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Pinnacle...should I stay or should I go now..

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I would wait and see as well, but not for too long... The NWA game is in play with some results by the end of the year.
 
Every now and again a thread like this shows up on here and I find myself in the unique position of potentially helping someone to help themself.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Chicken Little.

I tend to be a little bit skittish about our profession. After 4 furloughs, you would be too.

Over the course of my career i've jumped around from airline to airline to corporate flight department etc... out of fear that the sky is falling.

Had I stayed at (or returned when recalled from furlough to) any one of those companies -- i'd have been just fine. I would have upgraded within 3 - 5 years, be a mid-seniority Captain, and be making a good living.

Instead I always found myself getting nervous. Wondering when the furloughs would start. When they would park airplanes. What would happen in the event of bankruptcy etc.

So i'd leave...and start over somewhere else.

The big problem with starting over in this industry is that you cant take it with you. Any experience you've gained up to that point is worthless once the interview is over. You are no better than the 500 hr wonder-stick who happens to have been your sim partner.

So if you're like me -- take this advise: The sky is falling. Buy a helmet. Build a shelter. But do NOT hop from airline to airline. Because the minute you crawl out from what little shelter you have... <<SMACK!>> The sky will fall. Right onto your career expectations.

Good luck in whatever decision you make!
 
Sorry to hear about your luck CL, but my luck has been a little different.

I was working flying Lears several years ago and the owner started breaking a bunch of regs; rather than get caught up in it, I bailed... to Flexjet. Now that particular Lear operator is down from 8 aircraft to one and is about to lose that one to the bank.

Then Flexjet turned into one crappy place to work; a BUNCH of us bailed, having heard a lot of info about how much worse things were going to get. I got on with a 727 operation making the same money in the right seat, upgraded to 727 Captain at 28 years old making $100k a year with 16 days off a month. Had I stayed put, I'd just now be capping $60k in a Lear 31 or 45.

Then we heard rumors that FedEx was taking over the postal operation and most of us were going to get furloughed; went to the VP of Flt Ops and he said, "Yes, but we think it will only be for a short time." Not trusting that, several of us took other opportunities, myself as a Street Capt here at PCL. 8 months later Express One Int'l no longer existed.

Now every story can't turn out so luckily and I'm very grateful for "divine providence", even though this place sucks it's still a decent paycheck and 12-13 days off a month, but the point is:

Sometimes you're better off following your instincts.
 
CRJohn said:
Well, the latest upgrade awards are out and I am not even close.

I have over 4,000 hours, most of it in jets. I am thinking about throwing in the towell and heading somewhere that I could expect an upgrade in the next two years. Part of me says to stick it out, but another part is looking for a better opportunity.

Any suggestions about companies to look at would be appreciated.

Thanks,

A man called John

Where are you based john???
 

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