folks will fill you in....lol.

I am fortunate that I got out of there when I did but honestly, the EMB110 type hasn't done a thing for me. Don't get me wrong, but regardless of how challenging the flying was in upstate NY, single pilot, it means nothing. The essence of making it to the big time is this: obtaining 121 JET PIC BABY!!!!! That is all!

I left BAI for EJM, another typically crappy 135 operation out of Sunken Lunken (LUK) Cincinnati and it too was an exercise in misery. However, I did manage to gain that valuable JET PIC time which set me up for yet another job change to NW Airlink where I was hired as a "street captain" on the CL-65 Canadair RJ.

With all that said, please don't take offense when I say that you are not as overqualified as you think for the regional/national airlines. Frankly, it is not a "pilot's market" right now and alot of "Taco Bell King Air" time doesn't mean all that much. The flying is a quite a bit different from jet flying in the Class A and the airline procedures are a whole lot different as well. My advice is to get on at a regional as soon as you can and aim for the left seat. Get the almighty 121 pic time that the military guys are not required to have and just suck it up for now. Be advised that wherever you go, there will not be much upward mobility and that is a function of industry forces. Aim for a company where there is lots of growth forecasted so people will be hired under you. In the absence of these opportunities, just stay at BAI until things improve in the industry. Enjoy the kind of flying that most of us long for and revel in the magic of buzzing along at 210 knots and 4000 feet MSL. Those were the days, I MISS THEM!!

 

[Airpiraterob]

hmm...BAI, my things have changed then.

well, remember Birnback? hes at citation shares now. CP is now skip. DO is franz. there trying not to loose money like a hemmohrage. and theyre making pilots double up in the smae room when in hotels. charter market is for the most part dead so theyre not makin any money at all.
Im not overqualified, but people with substantially les stime than myself got on at various regionals. and ive got some really good emergency stories to boot. so i cant help but look at that.
I'm doing what you suggested already, holding out for a while here till it improves. looks like fall at the earliest when the favorable places start lookin at resume's again <with minimal pay losses>
airtran in the fall. theyve ben upgrading their DC9 crews to the 717 so they put off the newhire classes till then. (thats what i hear..and thats when my contact will be in there).. so perhaps ill have to wait till spring..odd how it perpetuates itself. thats when air wisconsin starts lookin at new people again. im just really sold on airtran tho. i dunno why. they have a good plan it seems. fracts are good, but everyone trying to get on there has 6-8k hours.
So now im not at 4000 anymore....im up at 17k with a green bottle....doing what i can to help save money.
it can only get better from here....unless the company makes us sleep in the pilots lounge recliners in BUF.
one last thing....new record. we hired a bandit captain...with 7 hours multi...to quote French, "Can you believe it??!!"
email me if you like....if you cant find the addy leme know.

 

[Ty Webb]

Rob:

As an Airtran pilot, I appreciate your comments about FL. Things are going well here.

Hiring has stopped for the time being- they have hired over 120 pilots since Nov. 2001, so we are pretty caught up right now. There are pilots in the pool, and I would guess maybe another 30-40 pilots more will be hired by the end of a year- that's not a lot, unfortunately, not in this market.

I think you are getting some good advice- 121 turbine PIC is what we are looking for right now. I have heard the average in the most recent classes was 4000-6000tt with plenty of McD/Boeing pilots out there right now.

If I were you, I would look for a job in a crew environment, either 121 turbine or a 135 jet job and dig in, wait until the hiring begins again in full swing, and you'll be more competitive. Check out ASA, Airlink, etc.

Good Luck

Best of luck