BigZ
Well-Known Member
I am very happily employed at a charter shop, not looking to drop everything and jump the boat, this is more of a "what would you do" kind of a discussion since I'm a INTJ and constantly shuffle possibilities in my head, and discussions like this might surface something I didn't think about.
So, here's the starting data
36 1/2 yo, 1330tt. Of that 330ish jet SIC. Need to get a degree since my foreign college doesn't count for shizzle.
Strong spiritual attachment to Florida where I've lived for a while, presently work and overall enjoy the weather and such. Wife likes FL, but not quite as much.
Family in Chicago, where wife has a great career at UAL HQ, she enjoys it, that sort of thing tends to pay better than the FO flying does. I very much dislike living up there (did it for 12 years, yuck), wife disliked it too, but to a lesser extent.
For the purposes of this discussion let's assume the end goal as retiring a widebody CA in 28 1/2 years.
Present shop - pays great (as compared to other FO jobs of similar experience level. Or even to Flex, same equipment. Might be a hair under NJ), great team, with the guy ahead of me going into upgrade next week I'll be the most senior FO in the company, not that it directly affects anything at this time. No official word on it yet, but I doubt it I'll see an upgrade before 2500 or so hours. Street CA ad was for 3k. As of right now, that's all light jet. There's one midsize fbw minibus on property, so right seat in that is a very maybe maybe. I'd guesstimate 500-600 hours of flight time per year. Maybe a bit less when the dust settles and we're fully staffed.
Two or three options outside of the current job that I was wondering about
Spirit - granted, hiring at 2k hrs might not be there a year from now (best case of me getting there with 1000 jet sic) if the TA is reached, but on the bright side the paycheck matches what the airplane says on it and I believe it might be a better place to be stuck in should the economy go tango uniform. FLL and ORD bases help too. Training would be a b***h with no prior 121, but I'm a tough cookie. Upgrade of 6+ years for current hire with no additional orders sucks though. All the chances to be hunting for a legacy job when a bunch of regional guys with tpic will be doing the same.
Envoy - again, MIA and ORD bases help, so does the flow. Paycut would be even more painful though over the first few years. Things are peachy now, but I've been around long enough to remember 2008 and after.
Air Whiskey. Woohoo 19yo CRJ200 and UAL CPP. Woohoo Chicago. But as a current airman trainee I can more or less just waltz in there. Great company, but not sure what the future holds for them. Thought of being stuck there for 8 years does not appeal much.
So, a poll. Opinions are valued too
Might be useful further down the road for other guy's thinking about mainline via corporate and or ulcc etc.
So, here's the starting data
36 1/2 yo, 1330tt. Of that 330ish jet SIC. Need to get a degree since my foreign college doesn't count for shizzle.
Strong spiritual attachment to Florida where I've lived for a while, presently work and overall enjoy the weather and such. Wife likes FL, but not quite as much.
Family in Chicago, where wife has a great career at UAL HQ, she enjoys it, that sort of thing tends to pay better than the FO flying does. I very much dislike living up there (did it for 12 years, yuck), wife disliked it too, but to a lesser extent.
For the purposes of this discussion let's assume the end goal as retiring a widebody CA in 28 1/2 years.
Present shop - pays great (as compared to other FO jobs of similar experience level. Or even to Flex, same equipment. Might be a hair under NJ), great team, with the guy ahead of me going into upgrade next week I'll be the most senior FO in the company, not that it directly affects anything at this time. No official word on it yet, but I doubt it I'll see an upgrade before 2500 or so hours. Street CA ad was for 3k. As of right now, that's all light jet. There's one midsize fbw minibus on property, so right seat in that is a very maybe maybe. I'd guesstimate 500-600 hours of flight time per year. Maybe a bit less when the dust settles and we're fully staffed.
Two or three options outside of the current job that I was wondering about
Spirit - granted, hiring at 2k hrs might not be there a year from now (best case of me getting there with 1000 jet sic) if the TA is reached, but on the bright side the paycheck matches what the airplane says on it and I believe it might be a better place to be stuck in should the economy go tango uniform. FLL and ORD bases help too. Training would be a b***h with no prior 121, but I'm a tough cookie. Upgrade of 6+ years for current hire with no additional orders sucks though. All the chances to be hunting for a legacy job when a bunch of regional guys with tpic will be doing the same.
Envoy - again, MIA and ORD bases help, so does the flow. Paycut would be even more painful though over the first few years. Things are peachy now, but I've been around long enough to remember 2008 and after.
Air Whiskey. Woohoo 19yo CRJ200 and UAL CPP. Woohoo Chicago. But as a current airman trainee I can more or less just waltz in there. Great company, but not sure what the future holds for them. Thought of being stuck there for 8 years does not appeal much.
So, a poll. Opinions are valued too
Might be useful further down the road for other guy's thinking about mainline via corporate and or ulcc etc.
