Fork in the road

[Rythm3]

Thanks to everyone for your input.

 

[Ty Webb]

Here's another vote for getting that 1000 PIC ASAP before doing anything.

Also, you don' say anything about your family situation, what kind of pay/job you have right now . . . but do you have any idea how crappy the first year or two at COEX will be?

I remember attending the "cattle call" for COEX back in 1999. Didn't get an offer from them, but got a very good corporate/135 jet job offer instead (I had 2100tt at the time).

One year later, I was overnighting at the Hilton across from the COEX ramp at IAH. I opened the window while I ate my room service breakfast, and watched those guys tramping around in the rain, and thought to myself . . . geez, that could be me, busting my butt for half of the pay, out there in the rain, instead of sitting here with a jet type rating in my pocket, free steak and eggs from room service, and getting ready to go fly the jet home to Florida . . . . . .

Be careful what you wish for! I stayed corporate until I got a job I could live with and skipped the regional thing altogether.

 

[IAHERJ]

Ty,

I guess you skipped the regional thing altogether however those guys "running around in the rain" were on their way to their scheduled overnight that (at COEX) were normally in nice hotels and 12 hours or longer. Try 33 hour layovers in 9 of the 15 Mexican destinations COEX serves or maybe a 20 hour layover in Halifax, one of 5 cities in Canada COEX serves. That wasn't a bad airline to work for at all.

Had you "skipped the regional thing altogether" with AirTran's minimums of today, you would still be sitting in a hotel (or a dumpy pilot's lounge) somewhere watching those green tails pass by.

IAHERJ

 

[Ty Webb]

I stand by my post. I had a family, and those Mexican overnights don't pay the bills.

I think you're barking up the wrong tree carrying on about COEX layovers to a former corporate pilot! Let's just say that most corporate pilots get a few ski trips and carribean trips in each season, with a company credit card to pay for everything. . . . except lift tickets. I'll spare you the ALsakan fishing trips and some of the other things we got to do.

Anyway, back to the point, which was whether this guy should scrap a decent turbine PIC gig to go sit in the right seat at COEX for a handful of magic beans and some Ramen noodles . . . my answer is no.

PS, I was hired here after 9/11, and I don't think you can use the current requirements at AAI as a yardstick. With 1000 turbine PIC, he would qualify at JBLU, SWA, ATA, AWA and other places. To each their own, but I would stay corporate until this whole mess turns around.

Oh, when I got to AAI, I had enough hotel points saved up to get through all of the ATL-based training (4 weeks).

 

[IAHERJ]

And I stand by my post. If you think he should stay corporate just state that. Bashing an airline you abviously know little about does him or anyone else any good. By the way, I flew corporate for a while as well and skiied Telluride several times a year along with the other stuff corporate pilots get to do on someone elses dime and schedule. My personal opinion on these two very different methods of getting to a major airline are not important to the topic of the thread therefore I won't go down that road any farther than I have in the paragraph above. After reading your post more closely I apologise as I wasn't aware you were turned down by COEX before I posted initially.

Rythem 3,

I wish you the best in your quest for SWA. They are a great airline and I believe will continue to be one of if not the strongest airlines in this country. Get the PIC time the quickest way you can as anyone on here will tell, this industry is a career of peaks and valleys. You want to always have your ducks in a row for the next peak.

IAHERJ

 

[Swerpipe]

sounds very familiar

I had the same decision to make a couple of years ago. I chose the PIC timeand I am still getting it. To add to what STOPNTSing advised you, I asked a SWA chief pilot after getting my SWA time minimums if I should go with a Regional or take an offer to fly a Hawker as a Captain and the chief pilot advised me to definitely take the Hawker job. He said SWA values PIC jet time way above having the 121 experience. Good luck to you...

 

[Ty Webb]

I think this thread just goes to show that there is no true path. We all make the best choices we can based upon the info we have availaible. A lot of it is just luck and timing.

Good luck to all . . . . .We all do the best we can and hope it works out for the best for all of us.

IAHERJ, I am not knocking it, so much as I am trying to say that there is definitely another way. I wouldn't change mine, sounds like you wouldn't change yours, either.

There is no shame in being turned down by COEX; at my interview, the "worldly" 26 year-old EMB-120 skipper was more concerned with the issue of why I didn't apply when they were PFT than what experience/qualifications I had to bring to COEX on that day in 1999. May have been just a fluke, but left me with a negative impression of COEX that may never change.

Not trying to slam COEX, just show a side of it that our erstwhile King Air skipper may have not contemplated yet.

 

[General Lee]

Ty,

So, you got turned down by COEX and MIDEX? Third time is a charm I guess.... You are a lucky man now.....

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[WhiteCloud]

There is no shame in being turned down by COEX; at my interview, the "worldly" 26 year-old EMB-120 skipper was more concerned with the issue of why I didn't apply when they were PFT than what experience/qualifications I had to bring to COEX on that day in 1999. May have been just a fluke, but left me with a negative impression of COEX that may never change.

I was asked that once. My answer (that worked) was that I considered PFT a bribe to hire me over the next guy and that wasn't the kind of relationship I wanted to have with an employer. At least at that panel they were looking for a straight answer. Who knows what another panel might have thought?

 

[Ty Webb]

Ty,

So, you got turned down by COEX and MIDEX? Third time is a charm I guess.... You are a lucky man now.....

Bye Bye--General Lee

I guess technically I did get turned down by Midex, but none of the guys in my interview group got an offer. I don't think they ever had another newhire class after us . . . I sure don't take it personally.

Yeah, you bet I feel lucky. Funny thing about that story is that I caught a ride on AirTran to get to a Midex city (for the Midex interview), and the AirTran guys convinced me to update my stuff with AirTran . . . . which I did when I got home from the Midex interview.