input needed

[blesko]

Hey all, have a career decision to make and need some input from those in the biz. I've been offered a class date with cape air in hyannis on jan 3. I've also been offered a position (albeit in a pool) from ASA. I'm leading toward ASA, but here's the pros and cons as I see them from my tainted inexperience vision. Now I've asked myself, where do I want to be in 5/10 years, blah, blah and with state of the industy, who knows if we'll be around in 5-10 years. I'd like to possibly head toward blue or SWA or possible even corporate. Most corporate departments want turbine time (at least from what I've seen through online job postings, etc) so I may want to align myself with that. You have to have turbine time to get jobs it seems in some places.

Pros:
Capeair: Financially more stable than anyone else. Great people, great QOL, home every night, multi piston PIC in a scheduled 135 environment. Decent pay at 33k a year. Definate class date.

Pros:
ASA: CRM in a 2 crew environment. Turbine time. State of the art CRJs. Ability to move (ground instructor, check airman, union work, upgrade eventually, etc) down the road. Possible upswing for more pilot hiring putting more numbers hopefully on the list beneath me.

I see more professional growth at ASA, maybe I'm wrong.

Here's the cons:
Cons:
Capeair: Same 7 cities in an out for months. No room for movement, its a captain position single pilot. 6 month training agreement.

Cons:
ASA: Financial uncertainty. New owners. Mother Delta's looming strike. Reserve for gawd knows how long. No hiring no numbers beneath me.

Maybe I'm missing something, hope y'all can help shed some light on where the future looks best. Thanks for the help.

 

[BoDEAN]

Hey all, have a career decision to make and need some input from those in the biz. I've been offered a class date with cape air in hyannis on jan 3. I've also been offered a position (albeit in a pool) from ASA. I'm leading toward ASA, but here's the pros and cons as I see them from my tainted inexperience vision. Now I've asked myself, where do I want to be in 5/10 years, blah, blah and with state of the industy, who knows if we'll be around in 5-10 years. I'd like to possibly head toward blue or SWA or possible even corporate. Most corporate departments want turbine time (at least from what I've seen through online job postings, etc) so I may want to align myself with that. You have to have turbine time to get jobs it seems in some places.

Pros:
Capeair: Financially more stable than anyone else. Great people, great QOL, home every night, multi piston PIC in a scheduled 135 environment. Decent pay at 33k a year. Definate class date.

Pros:
ASA: CRM in a 2 crew environment. Turbine time. State of the art CRJs. Ability to move (ground instructor, check airman, union work, upgrade eventually, etc) down the road. Possible upswing for more pilot hiring putting more numbers hopefully on the list beneath me.

I see more professional growth at ASA, maybe I'm wrong.

Here's the cons:
Cons:
Capeair: Same 7 cities in an out for months. No room for movement, its a captain position single pilot. 6 month training agreement.

Cons:
ASA: Financial uncertainty. New owners. Mother Delta's looming strike. Reserve for gawd knows how long. No hiring no numbers beneath me.

Maybe I'm missing something, hope y'all can help shed some light on where the future looks best. Thanks for the help.

Good luck to you. You've had about 10+ interviews in the last 3 months with different airlines from what I recall. I am sure you will make the right choice. My opinion would be ASA if I were you, but you should have the knowledge and experience after a dozen interviews to make that right call. Good luck.

 

[blesko]

Good luck to you. You've had about 10+ interviews in the last 3 months with different airlines from what I recall. I am sure you will make the right choice. My opinion would be ASA if I were you, but you should have the knowledge and experience after a dozen interviews to make that right call. Good luck.

yeah, i'm in a pool for most, however ASA looks about the most promising. Only in a pool for 2 at the curent moment after 4 interviews including cape air, so its not too bad. best of luck on the eagle interview man.

 

["GO AROUND"]

How long have you been in pool at ASA? Longer in pool means earlier call for class when they start filling them. I can't see the future with what's gonna happen anywhere in flying, so I couldn't tell ya what your life will be like at ASA. I see ASA as in the middle, some better, some worse, than us but not a bad place to be overall. It has the potential to be so much better. That's about the best thing I can say about ASA.

Good Luck.

 

[blesko]

i got the letter around the thanksgiving time, so just about a month or so if that helps. thanks much for the input

 

[mamba20]

blesko,

Great thread man, it sounds like you've really thought this out and thats great. I've learned from my limited experience that its hard to plan for the future with the career. You just kinda need to do whats right for today and hope that it works out. With that in mind. I would say stick with ASA. The "heavier aircraft", turbine, and glass time is very valuable with the compaines your looking at going to some day. just my 2 cents but I hope it helps.

 

[indianboy7]

Cons:
Capeair: Same 7 cities in an out for months. No room for movement, its a captain position single pilot. 6 month training agreement.

ASA: Same 15 cities in and out for months.
I wouldn't worry about the lack of changing scenery....you're not gonna get much at either airline. I've only seen 3 airports while on reserve here in california........

 

[sweptback]

ASA: Same 15 cities in and out for months.

Only if you get stuck on the ATR

 

[jehtplane]

ASA: Same 15 cities in and out for months.
Iquote]



What are you talking about?

 

[Jetpig]

Not counting ATL I see the same five airports all month and I am not on the ATR.

 

[dwcaviator]

Dear Brian,

If you take the Cape Air gig, but privately plan on jumping ship the moment you get the call from ASA, please do us all a favor and stay away. Wanting to advance in your career is a fine goal, and we don't hold it against any pilots when they leave—provided they have kept their word. As you note, Cape Air has a 6 month training agreement. It really takes us at least until September to recoup the investment we make in training you (5-6 weeks, including ground school, sim & flight training, checkride, IOE, hotel and pay roll). It would be a real kick in the jimmies if ASA called and you ended up quitting Cape Air in the middle of our busy summer season. If you accept the position at Cape Air, all we ask is that you work hard, do your best and keep your word. If you do that, then the door to a great company will remain open if you decide to move on.


If what I have laid out seems like too much of a hardship, then Cape Air is probably not a good fit for you.


Love,

Your friends at Cape Air

 

[flyinhigh6165]

I am in the same boat. I got a class date with TSA and in the pool at ASA. I interviewed at ASA Oct 24th and got the letter around Thanksgiving. I think i am going to stick it out for ASA. I have interviewed at 4 places and was impressed by ASA the most. I could easily go to TSA and bail once i hear from ASA. However, later down the road in an interview with the majors they might ask why you did that and ask if you will bail on them after all the money spent on you for training. Blesko...not sure but i think we interviewed together on the 24th. All 4 of us are in the pool. I think we will get a class date at the end of Jan or early Feb. If i got the right person.

 

[blesko]

ya know, i'm not out to s*** on my new prospective employer, that's why this I posted on this forum. Some of us in the business still have class and will not search for the immediate PFT "fast track" for that 1000 PIC that will get you right to the bottom of any stack of resumes at any carrier OR jump from job to job. So, with that being said, its important to make a right decision, and get the input from all those that have already been down this road. Thanks again for the input. It seems the rumor mill is a class date late february/early march. Not horrible. We'll see what happens