I'm at ExpressJet....I held out until I could go to a quality operation, not a bottom feeder. .
Just curious (and it may be addressed somewhere between here and page 5, I just haven't gotten there yet)....
What exactly is "holding out" ? Did you wait until you got a whopping 1000 hours before you went to a regional or did you do what like 97% of civilian pilots did prior to 9/11 and instruct for more then a year?
What exactly is a "quality operation"? Just curious because ExpressJet used to be PFT when it was CoEx, historically (got parity with then industry leader ASA in C'97 and went a little ahead in the last contract) has been one of the worse paying with the worse workrule airlines in the regional business (How do I know this? I worked there and was active with the IACP before you guys went ALPA). Correct me if I'm wrong, but first year ERJ pay at ExpressJet is $23/hr while it's $22/hr at Mesa? So for an 80 hour month that's a pay difference of $80. Wow, impressive.
Sorry, JMO, but the term "quality operation" can't be put on any subcontractor (Which is what Mesa and ExpressJet both are). And we see how well flying as your own airline does when you only have RJ's (ExpressJet didn't do any better then Indy/ACA...just pissed away investors money).
Don't get me wrong, CoEx was a fantastic place to work. I can't even count on one hand the people I didn't like working with. There were gems in the contract that other regionals didn't have but the bottom line it was still a regional. Blah blah blah, it changed after I left when it went all jet...whatever, unless you own your own flying you don't control your own destiny. And now it's one that's about to be delisted and one who's CEO was quoted in the Chronicle saying "I don't think we have a sustainable business plan" and that's even if they get pay cuts from you guys. Sad really.
You want to work for a quality operation....you need to work for a few scumbag operations and get some time and experience, some people get lucky the first time but that's the 3%. Once you're competative in the industry, then you can get that good job. "Holding out" does nothing but make you feel good about yourself on internet message boards and costs you senority.
As far as PCL goes, I admire his passion and agree with many but not all of his rants. I do take his "do as I say not as I do" given his work history nor do I tote the ALPA party line quite as much as he does (though I am heavily involved in my own ALPA volunteer work).
/rant....carry on.