Your Opinion of Regional Career

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Although I love my job at the regional I fly for, I will probably leave. Right now regioanl pilots are under constant attack from ALPA (the pilots' union). It just is not worthwhile to worry about losing your job every time the mainline's union hacks come together for a meeting.

Go with a fractional outfit flying Lears, or Beech products. Then try to find a major you think will stay in business for 30 years despite the fact they are losing over $1Bn yearly.

Flying is a great job - so far a lousy career choice...

 

[FL000]

Thank God for the edit feature.

 

[Wiggums]

Although I love my job at the regional I fly for, I will probably leave. Right now regioanl pilots are under constant attack from ALPA (the pilots' union). It just is not worthwhile to worry about losing your job every time the mainline's union hacks come together for a meeting.

Go with a fractional outfit flying Lears, or Beech products. Then try to find a major you think will stay in business for 30 years despite the fact they are losing over $1Bn yearly.

Flying is a great job - so far a lousy career choice...

At this rate, regional pilot will outnumber major airline pilots soon. When regional pilots figure out that they are going to be there a long time, and fight for better work rules and pay, we'll see who ALPA comes running to for dues.

 

[jcb071]

Love flying

It,s a very long road, and the people in your life need to understand that and if they do you are very luckly. I love to fly and will for many years to come God willing. Good Luck.

 

[dondk]

I agree with all the others, especially JETEXAS about recruiters...

I lucked out (sort of) started my regional career with a lower end 1900 operator. Lousy schedule, pay, and contract... BUT you get out of it what you put into it... I left that for a higher end regional with better pay, schedules, and contract.

I was led astray (albeit willingly) by a recruiter to where I am now. The promise of good schedules, decent pay, upgrade opportunities and a (what I thought) was decent contract. Granted 9/11 affected me as well as the rest of us, but now I am looking at a year or better of reserve, no less than 2 1/2 for upgrade (more like 4) and a schedule that may be worse than my first regional. The only thing keeping me going it the fact that I love what I do.

Before you set you sights on a particular company or lifestyle really investigate all of the options. With Flying you have many options always keep them open. If I had a chance to do it all over again I would leave myself more options, and I would research much more, and ask many more questions...


One last thing I did not see mentioned... A lot of also can depend on where you live OR where you want to live. Your lifestyle will depend on this factor... If you are in a location where a regional, fractional, or decent corporate operation is, your answer may be right in front of you. If you are like the rest of us, plan on moving several times or losing a few extra "precious days" to commuting


Wiggum's... I was thinking the same thing...UNTIL, I thought about how much we make compared to our "big" brothers and sisters. The 2% (or whatever it is) of thier annual salary is more than most regional guys make in a month. Our (regional) 2% of our annual salary is still less than our big brothers make in on a 3 or 4 day trip. I see ALPA going to the $$$$, and unless we outnumber them 4 or 5 to 1 we still will be the "little" brothers and sisters.

Best of Luck

 

[kilomike]

Regional careers

Mustang,

I am speaking from the perspective of a general aviation pilot who did fly for a regional carrier in the past but decided for several reasons to return to my first love, flying small aircraft for pleasure. I am pursuing a different career path in another line of work.

Flying for the regionals can be very positive but it can also be a very negative experience. Things to consider--I'll list the pros and cons.

Pros: No routine schedule (blocks of days off), travel passes, flying with some very good people (Good captains made some of my trips very enjoyable), flying some neat aircraft, opportunity to travel and experience different places and people.

Cons: Long duty days, pilot fatigue, occasionally very difficult co workers whose maturity level is questionable, being away from home for several days at a time, and last but not least, low pay.

I will caution you that it is a long hard road full of obstacles and heartache.

However, I would encourage you to at least get your private pilot license with an instrument and/or multiengine rating. I always encourage people to learn to fly, for the pleasure of it. You will always be able to enjoy day trips and the classic $100 hamburger.
It's fun and for that reason, I'll never regret having learned to fly.

If you find that you still have the desire and the job market gets better, after having a private/multi/instrument you can easily get a commercial and CFII.

Best wishes, fly safe, and always enjoy the skies.

kilomike

 

[Mustang]

Great info from all of you. The perspectives given are valuable and much appreciated. I will take this one step at a time and check in every now in then with this great forum. I do have a chance to buy into a c172 at a decent price. May use this to build
my hours.

Thanks to all again for your views and responses.

 

[~~~^~~~]

I do have a chance to buy into a c172 at a decent price. May use this to build my hours

You have a great idea. I bought and sold three aircraft while building time and made money on each one. There is also much pride in ownership and possibly you can talk your employer into helping you defer some cost on trips that are incidental to your business.

All in all, getting my ratings did not cost much because of the profits I made buying and selling aircraft.

Owning an airplane is a lot of fun. Just pick a good partner and establish an account for maintainence and non-routine repairs. I roughly calculated the cost of annuals and an overhaul and divided them up by my flying hours and banked the money. That way the bills were never over whelming.

The 172 is a darn good airplane. Read some of AOPA's articles to ensure you are getting a good year model.