Mesa training.....any input?

[wheelsup]

So with the PACE program they will take you with 250TT give you your Instrument, Commercial, Multi-Engine Land for 13K and give you a interview with mesa, also 20 hours of BE-58 Baron training and sim time?
Lets say you do get hired at mesa, you will be sitting right seat for a few years on a RJ or B1900 working the gear and flaps?
Would this be good to do? To build time (but its SIC) ect ect if you do get a job with Mesa?
This kinda sound fishy to me.

Nope. You go into the PACE program with a Comm/Multi/Inst and assoc. degree. You can elect to go into it without the multi and get it in the process but thats your option. You might say why do 20 hours in a B58 if you already have a multi - you'd be surprised of the skill level of some people that come here - they REALLY need it.

You pay 12-13k for some multi time and 40 hrs of CRJ Level 6 training, as well as ground school on the CRJ systems. You get an interview with Mesa after completion and in good standing, and most people pass the interview. I believe I stated on another post that about 85% of the PACE guys get hired who start the program. The ab-initio is much higher, right now running 100% for the last year or two, I think average over lifetime is about 90-95%.

The ab-initio I believe is a great deal. The actual flight training costs about $44,000 or so, and while higher than doing it 61, is much lower than most other 141 schools around. And, you fly '91 and above Beechcraft A36 and B58's - not little 152's (even to solo in!).

ANYONE that gets hired at a 121 carrier will be sitting right seat doing gear and flaps. I had friends go to ASA at 250-300 TT and they're still doing that. It's not just at Mesa...hell anyone who goes to a regional now even if you had 10,000 hours is gonna be an F/O.

It depends on what you'd like to accomplish. If you want to 'pay your dues' and have options open if Mesa should stop hiring for years (unlikely) than don't do the PACE program. If you want to avoid people on here saying you're a dufus for flying for Mesa don't do the program. Remember, you don't just "do the program" you have to interview for it before being accepted.

~wheelsup

Edit: I love your avatar. Where'd you get it? I want some...

 

[bobbysamd]

Mapd

The ab-initio I believe is a great deal. The actual flight training costs about $44,000 or so, and while higher than doing it 61, is much lower than most other 141 schools around. And, you fly '91 and above Beechcraft A36 and B58's - not little 152's (even to solo in!).

I instructed at MAPD in 1993 and recognized some of the same aircraft in which I flew from the recent literature.

I second these points. If anything, you will leave this flight school with a strong aviation education and a two-year degree. It is not P-F-T because all it is is a Part 141 flight school - and your ratings and degree are the only things it promises. While a ninety to ninety-five percent hiring rate are great odds, it is still not an ironclad guarantee of hire. I'm sure, Wheelsup, that you have encountered at least one or two clowns who alienated people enough to lose "the interview," just as I did at MAPD many years ago.

You pay 12-13k for some multi time and 40 hrs of CRJ Level 6 training, as well as ground school on the CRJ systems. You get an interview with Mesa after completion and in good standing, and most people pass the interview. I believe I stated on another post that about 85% of the PACE guys get hired who start the program . . . .

Those are not good odds. You lose, and you leave with some paid-for multi time and now-useless sim time. Not to mention that you are out all that money. Because you are not applying the training you received in the sim, the skills you acquired in it will evaporate quickly.

Here again, do you want to bet $12,000 on an interview? Think about it.

 

[AZaviator]

The program sounds decent, however there could be two big possible downsides. Number one, the possibility of you finishing there with your ratings and your 300hrs and not being hired on with Mesa, or not getting selected for an interview. Then you won't be in the best of shape. I seriously doubt any other regional would hire you only with your ratings and very little real world experience. You probably will have wished all that money was spent on your CFI tickets, rather than CRJ sim time, which really isn't too useful for someone just starting out.

The other downside I see for this program is that you might have to fly for Mesa.

 

[fly2002]

Ok i'll bite

Hi all, Here's my background.
Flight instructed for a year and a half.
Flew cargo in large transport catagory airplanes for a 135 operater. Considered one of the best in the country. Not your typical single pilot stuff. It was twin turbine, 26,000 lbs.

I now fly for Mesa as a CRJ FO. Some of you have got to be kidding me. The difference in 121 ops and 135 ops is night and day. I would not go back to 135 ops. Even if I was furloughed. Hell, I'd flip burgers before that. hey...less chance of dying is the way I see it. And dude, I make a whole lot more now than I ever did flight instructing, and even while flying cargo. AND i'm still in my first year. 350 Driver, thank you for continually being supportive.

Pulling Gear and flaps eh? I think many FO's on this board would reach through your computer screen and bi##h slap you if they heard you say that. A little insight for you.

I've been at Mesa for 9 months.

I've been online for 6 months.

Training is paid for.

During training I even received SIX weeks off PAID IN FULL to sit around and drink beer and fly across the country....to pretty much do what I just said.

I'm now senior in my base FO #12 out of 67. I average 14 days off a month....this month it was 16. Hell i haven't even seen a plane in a week now.

My captain, unlike your students, will most likely not try to kill me.
Ok sorry for the rant all, but seriously. The 121 world is TOTALLY different, and a lot better after having flown in general aviation and then part 135.
But,
JMHO