Ok..why does EVERYONE hate MESA?

[captjim]

Humphry - I agree with you. It is a stepping stone for EVERY single one of us. However, if I get lucky and have the choice between two airlines, I would love to know the negative and positive info on both. No matter where I go (assuming I am lucky enough to be able to go anywhere) I won't ever flame anyone of us. We ARE all in this thing together and I agree with jrcpilot that we do have to hold a level of standard or the bottom could fall out in the long run. Then again, flying vs. sitting on my butt reading this board for information all day would be great regardless of who I am flying for.

Stepping stone, not anymore. Go tell that to a great many Comair, Eagle and ACA pilots, they will quickly set you straight. This is a profession, our profession to leave intact. There are pilots who are collectivly lowing the bar that Comair and ACA raised to new heights not so long ago.

Please don't buy into the belief that you'll spend 2 or 3 years at a regional and go to a major. It doesn't work like that anymore. If you haven't noticed the majority of the airline growth is in the small jet arena. You are going to spend a little more time flying that shinny new jet than you anticipated. Just ask how many years the average small jet captain has been around.

No just being happy to fly isn't enough. Where ever you get hired is where you'll be for sometime. Think about it.

 

[Humphry]

Well I guess every industry has their immature babies who think they deserve more that they are offered.

MCKPICLE, you should keep to yourself and play with your
MR. Pickle more, you'd be more constructive. By the way, you telling me to shut up and calling me an a$$hole shows what class you have. Another thing, tell your mom I had a great time with her last night and I'll call her soon.

SKYWARD, maybe you'd be happier at asking "Would you like that supersized? What kind of drink?" That's what you should be doing instead I guess?

CAPTJIM, we all chose this profession. It's a shame what has happened to it. I would love nothing more than to make ALOT of money flying an airplane, however, it ain't gonna happen right now, so lets be happy with what we have.

 

[Skyward]

Spoken like a true private pilot! Doesn't know sh!t.

 

[Humphry]

SKYWARD, Yes I'd like that supersized, and oh yes, I'll have a Sprite!

 

[captjim]

CAPTJIM, we all chose this profession. It's a shame what has happened to it. I would love nothing more than to make ALOT of money flying an airplane, however, it ain't gonna happen right now, so lets be happy with what we have.

You are correct Humphry, it is the profession that we all picked. I picked it becouse it was most of all fun for me. I can still remember high school when my passion for flying began. It was the start of the addiction! I can also remember when I started at my company at $13 and change. That is something that I don't want any other aviator to go through. It's my duty to all of the younger aviatiors and myself to inprove this profession. It is all of our duties to know the past and not go back.

We love what we do, but don't let that get in the way of being good stewards to this elite vocation.

 

[urflyingme?!]

43 hrs to solo?

 

[Otto Coarsen]

He keeps changing it.... I doubt it holds any truth..

 

[urflyingme?!]

i got my pvt in less than that....

 

[jrcpilot]

I never have a problem adding to good dialogue on the threads. There are many I will not respond to or get involved with because of the lack of respect and knowledge many show.

1st and formost we need to respect each other as pilots. I am not in here to get into pissing matches. Like Icywings2 I am here to gather information. Good information not a bunch of bs. I am not going to comment on some of the stupid replies on here cause thats just adding fuel to the fire. I will say that Captjim, Skyward, and wscrj had some very good comments.

The guys that are already at Mesa will hopefully think twice the next time their contract is up for ammendment. But there is no need to bash those guys. They are very much a collective part of who we are. Skyward makes a good point. A regional job is not a stepping stone anymore.

Trust me I just left Delta Air Lines for Express Jet. It ain't happening like before. Airlines like Delta and United and American have a ways to go before hiring in the manner we got accustomed to will return. Delta still has 1500 pilots on furlough. The airline is contracting, and we currently have more pilots than we need to fly the line. Yes some fleets are hurting but thats a training bottleneck and not a overall headcount issue.

Luckily Continental is bringing back all their furloughs and is finally making money. Thats good news. But the days of majors hiring 30 to 60 a month indefinitely will not happen for a while. That means for some of us the regional IS the airline career. It's important to raise the bar to a respectable level but the trick is to not kill the golden goose. The Major airlines just about did with contracts like United and Delta's. I am all for us making good money but not salaries that can't be supported. That's career suicide.

I also don't like unions caving in to the company banter. American did with their concessions. United Pilots did not have much choice and neither did USAirways pilots. Now everyone wants Delta pilots to hold the line. To a certain degree they need to. But understand that the other unions that did not "hold their lines" are now putting undue pressure on the Delta pilots to hold the line which is unrealistic now because of the concessions the other unions gave. There is that viscious cycle I talked about earlier. We are our own worst enemies sometimes. I hope the dialogue will continue to improve on some of these threads. Thanks guys.

 

[captjim]

BTW, my roomate whom is an 4 year FO has been trying to throw my computer out of the window for about an hour after reading this thread! For everyone that thinks that a "regional" job is a stepping stone, get out of the 90"s!

 

[Propblast]

Mesa is a bottom-of-the-barrel organization. Jonathan Ornstein is a ruthless, heartless slimeball who whipsaws employee groups at any chance. He treats his employees and their livelyhood with little or no respect. In fact, the pilots there are up in arms now because of some issues with vacation. I will not say bad things about the guys/gals that are there. Those I've spoken with were desperate for a job, readily admit they made a mistake going there and wish they could go back and do things differently.

Take a look at the Yahoo message board: mesa airlines forum or www.mesalounge.com. Ask one of the people there about CCAir or Freedom Air. If you remember the crash of the Air Midwest 1900 down in CLT; that crash was caused by improperly rigged elevator cables. JO decided to outsource maintenance to a vendor that had never worked on 1900s (this info is in the news today as the NTSB is expected to issue their final report, take a look at: http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040225/crash_airmidwest_1.html ). While that is no excuse for the job being done improperly and there is some question about how clear the instructions were - it seems that the aircraft were flying fine before JO decided to farm out his employees jobs.

Do you want to work for that kind of guy? I know you may be eager to "move on" but I would suggest waiting it out for CoEx or one of the other regionals that will give you a little higher QOL because you are going to be there for a while.

Propblast

 

[Cows Go Moo]

Those I've spoken with were desperate for a job, readily admit they made a mistake going there and wish they could go back and do things differently.

It may be true that the ones you've talked with feel this way, but it is not the majority feeling of the pilot group by any means. Most of the people I know here are fairly upbeat about things and keep the goings-on here in perspective. I know that if I could talk to the pre-Mesa me in 1998, I'd tell him, "Apply, get hired, have fun, make friends." I wouldn't have done a single thing differently.

 

[nimtz]

You know guys, I'd rather make a little money flying for Mesa than no money sitting on my butt. At least you're working towards something better in the future. Mesa for sure is not an end of career goal, but neither is the regional all you Mesa bashers are flying for now. You really need to give these Mesa pilots a break. We're all in this together doing something we all love. We all need to make sacrafices till things open up again. Good luck to everyone!

Agreed with all previous blasters of this tool! You are not a professional pilot and if you spent a year as a regional pilot you would know exactly where guys like McPickle are coming from. Go satisfy your flying hard-ons with Microsoft Flight Simulator! Good luck with that!

 

[cl65200]

"You are not a professional pilot and if you spent a year as a regional pilot you would know exactly where guys like McPickle are coming from. "




Well...McPickle admitted to PFT back in the late 90s to get his current job.......

 

[CRJ Driver]

There so professional, you can quickly ID a mesa guy in the terminal, look for the dork in the "ski jacket" How professional.