Scenic vs. ACC vs. Great Lakes

[kansas]

I had a class date with ACC that was offered while I was in training at Lakes. I chose to turn it down for several reasons:

-Concerns about how many had jumped from ACC to majors
-Not knowing my base right away with ACC
-Being knowingly placed in a base closer to my family
-Having known people that had worked for Lakes, I felt like I knew what I was getting into...I don't know anyone at ACC.

You gotta do what's right for you. As you can see, some of my reasons for coming to Lakes weren't really career-driven, just self-driven.

That said, the "punch drunk" mentality is an amazing way to describe life at Great Lakes. Sometimes I like to say that my life at Lakes is like a dark comedy. Stuff that is not funny, and in fact awful some days, is downright hilarious when you realize the rest of the pilot group has been through similar experiences. I don't regret coming here, and I don't think anyone else I've talked to (with the exception of one person) does, either.

We're like one great big dysfunctional family here sometimes, gutting our way through our time at the regionals, laughing a lot, getting mad once in a while, and then laughing at what made us mad...it's a level of pilot group unity that any union would die to create, in my opinion.

Best of luck with your decision.

 

[time builder]

From what I've heard, Scenic has been sold. I would look for it to go 135.

Yep, Papillon (helicopters) bought out Grand Canyon Airlines first, now they're picking up Scenic for an even bigger twin otter fleet.

 

[John Pennekamp]

Why would you go to a Great Lakes, Scenic, or 135 outfit when regionals like ASA are hiring at 500/100 (350/14 if you know someone).

You can probably get hired at ANY regional right now if you try. Upgrade at Skywest is about 18 months on the Brasilia and 2 years on the jet. Don't sell yourself short.

 

[Trader J]

What is attrition like at likes right now? Do they need people or is the hiring slow?

 

[canadflyau]

His goal is to be ready for NWA when they start hiring again.

I have met far more 7-10yr Skywest pilots than Lakes pilots... in fact I would imagine the senior Lakes captains are around 3.5yrs seniority. Not a knock on SKW, that is just not this guys career goals. However, Bro upgrade at SKW is currently at 18mos.. So if not Lakes, SKW might be a second way to meet his goals and not be stuck.

Why would you go to a Great Lakes, Scenic, or 135 outfit when regionals like ASA are hiring at 500/100 (350/14 if you know someone).

From what I heard upgrades are running very long, the future was questionable when Delta sold them to SKW. I still have no idea what in the end will happen at "acey," I am sure there are far more informed people about ASA on this board. If you lived in a city where ASA was based then why not. In fact, if you are looking for long term employment in this arena, I would advise to look at the airlines that are where you want to live. Pay and QOL is all within about $5/hr and 2 days off per month. There will probably be a big push to improve contracts/QOL as these carriers are fighting over the fewer and fewer number of pilots coming into the industry. This is long overdue.

 

[wt219200]

If you need the 1000 turbine, multi, PIC, you won't get it any quicker than going to Scenic. You will upgrade at ATP mins as long as you don't do anything dumb and do well in the initial training. Only problem is you can't do your upgrade ride and ATP ride both at once. You have to go get your ATP. You are right, you won't get a whole lot of IFR especially in the summer, but if you just need to get the mins because you got the hook up at NW, its your place.

 

[kansas]

What is attrition like at likes right now? Do they need people or is the hiring slow?

Canadflyau is right on...the senior captains at Lakes are around 3.5 years...the really senior ones. Why is this? Attrition. No one is at Lakes to stay. Due to the attrition (as well as a bit of speculated growth), hiring is good right now at Lakes. In fact, we're having an open house in Denver on April 5th if anyone is interested, more information is available here: http://www.flygreatlakes.com/Jobs/Company wide.pdf

You'll have a tough time getting an interview without a connection of some sort, so if you don't know someone inside the company, perhaps the open house is a chance to get your resume moved to the "short pile."

Good luck.

 

[QuasarZ]

I thought about skywest as well. The thing is though at scenic and also express jet I just found out, is that upgrade is at ATP mins. whereas skywest is 2500tt and 1000turbine crew; so if I get hired there with lets say 500/250, I will be sitting right seat for at lest 2-3 years just to get upgrade mins.

This is what I was really thinking. If I go to lakes, I will stay get the time and hop over to Compass. Their mins are 1500/1000 with a flow thru to NW. If I go to another regional, I would stay there in hopes of getting with NW later and skip the compass stage. I have a while to figure this all out still as I stated I have at best 1.5 yrs of college left.

 

[CX880]

I express jet I just found out, is that upgrade is at ATP mins.

It's not ATP mins, that's just for their Xjet brand. CAs need to have Icao mins, 3K, to fly into mexico.

 

[Guitar Guy]

I think Lakes is a good choice for you, QuasarZ, if you go in with your eyes open. The pay is low, you'll think your name is "junior man" and you'll fly an old turboprop. But you'll make some good friends, log a lot of time quickly and definitely learn a lot about flying, as you'll have no autopilot and fly around the Rockies. Plus, you'll get plenty of experience in IMC.

A lot of Lakers have moved from there onto career positions, so if you want to get the time to move onto NW, Lakes would be a reasonable choice for you.