Heavy vs RJ time?

[Flyby1206]

Is there much advantage having heavy a/c SIC time as opposed to RJ SIC time? I am an RJ FO with about 6-8 more years till upgrade and contemplating going to a cargo company to try to get some heavier a/c time. Worth it? I would ultimately like to get hired by a major (when they start hiring eventually) thanks

 

[b82rez]

PIC brotha. Whatever gets you that quicker is better. Now with a few thousand 121 PIC, yes....believe it or not....NB or "Heavy" aircraft time looks better.

 

[FurloughedTwice]

Is there much advantage having heavy a/c SIC time as opposed to RJ SIC time? I am an RJ FO with about 6-8 more years till upgrade and contemplating going to a cargo company to try to get some heavier a/c time. Worth it? I would ultimately like to get hired by a major (when they start hiring eventually) thanks

Is the upgrade time at the cargo company about the same? If so take the cargo company job because you will have a better shot at getting on with a major with SIC Heavy time than SIC RJ time.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

I would ultimately like to get hired by a major (when they start hiring eventually) thanks

No majors are hiring?
Hmmmm. I've seen people getting hired by WN, AS, CO, F9, FDX, UPS, and B6. Not sure about Airtran but I think they may be hiring. Also not sure if they are a "major" quite yet.

When the legacy carriers start hiring again they may have some trouble finding pilots. I've got friends at UAL and I wouldn't wish the narrow body work rules on anybody. Hopefully they see some improvements when the contract becomes amenable. Some are predicting DAL pilots will be operating E-190's for RJ wages. That remains to be seen. My point is the legacy carriers may not be the most desirable places to work when they finally start hiring again.

 

[FurloughedTwice]

My point is the legacy carriers may not be the most desirable places to work when they finally start hiring again.

I agree that the legacy carriers may not be as desirable as they once were but this industry is very cyclical and things are starting to turn around. With the exception of SWA, FedEx, UPS I don't know of any other "airline" that would be more desirable then the legacy's. When the market turns around the Legacy's will do well and the money and work rules will change for the better. This might have been the worst downturn in the industry but it's about the 10th time in history that this has happened. You might see one or two legacy's eventually fail or maybe merge but they will continue to be the stronger presence in the industry. They have too much market share for that not to happen.

I've been "furloughedtwice" now in the last three years from two "Majors" and now I'm working on my third so the way I look at is I just need one of them to make it.

 

[Flyby1206]

Right, I should have specified 'major legacy carrier' as my future goal. As of now they aren't that great but I believe the cycle will turn as the previous post said. When the cycle starts to swing upwards I want to be in a good position to get hired by one of those carriers at the beginning. The cargo company upgrade would probably be shorter than my upgrade on the RJ, so perhaps that would be the best road to follow. SWA, fedex, ups, jetblue, CO, etc all rely heavily upon internal recommendations, or if you have lots of quality heavy jet time. So since I dont know anyone important then I better get some quality time in the logbook!