How to apply to Great Lakes?

[User546]

Even if the regionals is your goal at this step in your career, have you considered maybe going the cargo route so you can build up some more total time, and eventually multi time?

Cargo operators last I looked were hiring guys with your experience.

 

[RichardRambone]

Gotta have those 135 mins for most cargo. Id prefer to fly single pilot myself. From my looking around its best to stick with what Im doing until I get those mins but when you're washing planes for flight time a place like Great Mistakes looks real good.

 

[ceo_of_the_sofa]

Even if the regionals is your goal at this step in your career, have you considered maybe going the cargo route so you can build up some more total time, and eventually multi time?

Cargo operators last I looked were hiring guys with your experience.

Got shot down by Airnet for the SIC, don't have IFR 135 mins to apply anywhere else. Flying my butt off lately, but with fall coming up, it'll be tough getting those last 200 hours.

 

[RichardRambone]

Airnet I guess is night cargo which doesnt suite my bag. Im gonna try and hold out for Ramair if I can stand it.

 

[viper548]

Just 30 multi, that's what's hurting me.

Find someone else who needs multi time and split the cost. There are much better options once you get 100ME

 

[eight8kcabpilot]

Food for thought... By the time you have enough experience (i.e. multi time) to get hired by a regional that pays more and flys jets, the upgrade may be 5+ years. At places like Great Lakes and Colgan, the upgrade is always going to be pretty fast. Usually around a year. PIC turboprop is A LOT better than SIC in an RJ. The best way to apply? I'm not really sure. When I applied to Great Lakes, I was faxing a resume once a week until they called me after about four weeks.

Here are some pros and cons:

PROS:
1.Quick upgrade time. Turbine PIC is important.
2.Fun flying. You get to FLY the airplane instead of pushing buttons
3.The pilots at Great Lakes are exceptional
4.Good experience. Cruising around thunderstorms at FL220 in the mountains will teach you a lot more than flying around thunderstorms over Florida at FL350.

CONS:
1.F/O pay. About 15K per year.

Captain pay also sucks, but only compared to other airlines' captain pay. I think it is around 27K per year for 2nd year captains. However, every captain there is planning on going somewhere else so the PIC time is more valuable than the paychecks they earn.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[TEXAN AVIATOR]

I was in your shoes a couple years ago. I really wanted to work at Great Lakes. Everyone I met said to hold off. In retrospect, I'm glad I did.

Very well put, hold out for a decent company. Don't by any means think GLA is going to put food on the table. Have you seen the payscale?