Is being a pilot at a regional like being Tom Cruise in Top Gun?

[CapnVegetto]

At my old corp. job we moped floors, cleaned hangers, $hitters, aircraft, painted floors, did plumbing, worked on budget stuff, hired people and fired people. I had recently heard that the guys now have to detail the boots after a 14-16 hr duty day and vacuum out the inside of the aircraft.

Spend all day at places like HYS, SLN, GLD, K71, MCK, GCK, PTS, PTT, and if you’re lucky you can go to ICT and have a computer to log on with or a couch to sleep on.

Have a company paid cell phone so we can call when we want especially after you got in at 2am from flying and they call you at 8am to tell you about a flight in 2 weeks.

I could go on and on but I want to watch football. If you have a good corp. job keep it. But remember this, sometimes a good flight gets departments downsize. This just happened to a friend of mine. He had a decent schedule 4 on 3 off. The on he was away from home and the off he sometimes had to go into the office.

There are crappy corporate jobs and there are good ones.....ask anyone. There are good and bad things about any job. My first 91 job, I was responsible for cleaning the interior of the plane and the brightwork. It's part of the job. If you think you're over cleaning, then now you know why many corporate operators shy away from hiring airline guys. Ask all the JBlue guys if they mind helping pick up the cabin after a flight. Are you going to refuse a JB interview because of that? It's called taking pride in your aircraft and job.....and helping out the team. At my current job it's not my responsiblity to clean, it's the line guys'. But I still help them out after a flight if I'm not too tired. Why? Because I'm part of the team.

Corporate flight departments downsize, sure. But airlines cut pay, furlough, and kill pensions. Pick your poison. Any corporate job that expects you to show up at an office isn't the norm. Don't take the job if you don't want it!

There are crappy corporate jobs where you pay your dues just like there are crappy regional airline jobs where you pay your dues. It's the same either way. But find the right job, you'll pinch yourself every day b/c of how good you have it.....and that goes for either part of it.

 

[FlyChicaga]

I'd say that moreso than Top Gun, being a pilot at a regional is like being the fat guy in Deliverance.

 

[RJP]

The only things I miss about corporate are the travel to exotic locales (EWR excluded), the corporate credit card and the money. I much prefer knowing when my days off are and not having to worry each time the phone rings.

 

[Winged Sig 599]

It is EXACTLY like Top Gun. Just today I got called into the Chief Pilots Office, and he said he didn't like me because I was dangerous. I patted him on the shoulder and said that's right bet your a$$ I'm dangerous. I smiled, lurched in his face, put on my sweet ray-bans and went out to fly my RJ.

 

[Superpilot92]

I've met quite a few douchebags also. The guys I met at the airlines were decent guys, but very incompetent pilots. Of course, this was at the regional level. You and I just might've had a run of bad luck.

Remind us where you flew at, At the Regional level?

 

[CapnVegetto]

Remind us where you flew at, At the Regional level?

Take a look at my a/c types and connect the dots. Not too hard to figure out.

 

[Superpilot92]

I know where you worked and you talk like every regional is like mesa. 4 14 hour duty days-that does suck and you know what i have and never will see that here. You choose where you work you took the job at mesa.

 

[CapnVegetto]

Exactly why I quit. 'Course when I took the job I didn't know any better. Nobody does. I was faced with moving out of the country or taking a job there. I took the latter. If I had gone to XJET or $hitty taco I might still be there. But I've always been happier at a good corporate job. I thought that having a schedule, even a crappy one, would make me happier. BUUUUZZZZZ!!! WRONG!!! I always kind of knew that I would be happier in corporate, but it took me trying the airlines one time just to say I've done it. Would things have been different if I had gone to another regional? I doubt it. I'm just too dam-n lazy to be an airline pilot. I worked about 10 whole days in September. That's what I like. And after seeing the state of the industry, and how much worse it had gotten, that was just the icing on the cake for me. No more $300K a year DC-10 captain job at the end of the rainbow. Deregulation was the worst thing to ever happen to the average airline pilot.

 

[coolyokeluke]

CapnVegetto,
You and I had opposite experiences. I worked for two really crappy charter companies, and now I work for a really good regional. You came from Mesa and seem to have found a great charter/corporate/whatever job. From my personal experience I think that those are rare, but good for you for getting one.

 

[SkyBoy1981]

Exactly why I quit. 'Course when I took the job I didn't know any better. Nobody does. I was faced with moving out of the country or taking a job there. I took the latter. If I had gone to XJET or $hitty taco I might still be there. But I've always been happier at a good corporate job. I thought that having a schedule, even a crappy one, would make me happier. BUUUUZZZZZ!!! WRONG!!! I always kind of knew that I would be happier in corporate, but it took me trying the airlines one time just to say I've done it. Would things have been different if I had gone to another regional? I doubt it. I'm just too dam-n lazy to be an airline pilot. I worked about 10 whole days in September. That's what I like. And after seeing the state of the industry, and how much worse it had gotten, that was just the icing on the cake for me. No more $300K a year DC-10 captain job at the end of the rainbow. Deregulation was the worst thing to ever happen to the average airline pilot.

I think you know this already, but saying that Mesa is the standard of regional airline jobs just isn't giving justice. I only worked a total of 13 days in September myself. Of course my pay may be lower, but with our trip trading system I have almost complete control of my schedule. When staffing is good like it was in September and has been so far for October I can do almost anything that I want with it. I'm also a single guy that loves to travel, so the ability to get long stretches of SOLID days off (not on call) and use my travel passes to go all over the world on my terms just can't be matched by most corporate jobs. Again, its all about perspective.