Gulfstream Airlines to Major?

[atafan]

H Y P O C R I T E S !!!!!

This board sure has them.

I didn't do the PFT when I grew up in this business because it wasn't available but I would've. I've known plenty who paid for training back when it was more fashionable and they weren't rich kids either. Most of the PFT guys I've known maxed out a multitude of credit cards and lived on spam, isn't that part of "paying your dues"?

The problem with this board is that it is full of pilots whose airline experience only travels back 10 or less years and don't have memories of how hard flying jobs have been to get.

And anyway....Pilots have been paying for their training since day one. What do you call that first year pay being $20K-$30K less than second year. I call it paying for your initial training. What do you call the booming 737 type schools business, I call it paying for a job - with no guarantee - (That's PFT lotto style) What do call paying for any type just to get a corporate interview, PFT.

Please, get over your highly bloated ego and be thankful you didn't have to do the PFT - BUT YOU REALLY DID!

 

[The_Russian]

Just saw this thread.......

PCL_128,

I am tired of your bantering about how you regret attenting GAA. You are the worst "wanna-be cool guy" sucking up asking for forgiveness from what you think you did wrong so people will respect you again. To throw your past away and forget where you came from is disrespectful to yourself. Please, take yourself elsewhere and never post about GIA or GAA on this board again. Your self-loathing and uneducated comments about my airline are not welcome. We don't even want you to claim you are one of us. You wouldn't be where you are now if it wasn't for that interview phone call from the Academy.

Moving on....

Yes we are currently hiring street Captains. The best thing is to get your resume in to the Chief pilot and sit in the pool until called for an interview. QOL is very good here. 15-11 days off a month. Lots of money to be made on reserve. We are expecting our TA contract soon. Great place to work overall. Everyone becomes really close and friends are easily made. We would love to have you here.

mach zero,

You are an a$$. People all over the world are doing everything they can to stay away from you.

 

[mbw]

Don't do it....and this why ...

I know several people who had gone that route, and they were all worthless. Nobody liked flying w/them, they never got any respect from anybody. It might look like a good idea now, but you'll have a black scar w/you for the rest of your career. If you want to be respected and accepted by the people that you will work with then don't do it. The industry is opened up, you should be able to find a better gig than GS.

good luck

 

[The_Russian]

Don't do it....and this why ...

I know several people who had gone that route, and they were all worthless. Nobody liked flying w/them, they never got any respect from anybody. It might look like a good idea now, but you'll have a black scar w/you for the rest of your career. If you want to be respected and accepted by the people that you will work with then don't do it. The industry is opened up, you should be able to find a better gig than GS.

good luck

So your only reason is "don't do it because people won't like you"? Thats the most idiodic thing I have ever heard when talking about career moves. Yes, there are people here who are worthless. However, there are worthless people within every organization in every industry. You can say that people are worthless because they went to GAA. What black scar? When has any pilot not been hired because they were in any way affiliated with GIA or GAA? Ok, maybe some loser Chief pilot that hates GIA guys because they have better pay and QOL than him wont hire a GIA guy. But that's it. I have spent almost four years involved with GIA and GAA and I have never heard of anyone not being hired because of some stigma.

So, you have no respect for me just because I am at GIA? On what grounds do you base this lack of respect? I respect other pilots no matter what. Even though I don't like it that people take 18k a year jobs to fly 50 seat jets, it does not mean that I have no respect for them. It is the industry as a whole that is the problem.

Have you found a better "gig" than Gulfstream? Do you have 15 days off a month? Airline bennies? Union protection? Have you seen our pay scale? Wait until the new TA is voted on. No matter what our pay is going up. Do you get 100 hours of flying a month? Have you ever been to GIA or GAA? I don't think so. We have the industry leading contract. You don't. Fill me in!

 

[islandhoper]

Thought this thread was dead already...

Once again, After 5 years at GIA i got a great job and have NEVER been put down or made feel bad. I am asked about my last airline EVERYtime I fly with a new captain. So, that PFT black mark is only in the imagination of those who did not make it and want to blame others for the ^bad luck^or the inability to get a better gig...

My friends from GIA have gone to ALL major airlines I know in the US and of course to many international airlines.
Also, because the true nature of Gulfstream Training academy is education, most of the pilots come out with great skills and aviation knowledge. Training at Airtran is not half as hard as it is at Gulfstream...

Let it go dudes... You can`t fight reality...

 

[instructordude]

A friend from high shool who is a little older than I is having a blast there. Living in Florida, scoring with all kinds of chicks, and bidding his time before going over to Continental (his dad retired from there). He said the pay isn't great but his sex life is making up for it. He is living with a 34 year old AA flight attendant for free down in Fort Lauderdale. She is divorcing her husband, Capt at AA, and he is sleeping in his house! Holy cow I gotta laugh at that one. His only chore is to please her and pick up the beer cans before she comes home. The guy is living the dream!!!!!!!!

 

[Quiet Flight]

GIA..It might work out for you

I'm posting this because it took forever for me to type it up. And if you don't feel like reading this whole thing, do yourself the favor and click on the link in my signature. I cried I laughed so hard.

Citabriapilot – Heads up.

Russian - What up?!

T-Gates - Cheers to ya!! Right on.

I just read this thread the other day and I'll admit I was a little surprised. The GIA hate meter is pegged! Odd that people would waste energy on such a thing. Then again I have personally seen some of the people who post on here on a freakishly regular basis. Let’s just say their social calendar has some free space on it. But I happen to have little free time, so what the hell?

Anyway...where do I begin? Quick synopsis maybe...

Graduated College (Marketing) - Ad Sales (1 year) - Got married (she's a saint) - Borrowed $62k to pay for Pvt thru Comm-Multi, new truck ("The Bullet" died. R.I.P. old girl) and the GIA F/O program - Ramper for AA and a landscaper for county (making money to fly and pay bills/loans) - Certs and ratings at local aeropuerto while ramping (2 years) - F/O program at GIA (still ramping. worked 27-30 days a month. Wife worked 1 full time and 2 part time jobs. Grab Kleenex now) - Flew at GIA for one year as a PFT F/O – left GIA for PDT (Mgt to me: Thanks for coming. Hope you enjoyed the Dash 8 these last 7 months. You're being furloughed) - Still ramping while at PDT (total of 4 years ramping) - left PDT for ACA prior to furlough (finally quit ramping. It's cooler than you think in the belly of a 757 in August in FL...No it's not.) - on the furlough list 4 times in 2 years at ACA - voluntarily ejected from the Indy Air experience 2 years to the day after I joined ACA/Indy (great times, better friends) - went to ALL ATP’s and got my ATP. No airline paid for it as I had still not been able to upgrade anywhere. My ATP did NOT come with a type rating either. Did yours? I guess you could call that more PFT on my part - back to GIA as a street Capt - 1000 Part 121 Turbine Multi PIC in 11 months - interviewed and hired at FedEx 18 months after returning to GIA - currently swimming in the Purple pool (class date this summer???) - No. I do not have any family there (never have) or a friend who is a CP/DO/VP. - No debt. Loan terms were 10 & 20 years. Paid off in 4.5 - Have I paid my dues? I don't know and even more importantly I don't care. I just got hired at my dream job. It's all I can do to not start a thread that says: "You were just hired at FedEx. What are you going to do next? Me: I'm going to Disney World!!! But I digress.

Now take note. I have interviewed at 5 airlines that hired me (AA, PDT, ACA, GIA, FDX). I also interviewed at CoEx somewhere in the middle of all this but I got up and left in the middle of the interview and they subsequently did NOT hire me. Go figure. Now we can toss the AA interview because I just threw bags so GIA would not have had an effect on my being hired or not. However, I will add, at the time I ramped for AA there were currently about 5 other GIA pilots doing the same thing. Some were mechanics, some smashers. AA hired several of them and I was also granted an interview at AA which would have fallen around early 02. 9/11 changed that.

ACA, PDT and FDX interviewers all said roughly the same things regarding GIA and the type of flying we do. It went something like this: "So let me get this straight. You have no autopilot, no FMS, no APU, no F/A. Flying a 9 leg, 16 hour day is not at all unheard of. (I thought the people at FedEx would faint when I told 'em that one.) You have flown 119 hours in one month on more than 1 occasion? It looks hot in those little airplanes. Is It? Aren't thunderstorms a bitch at 14000 ft? Etc.” The PDT CP told me during my interview that I was going to have to quit one of my other jobs if they hired me (AA or GIA). He was half kidding. He also said it appeared that I was a hard working SOB. FDX said it looked like the road I had traveled to get to that interview was full of potholes. I told them potholes are the spice of life. They laughed, told me that it was cool that I got to fly to Cuba at GIA and asked if I could get cigars. I told them I’d let ‘em know if they hired me. The guy who did my sim ride at FDX ragged on me about the B-1900 and asked me if I was aware that the DC-10 he and I were currently sitting in had 3 engines and that they were jets. I said yes. He laughed. I passed. He pulled me aside after the fact and said I did great. It was cool.

Now I might not have a mountain of experience but I do have enough to know this: Nobody said they wouldn’t hire me because I paid/flew at GIA. GIA opened enough doors for me to get on at FDX. If I had not been hired there would I have spent the $8K and gone to Higher Power for the 737 type? Absolutely. Does that seem like PFT to me? Yep. Do I fault the guys and gals at SWA for doing it? Nope. Should anybody really give a crap? Nope. Are paying for the type, paying Gulfstream or paying to be a CFI all the same in my eyes? Yep. And most importantly, is life/aviation fair? NOT AT ALL!!! But the majority of us have some intestinal fortitude and we’re OK with that. Arguing the GIA program is like telling a doctor not to pay for med school because he might end up with a job after he graduates.

GIA serves a purpose. For some that is PFT instead of being a CFI. I would have NEVER been a CFI. I knew that early on. My reasoning was it would be extremely unfair of me to try and teach some garden shrub how to fly when I didn’t really care if he learned or not. I just wanted his loot and the flight time. I just didn’t think that would be cool of me to do to somebody who was expecting better from their instructor.

For others GIA can serve its purpose if they hire you as a street captain. Show up get your 1300 PIC (SWA) and move on. Here’s a novel idea too: You don’t even have to like it at GIA. And that’s OK. All you’re doing is advancing your career. But I bet you will like it. Sun, sand, hurricanes. What’s not to love? Plus there’s kind of an “us against the world, everybody treats us like we’re the Bad News Bears” attitude among the pilots that makes the whole experience pretty comical. And the camaraderie is top notch too. Also, it’s kind of fun being the underdog. Everybody counts you out before you even show up at the dance. But a little Sun Tzu should have taught them better than that. Never underestimate, etc., etc…

Rez O. Lewshun said it best at the beginning of this thread: “All you need are the right qualifications and THE PROPER ATTITUDE”. The choice is yours.

Q/F

P.S. There are about 6 sons/nephews of current and recently retired FedEx captains flying at GIA today. Some have just upgraded to Capt. We’ll see what happens in 12 months…

 

[Captjiggles]

I remember when Quiet flight was a brand new FO............, "get that damn atis". Glad you got your dream! Now if only Yellow Air Taxi would call me!

 

[Ace75]

Don't do it....and this why ...

I know several people who had gone that route, and they were all worthless. Nobody liked flying w/them, they never got any respect from anybody. It might look like a good idea now, but you'll have a black scar w/you for the rest of your career. If you want to be respected and accepted by the people that you will work with then don't do it. The industry is opened up, you should be able to find a better gig than GS.

HAHAHA who are you trying to scare with that BS?? I actually thought at first that some of this garbage that you guys post about GIA might be true at the beginning, but after years of asking opinions and thoughts from pilots at all sorts of outfits this is the only place that puts down GIA, why dont you just shut down flightinfo.com down and reopen it as GiaPFTBashingForum.com. its obvious who you are, your pissed off and jealous becuase you couldnt afford to do the program and had to "pay your dues", so you had to sit for 2 years making $10/hr as a CFI or banner tower, GROW UP I HAD TO DO IT TOO and im not blaming GIA or their students who didnt want to eat Ramen noodles everyday while they were teaching wonderpilot how to fly. Keep using the absurd excuse that it takes away a paying pilot job from a CFI, gulfstream gets more people into the airlines than most other flight schools in the country.

 

[dardar]

debandermac -

that's what my grandpa did - his dad told him that if he wanted to be a pilot to just become a doctor and buy his own plane.

he became a dentist, and he has owned many throughout the years.