Whoa...AirNet call?

[unreal]

I did the whole regional thing. Got hired at 750 total onto the SF340 and built my time up to 1600 in a year and got hired on with AirNet. Well worth it. Regionals are horrible to work for but a great time builder. If you are building a ton of time (more than 80 a month) as a CFI stick with it. If not head to the regionals for a year, get a lot of time and some good experience. Go to a turbo prop. Don't be a gear monkey in a jet on reserve.

I've considered doing that. I'm only averaging 40 hours/month right now, so the hours are just crawling by. Do many people go from a regional to AirNet? I've heard that it mostly flows the other way around.

 

[FRACTRASH]

Forget about the regionals. They've really gone to sh#t over the years. Go with Airnet or any other outfit that's going to build you PIC the fastest. Then apply to one of the Fractional companies. Places like Citationshares and NJ, a 5 year captain easly makes just over 100k a year. Five years with a regional your still in the poor house. Good luck!

 

[Lazy8]

I love how everyone always has the perfect answer for the perfect career route.

If you can get hired on with Airnet, go for it. If you want to make passenger announcements and live in the daylight go for a good regional. You'll get turbine PIC time quick at either one. There's absolutely no reason to work at Airnet then move onto a regional or vice-versa unless you hated one or the other. Folks from Airnet get hired on with majors and fractionals just as often as folks from regionals. Pick a good employer now so you don't have to make a lateral move later.

g

 

[Master Shake]

Unreal,

First of all, love your avatar. Permanent Waves is one of my all time Rush favorites.

Second, there are an awful lot of options depending on what you want to do. I thought cargo, just like you. Then I flew Convairs for that other operator at LCK and decided that I didn't want to die young. I did my homework on the regionals and applied at the few I wanted. I was fortunate enough to get on at ExpressJet. There are a few regionals that will not just chew you up and spit you out. As far as turbine PIC, that'll come in April when I upgrade...two years to the month I got on line. Whatever you choose, I wish you all the best. I hope you have a blast!

 

[Leargear]

Just keep track of what is going on there. They are going through many shake-ups with routes and personel being moved around. They bid on a Fed contract and didnt get it, so things are going to get real dicey until they land something big to replace the checks that we all used to fill the planes with.

 

[veneratio]

I tried both and can tell you that a regional is better than Airnet.

Go to a regional like ExpressJet, CHQ, or Skywest. All three have an upgrade time of 2 yrs and less and at ExpressJet you can make between 40 and 50 k ur second yr and still have more days off per month than at Airnet. After about 2 yrs, you can start gaining 121 PIC Turbine time and make anywhere from 65 K +. At Airnet, it will take you 1 yr to upgrade into a jet, then a lot longer to hold a JET PIC. You will fly better equipment at most Airlines and have travel benefits. You will be flying mostly during the day and not night. You will have a union. The list goes on.

 

[unreal]

I tried both and can tell you that a regional is better than Airnet.

Go to a regional like ExpressJet, CHQ, or Skywest. All three have an upgrade time of 2 yrs and less and at ExpressJet you can make between 40 and 50 k ur second yr and still have more days off per month than at Airnet. After about 2 yrs, you can start gaining 121 PIC Turbine time and make anywhere from 65 K +. At Airnet, it will take you 1 yr to upgrade into a jet, then a lot longer to hold a JET PIC. You will fly better equipment at most Airlines and have travel benefits. You will be flying mostly during the day and not night. You will have a union. The list goes on.

Thanks all for the excellent info.

The only thing that keeps me from going to a regional is the stability. XJT, SkyWest, etc. are all the great places to be right now with really great upgrade times, but how is that going to look next year when I'm competitive for those companies? I know for a fact that I'll keep both career options open, and XJT and SkyWest will get an application from me for sure, but it seems as though cargo companies have historically been much more stable. But, as a poster above said, AirNet is still trying to figure out the whole check situation, so it's all up in the air.

But, I suppose that's aviation. I've just heard the horror stories about people running off to regionals only to get furloughed and on the street with 0.0 TPIC. The QOL though at the better companies does sound pretty dang good. That does count for something...

 

[mcjohn]

I got a call from Airnet as well. Updated the app. after 4 months or so and received a call in less than 24 hours. 974/30 I think I had on the update.