Great Lakes Pilots

I made less money my first year at a regional than I made instructing. But I also worked half as hard. I'm about to hit 5th year pay on the FO scale however...TPIC would've been nice back in 2006-2007.

Tradeoffs.
 
I thought it was funny, I also admire those who do instruct for an extended period of time and not just jump on the first opportunity. Hopefully one day I can take the time and instruct again.

jynxyjoe, what are you flying now? I hope we're not picking up too many bad habits, I think we do get spoiled with what we can get away with in the 1900.

In a saab-o-matic now

1900 will spoil you in every way. Just wait. Good news is, you'll never be as good a stick and rudder as you are on that thing.
 
1900 will spoil you in every way. Just wait. Good news is, you'll never be as good a stick and rudder as you are on that thing.


Thats no joke.. you will never hear of an airplane more missed than the 1900 from it's former flyers.

Despite all the apendages, quirks, and faded paint, that is an airplane that will get you home... no questions asked.
 
Thats no joke.. you will never hear of an airplane more missed than the 1900 from it's former flyers.

Despite all the apendages, quirks, and faded paint, that is an airplane that will get you home... no questions asked.

"In 1900 we trust"
 
I think Great Lakes is a cool stepping stone flight job that will give a guy great experience, but if you're making less than a Great Lakes FO at your flight instructing gig, you need to pull your head out of your posterior and find a new instructing gig.

He lives.:D You still down in ELP.
 
As a current laker I can say that I work with some of the best people in the industry. That being said, the company isnt the best out there to work for. There is very little protection for the worker and our current contract that we had negotiated by the IBT local 747 was more than laughable. That being said we're going to do what we can to improve all aspects of our jobs with UTU on property (or atleast really try).

Its no secret that our pay is the lowest in the industry. I did not come here for the pay. For a long time I didnt want to apply for a job with Lakes because of the inadequate compensation. I ended up comming to lakes when other airlines were no longer hiring. After being here for a while I quickly learned that there are many other pressing issues with lakes aside from our hourly compensation. I do not think that we are lowering the bar for anyone; you will be hard pressed to find a group of pilots more willing to fight to improve our working contitions than those here at lakes. Our current contract was voted down almost 100% by the pilot group and yet our former "brothers" at IBT didnt go to bat for us and we've had this contract essentially imposed on us. That will change.

As far as raising the bar, we're going to try. Many people dont realize that many of our issues stem from our inadequate contract. No pay for cancelations, credit value pay, no limit on junior-manning, and so on are big issues here. If we break down in an outstation without maintenance we loose a days worth of flying and a days worth of pay. It is possible at lakes to be paid less than guarentee if you call in sick. These are just some of the issues that we deal with here daily. Those are the issues that we're so passionate about changing in our next round of negotiations.

We're all in this fight together. If Lakes can get the same provisions in our next contract that many have in their contract it would make working here a lot better. Another poster said that it doesnt matter if your a 25 year DL 777 captain or a 1900 pilot, you're still a pilot. Yes we operate in a different world than most airlines in this country, but we're still an airline and we have real issues. I would like to see as much support from our brothers and sisters at other airlines as possible. If Lakes can get a better contract than that helps all of us. If you get a better contract at a different airline it helps us by making it so we have something to aim for.
 
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