Interviewing with Great Lakes

[cfrey79]

I'm about to separate from active duty and I'm very interested in flying for Great Lakes out of Denver. I've been told that it is important to have a recommendation from within the company to get hired, but I don't know anyone who works there. Is it possible to get hired without an "in house" recommendation? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[The_Russian]

Yes it is possible. However, with your experience I would recommend Skywest for better QOL and pay. My best friend is at lakes and has been there for 15 months. He still only gets 10 days off a month and barely cleared 13K last year. Junior manned to the limit. Still no upgrade in sight for him. The IBT747 does absolutely nothing for their pilot group. Doug Voss is always crying about his checkbook.

Hope this helps. Why not look at FedEx? You are military. Think bigger!

 

[crashpad]

I'm afraid you're over qualified, sir.

 

[Cardinal]

Vastly over-qualifed. Every single former military aviator that has come to Lakes that I can think of has been quite disgruntled, and for good reason. Your squadron buddies are trying to decide between their FedEx and SWA job offers, while you wallow in poverty playing flight attendant. Go somewhere where you can refine your FMS skills, or something. FWIW, right now there is no possibility of being a street captain, however this statement is B.S.:

He has been there for 15 months...Still no upgrade in sight for him.

People with only 12 months service have been awarded upgrade for next month.

 

[white E]

CLAW, I cannot believe that you are considering Great Mistakes. I think that you should set your goals high and shoot for mesa. Now we are talking living my friend. Gimme a call so we can talk more about it.

 

[gt1900]

Ya, upgrade is right at a year. Also, anybody I remember who was ex-military also left lakes for the majors within about 6 months. If you can suck it up, Lakes isn't a bad place to be if your goal is the majors. There are much better commuters out there, but you will be stuck at those carriers for a long time, you will get out of lakes much quicker...

 

[The_Russian]

If its BS, it isnt me thats giving it out. It is the information I get from him. I really don't think he would lie to me about that, he wants CPT really bad.

 

[gt1900]

Upgrade is a year. One of my FO's was just awarded it at 1 yr and 1 month.....Maybe your buddy doesn't have the 1500 yet?? I don't know, but upgrade is about a year in the 1900 and about 4 1/2 on the 120...

 

[AdSo81]

I agree...Lakes isnt the best regional I can think of, but the people I work with day in and day out are great people and for as junior as I am the schedule isnt too bad. Junior manning was a problem a few months ago, but Ive only been junior manned twice since january. Ive recieved my 1st bid with my lines for the last 2 months, both with more than 10 days off. Also some of my buddies have been awarded upgrade with a tad under 12 months of experiance. Mabye your buddy is on the 120 Russian, but I know they have better lines than the 1900 guys as far as flying and days off. It just takes longer to upgrade. I agree with GT, my quality of life isnt the greatest, but Im not married, no kids and I dont really have trouble making ends meet. If you wanna live like an NBA all star...try mesa ha ha. Over all, Im happy with my life at lakes, but you have to think about what is best for the situation you have at hand.

 

[cfrey79]

It may seem that I'm over qualified but a lot of my flight time is flying checks in Barons and not just military time. I like the opportunity that Great Lakes provides for fast upgrade.

 

[flyf15]

For someone who isn't "over qualified," how much of a disadvantage are they at if they don't have an internal recommendation?

 

[no_desk_for_me]

For people who don't meet the time requirments at other regionals or someone with a sure in at a mAjor great lakes is great. You can get a start building time and qualelifations to go some where else. For those of you who think you can go to lakes build your thousand PIC in 2-2 1/2 years and go to a major........it wont happen. Besides they are about to hit their yearly cicle of furoughs. give it till july and I garentee they will unless the chief pilot is finally being listened to around there. 1900 time just isn't worth what it was in the past and why wait 4-5 years for the brazilla when you can do the same to become a jet captain at another airline. The people there are great and i liked flying with most of them but if you ever need help don't count on the teamsters to be there. It's sad when your piers recommend you get and AOPA legal service plan just incase anything happens because the union won't help. If you still think lakes is the place for you it will definetly increase your pilot skills and make you a better hands on pilot than any rj pilot. Youll fly into tuff places and meet good people I just don't think it will help you get to the majors as quick as the good old days unless you have a hookup to one that is hireing.

Good luck with your careers

 

[gt1900]

I don't care what anybody says. PIC turbine is PIC turbine.. With a few exceptions (Jetblue). Lets see, I know I guy who got a call from America West and Southwest for interviews on the same day. A guy waiting in the pool at Southwest, Two people waiting in the pool at Alaska, and another guy who starts at AirTran in April. Besides the fact we lost 3 others to AirTran last year, probably at least 10 to America West, 1 to Alaska. Throw ontop of that the guy who got hired by ATA (right before the sh!t hit the fan) and the many people who have interviewed at other majors but didn't get the job. And......Well you can see where I'm going. B-1900 time and EMB-120 time is still just as important as it was a couple of years ago. Lets say two guys are trying to get an interview. Both have been at their respective regional for 4 years. One guy has 2 type rating's (B-1900 and Emb-120), is a check airmen, and has 3000 pic turbine, with 4000 total. The other guy has a CRJ-200 type rating, 500 PIC, and 5000 total. The RJ guy won't get a call from SouthWest since they are looking for about 1800 PIC Turbine. AirTran won't have called yet cause the RJ guy just got the required 500 PIC turbine (so he/she still won't be competitive). Alaska probably won't have called since they are looking for lots of PIC turbine as well, plus they RJ guy left lakes after 1 1/2 years so he has been at the other regional for 1 1/2 years longer. My point is this, airlines hire captain's. It doesn't matter if its an RJ captain or Turboprop capatain. Just go out and get as much 121 PIC as you can. There are a lot of guys over at AWAC who were senior to me at Lakes, but their still sitting in the right seat of an RJ building lots of important SIC time with a long, long way until upgrade. They left lakes with the once coveted 1000 PIC turbine but now find that 1000 PIC isn't really competitve. If they would have stayed at lakes they would all probably be gone and flying for a major, but now, once they get to a major, I will probably be their captain.........I see a lot of guys trying to defend thier reason for leaving lakes by saying, "Turboprop time just isn't that important anymore." Here is what is important, seniority at a major. Every extra year that you spend at your commuter will probably cost you $200,000 at a major. The math isn't hard....

 

[Captain Overs]

I agree...Lakes isnt the best regional I can think of, but the people I work with day in and day out are great people and for as junior as I am the schedule isnt too bad. Junior manning was a problem a few months ago, but Ive only been junior manned twice since january. Ive recieved my 1st bid with my lines for the last 2 months, both with more than 10 days off. Also some of my buddies have been awarded upgrade with a tad under 12 months of experiance. Mabye your buddy is on the 120 Russian, but I know they have better lines than the 1900 guys as far as flying and days off. It just takes longer to upgrade. I agree with GT, my quality of life isnt the greatest, but Im not married, no kids and I dont really have trouble making ends meet. If you wanna live like an NBA all star...try mesa ha ha. Over all, Im happy with my life at lakes, but you have to think about what is best for the situation you have at hand.

I agree, who cares if you can't pay your bills? The pilots are fun to fly with.

 

[Cardinal]

I'll stick with gt1900's well reasoned point. Yes, it makes me feel better, but it's sound logic. A bit of history: There was a brief window during mid-late 2002 that a bunch of Lakes captains bailed to AWAC exclusively for the purpose of gaining a few hundred hours of turbojet/glass time. This they got, and within months of being hired at AWAC, they all got hired at Frontier. That was all well and good, but since then the feat has not been repeated. Dozens left for Skywest a bit later, qouting the above instance as precedent, but as yet it hasn't yielded any fruit. RJ time, with but a few exceptions, has not proved conclusively to have more mojo than TP time.

A newhire classmate of mine bailed a few months after initial and went to AWAC. He's still on reserve as a CRJ FO. I just upgraded and hold a line. Take yer pick.

 

[Cardinal]

I agree, who cares if you can't pay your bills? The pilots are fun to fly with.

If you have an overwhelming stack of bills, you've either made choices or run into circumstances in the past that preclude certain present employment opportunities. That is the game of life. Do the wages suck? Yes. Blame the NMB. They've ignored two sequential 100% votes by the pliot group.

 

[AdSo81]

I agree, who cares if you can't pay your bills? The pilots are fun to fly with.

Mabye you can point out to me where in that post I say anything about not being able to pay my bills? My quality of life may not equal life in high society, but all in all, it is fine...Im lucky that Im not married and have no kids...if I were, I probally wouldnt be at lakes. GLA may not be for everyone, but it might be a good choice if your in position simuliar to mine. Oh ya....I dont have any issues keeping up with my bills.

 

[stillflyn]

I don't care what anybody says. PIC turbine is PIC turbine.. With a few exceptions (Jetblue).

How is JetBlue different than anyone else with PIC time?

 

[gt1900]

I should have stated that better. Jetblue want's 1000 hrs in A/C 20,000 lbs or over. The 1900 is 17000 lbs. The 120 is 26,500 so it would qualify, but the 1900 own't..

 

[Cardinal]

From: https://jetblue.recruitmax.com/ENG/candidates/default.cfm?szCategory=jobprofile&szOrderID=749&szCandidateID=0&szSearchWords=&szReturnToSearch=1

Requirements . . .
•1000 hours in airplanes at or above 20,000 pounds (maximum takeoff weight) or 1000 hours in large turbojet airplanes (12,500 lbs or above)
. . .
Competitive Qualifications
• Between 3,000 and 10,000 hours total time in airplanes
• Greater than 2,000 hours turbine PIC in jets
• Greater than 2,000 hours in airplanes at or above 20,000 pounds (maximum takeoff weight)
• Experience with more sophisticated aircraft utilizing Electronic Flight Instrument Systems (EFIS), Flight Management Systems (FMS)
• Bachelor’s Degree

That makes the 1900 driver "blue."

 

[cathal]

1,000 hrs. in large turboJET airplanes. I believe NWA has a similar restriction excluding the 1900 due to weight.

 

[stillflyn]

It will turn around. When JetBlue has to hire pilots who will have to sit as an F/O in the right seat of the E190 for $37 hr for a year or more.... those "competitive times" will come down a little. Those times are only like that now because of all the guys on the street furloughed from UAL, US airways, ect. When I was hired a Lakes in 97 you needed 1200/100. In 99 I flew with F/O's who had just been hired with 250 hrs.

The point of my story.... times will change. I'd take a 1900 driver over an RJ driver anyday! (not that there's anything wrong with the RJ)

Good Luck

 

[Cardinal]

Not to violently hijack this thread, but have the Lakers taken a close look at the lines next month? Besides the 9-leg day: DEN-LAR-DEN-LAR-WRL-LAR-SAF-ABQ-SVC there are other gems. We do a doube deadhead on Saturdays on Horizon of all things to get down to ABQ, then ride on a Beech out to SVC. The reverse on Sundays. To add to the fun is the 4 night GCC groundhog day. Note the averages, 11.41 days off and 71.43 credit hours.

But the real kicker - drumroll - the 41 hour overnight in Clovis, New Mexico!

 

[KeroseneDream]

Apparently Holly is still haunting us from Texas!

Atleast we have a solid union to look in to the matter.

Can I just bid the month off?

 

[mooser]

I'm about to separate from active duty and I'm very interested in flying for Great Lakes out of Denver. I've been told that it is important to have a recommendation from within the company to get hired, but I don't know anyone who works there. Is it possible to get hired without an "in house" recommendation? Any help would be appreciated.

Yeah it is possible (personal experience); have you tried Expressjet yet???

Mooser