Need a honest opinion. Would you...

[jtrain609]

That woulda been awesome, but Amflight schedules ran during daylight hours, so you were gone from 6:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., which gives you JUST enough time to get home and get 4-5 hours of sleep, but you're getting a legal "9" hours of "rest."

Most guys slept 4 hours during the day, 4 hours at night.

[averyrm]

ick

[P&H]

That training contract is a major issue. Also, I don't know, do they pay you during training and give you single occupancy and etc?

There are much better regionals you can commute for. That's just my opinion. I suppose you're doing it for the upgrade time?

I know a couple of guys here who came from Great Mistakes...err..Lakes. Sounds like a terrible place to work...on par or worse than Mesa.

[TheAlchemist]

[/quote]I know a couple of guys here who came from Great Mistakes...err..Lakes. Sounds like a terrible place to work...on par or worse than Mesa.[/quote]

Not so sure about that. A lot of Lakers say they really enjoy working there the only think that REALLY sucks is the pay. Can't argue that! Pilots at Mesa are always complaining... like they didn't know what they were getting into?? It seems like Pilots go to Great Lakes knowing exactly what they are getting into so there is much reduced bitching about "everything". And to tell you the truth, I personally, hate people nagging about how they life suck.

I'm (thinking about) doing it for my desire to hand fly an old B1900 around the Rockies, almost non-existent reserve time, only a 2 hours commute, quick upgrade time and I'm quite sure they will stay around for some time (at least for as long as I need them; 2-3 years). It's not like they are competing with Skywest or Republic.

I'm not decided yet, as of now all I know is that I'm not willing to commute anywhere further than Texas (live in socal), I really want to fly a T-prop before a shiny all glass cockpit jet, don't want to stay on any regional airlines any longer then 3 years. And I know that not wanting to stay on a regional for more than 3 years and planning (not counting) on it might (and probably is) a crap shoot but sometimes one has to take risks and just hope for the best.

Thanks for all your inputs.

[little_cricket]

Sounds like you have already made your decision and now you're just looking for some validation... But for me, I wouldn't go to Lakes. I have seen too many of their pilots starting over and joining other regionals. That has got to say something of the place, I'm guessing most of them only planned on being there for short time till majors called....

[Velocipede]

Go where you can upgrade fastest. Then move on. Its turbine PIC time the majors want. Get it and go. Don't be lazy. Don't get complacent. Don't settle for less than you are capable of.

And DO NOT go someplace like Skybus just to get a type rating.

[TheAlchemist]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

Go where you can upgrade fastest. Then move on. Its turbine PIC time the majors want. Get it and go. Don't be lazy. Don't get complacent. Don't settle for less than you are capable of.

And DO NOT go someplace like Skybus just to get a type rating.

Never! That I can guarantee

[TheAlchemist]

Originally Posted by little_cricket

Sounds like you have already made your decision and now you're just looking for some validation... But for me, I wouldn't go to Lakes. I have seen too many of their pilots starting over and joining other regionals. That has got to say something of the place, I'm guessing most of them only planned on being there for short time till majors called....

If all I was looking for was validation I wouldn't even post the question or would've posted differently. Trust me guy, I know better then that and what I mean is a pilot/aviation forum is NOT the right place to look for validation specially when talking about decisions in someone's career. Believe it or not I am still undecided.

I'm just looking for genuine opinions from more experienced pilots.

Once again, thanks for ALL your inputs. Including yours little_cricket

[aloft]

Originally Posted by jtrain609

You could go corporate, but part 91 flight departments can disapear fast and I don't think I could deal with that kind of work. I have something against being a limo driver.

But nothing against being a bus driver?

I dunno man, I listen to my buddies flying 135 charter and their lobster lunches and steak dinners on an expense account and think to myself, "somewhere, a regional FO is huddling over a cup of top ramen he prepared in his motel coffee pot..."

[Citationkid]

Originally Posted by aloft

But nothing against being a bus driver?

I dunno man, I listen to my buddies flying 135 charter and their lobster lunches and steak dinners on an expense account and think to myself, "somewhere, a regional FO is huddling over a cup of top ramen he prepared in his motel coffee pot..."

Don't forget about the suites on the water in Key West and the golf games that also go on the company card

[ricecakecm]

Originally Posted by Citationkid

Don't forget about the suites on the water in Key West and the golf games that also go on the company card

And rental cars on all overnights...no walking in the cold, waiting for crew vans, etc. Also the company paid cellphones/blackberrys, company paid medical, company provided clothing, tickets to sporting events, several hundred dollar tips, the list goes on.

[KLB]

Originally Posted by averyrm

ick

Darn! I had this nice long write up, my computer glitched, and it disappeared.

Amflight is not so bad.

My perspective:

Today started with a show time of 0600 this morning. I departed DFW at 0730 and arrived in PPA at 0910. I went off duty about 10 minutes later. I'm now sitting in a hotel until show time at 1825. This run is an outstation run and the person who will take over this run will be living here in PPA (I'm actually put up in a hotel here since I'm TDY). That means that if you have kids, you'd be able to pick them up from school, have an early dinner, and help them out with there homework a bit before you're off to work. I'll arrive in DFW at about 2015. A little bit later, you'd be at the company crew apartment taking a nap until around 0530 where it starts all over again. I can usually get just about all the sleep I need at night during the layover, take a short nap in the day, and spend the rest of the time surfing jc, watching tv, fishing, did I mention surfing jc, and whatever else. I might do a total of 5.5hrs of actual work everyday. Did I mention that this run begins Monday night and ends Friday morning?

Since I'm system TDY, I work 3 weeks on and get one week off. It's rare that I ever work the weekends and I usually get 13 days off a month.

Ameriflight has the poo platter of runs. There's a little of everything here. I've done day runs with layovers, runs where you're only gone 3 or 4 hrs during the day and you're done, and night runs. I done runs that have 7hrs of flight time and I've done runs that only give 1hr of flight time. There's something for everybody (seniority willing of course).

There are bases with snailed paced upgrades and there are bases with lightning fast upgrades. There are bases that are very hard to get into because people have been there for so long and don't plan on leaving. And there are bases that serve as amflights revolving doors. There's scheduled, on demand, a passenger operations here.

If you're patient and are willing to move, the sky's the limit at Ameriflight.

Like everywhere, theres the good, the bad, and the ugly here. It's all about perspective. All in all, I absolutely love the flying and I love the job.

Kelvin

[P&H]

I know a couple of guys here who came from Great Mistakes...err..Lakes. Sounds like a terrible place to work...on par or worse than Mesa.[/quote]

Not so sure about that. A lot of Lakers say they really enjoy working there the only think that REALLY sucks is the pay. Can't argue that! Pilots at Mesa are always complaining... like they didn't know what they were getting into?? It seems like Pilots go to Great Lakes knowing exactly what they are getting into so there is much reduced bitching about "everything". And to tell you the truth, I personally, hate people nagging about how they life suck.[/quote]

I re-read the original post. I missed the part where you said money was not a factor. I have a feeling it will be when you see your first paycheck at Great Mistakes. You have to realize that our FO scale is their Captain scale. Actually, on their 1900, their 11 year Captains make less than our 2nd year FOs.

They do have fast upgrade I suppose (hopefully that'll stay that way because that's all that place has going for them), I'm just wary of that 15 month training contract.

good luck with your decision.

[TheAlchemist]

Originally Posted by P&H

I know a couple of guys here who came from Great Mistakes...err..Lakes. Sounds like a terrible place to work...on par or worse than Mesa.

Not so sure about that. A lot of Lakers say they really enjoy working there the only think that REALLY sucks is the pay. Can't argue that! Pilots at Mesa are always complaining... like they didn't know what they were getting into?? It seems like Pilots go to Great Lakes knowing exactly what they are getting into so there is much reduced bitching about "everything". And to tell you the truth, I personally, hate people nagging about how they life suck.[/quote]

I re-read the original post. I missed the part where you said money was not a factor. I have a feeling it will be when you see your first paycheck at Great Mistakes. You have to realize that our FO scale is their Captain scale. Actually, on their 1900, their 11 year Captains make less than our 2nd year FOs.

They do have fast upgrade I suppose (hopefully that'll stay that way because that's all that place has going for them), I'm just wary of that 15 month training contract.

good luck with your decision.[/quote]

Thanks man.

[jtrain609]

Originally Posted by aloft

But nothing against being a bus driver?

I dunno man, I listen to my buddies flying 135 charter and their lobster lunches and steak dinners on an expense account and think to myself, "somewhere, a regional FO is huddling over a cup of top ramen he prepared in his motel coffee pot..."

Not a thing! I like my job for the most part.