In your experience, why are some pilots are regionals “lifers?”

GypsyPilot said:
The sim guys that are doing that work their butts off though. I went to high school with one of the DEN sim guys, and we’re both around 40. He told me last year that he could never leave SkyWest because he’s making $200k. However, he is ALWAYS in the sim (20+ days working doubles), will always have to live in DEN (which becomes less appealing every year due to the constant influx of transplants), and has lots of weird working hours (early/late sims).

If you’re hired on a wide body at FDX/UPS, you’ll make that in your 2nd year, work way less, and live wherever you want. You’ll also have a MUCH better retirement and benefits.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the guys that said they couldn’t afford to leave (whatever) regional.

“Oh, you can’t afford to upgrade in two years at mainline? Hot damn, son, Uhh.... Quicken much?” :)
 
Derg said:
Reminds me of the guys that said they couldn’t afford to leave (whatever) regional.

“Oh, you can’t afford to upgrade in two years at mainline? Hot damn, son, Uhh.... Quicken much?” :)
Click to expand...
Those guys don't math. Same guys that think their regional is awesome and everywhere else is a mess. I'm like "Where are you getting your information?" Mostly I don't think they have any idea what's happening outside their bubble.
 
Again, my former friend who is a 12 year Skywest Captain and his wife are still convinced he makes more than me as a 76 FO. That seems to be the trend with a lot of these golden handcuff lifers. Math is hard, same with apc pay scale searches.
 
word302 said:
Those guys don't math. Same guys that think their regional is awesome and everywhere else is a mess. I'm like "Where are you getting your information?" Mostly I don't think they have any idea what's happening outside their bubble.
Click to expand...

Which is why there’s this thing called “Pilot Math”.

You know, the guys too cheap to hire a financial advisor.
 
ClarkGriswold said:
Again, my former friend who is a 12 year Skywest Captain and his wife are still convinced he makes more than me as a 76 FO. That seems to be the trend with a lot of these golden handcuff lifers. Math is hard, same with apc pay scale searches.
Click to expand...

APC payscales are basically numeric masturbation.

You can make $400/hr at Brand A but then make more at $300/hr at Brand B because of the contract.

“But we have a pension!”

“LOL, today you do.”
 
I spent 7 years at Eagle and we had lots of guys that refused the “pay cut” and it always made me cringe. Back when step 1 pay at AA was 35/hour but step 2 was more than they made at step 18!

Our profession is all about delayed gratification. Suffer now in the interim to reap rewards long term. Prepare yourself accordingly. Make sacrifices necessary to set yourself up for success.

Or stay at Eagle and be #1 on the ERJ!
 
bLizZuE said:
I spent 7 years at Eagle and we had lots of guys that refused the “pay cut” and it always made me cringe. Back when step 1 pay at AA was 35/hour but step 2 was more than they made at step 18!

Our profession is all about delayed gratification. Suffer now in the interim to reap rewards long term. Prepare yourself accordingly. Make sacrifices necessary to set yourself up for success.

Or stay at Eagle and be #1 on the ERJ!
Click to expand...

That works fine when you're 25 single, no kids, no house and nothing to show for your name. God forbid people have a family or a life outside of work, and things change. At the end of the day, if someone makes the decision to stay at a regional, and they understand the reality of the situation, more power to them.

I'm not going to judge people who chose to stay where they're at, nobody is forcing them to do it.
 
Derg said:
APC payscales are basically numeric masturbation.

You can make $400/hr at Brand A but then make more at $300/hr at Brand B because of the contract.

“But we have a pension!”

“LOL, today you do.”
Click to expand...
Duh, but we’re talking SJI to Mormon Air...
 
Derg said:
APC payscales are basically numeric masturbation.

You can make $400/hr at Brand A but then make more at $300/hr at Brand B because of the contract.

“But we have a pension!”

“LOL, today you do.”
Click to expand...

Skywest has a pension? That's news to me. Impressive if true.





Anyway, all this is easy to say for guys who left their regionals to a legacy in their 20s. Derg, Clark Griswold for sure did. Blizzue I don't know but you're probably fairly close too, United before 30 or 35. Try to put yourself in the shoes of a guy in his 40s and 50s who's already got 15-20 yrs at his regional with topped out pay and schedules that are kick ass for him. I can see where guys get comfortable and don't want to start over. Of course it's a gamble, but I can understand them and their desires. Everyone knows Comair shut down and ASA lost its ATL base (is ASA even around anymore?). That said I also know a Virgin guy whose dad retired at Air Wisconsin after 30 yrs there. Luck of the draw but it happens.

Skywest of all regionals has been around for ages and as long as there are regionals, there will be Skywest. They are probably the "safest" regional to stay at long term.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Skywest has a pension? That's news to me. Impressive if true.





Anyway, all this is easy to say for guys who left their regionals to a legacy in their 20s. Derg, Clark Griswold for sure did. Blizzue I don't know but you're probably fairly close too, United before 30 or 35. Try to put yourself in the shoes of a guy in his 40s and 50s who's already got 15-20 yrs at his regional with topped out pay and schedules that are kick ass for him. I can see where guys get comfortable and don't want to start over. Of course it's a gamble, but I can understand them and their desires. Everyone knows Comair shut down and ASA lost its ATL base (is ASA even around anymore?). That said I also know a Virgin guy whose dad retired at Air Wisconsin after 30 yrs there. Luck of the draw but it happens.

Skywest of all regionals has been around for ages and as long as there are regionals, there will be Skywest. They are probably the "safest" regional to stay at long term.
Click to expand...
You fail to realize, while young, when I left CP I was most likely in the same seniority % as these 15-20 year guys you speak of. I had “kick ass” schedules, plus a decent office gig making 95 hours a month guaranteed and sleeping in my bed every night and going fishing at the cabin every weekend during the months I did it. The only difference was pay rate by maybe $20 an hour. So after experiencing both, again, there is no way in hell I’d rather still be there. Even if I was 62 years old. My life was exponentially better as soon as I hit the line, even commuting to NYC!

A friend of mine who was around my seniority at CP just started at SJI the end of last year and is already at 58% on the 73 in NYC. There is absolutely no way life is better at a regional.
 
Last edited:
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Skywest has a pension? That's news to me. Impressive if true.





Anyway, all this is easy to say for guys who left their regionals to a legacy in their 20s. Derg, Clark Griswold for sure did. Blizzue I don't know but you're probably fairly close too, United before 30 or 35. Try to put yourself in the shoes of a guy in his 40s and 50s who's already got 15-20 yrs at his regional with topped out pay and schedules that are kick ass for him. I can see where guys get comfortable and don't want to start over. Of course it's a gamble, but I can understand them and their desires. Everyone knows Comair shut down and ASA lost its ATL base (is ASA even around anymore?). That said I also know a Virgin guy whose dad retired at Air Wisconsin after 30 yrs there. Luck of the draw but it happens.

Skywest of all regionals has been around for ages and as long as there are regionals, there will be Skywest. They are probably the "safest" regional to stay at long term.
Click to expand...

No sympathy.


Pilots are pirates. Be a pirate. We get soft when we forget that.

Besides, I want to fly big jets far places that I’d never have an opportunity to see in any other profession. Bouncing around between a hub and some podunk town in an airplane that could basically fit in my backyard for the rest of my life wasn’t in the game plan.

Aviation was a “Plan B” when I couldn’t become an astronaut and the space program became a joke, ha! :)

Career stability in aviation is a panacea and reserved for insurance actuaries.
 
Last edited:
ClarkGriswold said:
You fail to realize, while young, when I left CP I was most likely in the same seniority % as these 15-20 year guys you speak of. I had “kick ass” schedules, plus a decent office gig making 95 hours a month guaranteed and sleeping in my bed every night and going fishing at the cabin every weekend during the months I did it. The only difference was pay rate by maybe $20 an hour. So after experiencing both, again, there is no way in hell I’d rather still be there. Even if I was 62 years old. My life was exponentially better as soon as I hit the line, even commuting to NYC!

A friend of mine who was around my seniority at CP just started at SJI the end of last year and is already at 58% on the 73 in NYC. There is absolutely no way life is better at a regional.
Click to expand...

But if you stayed you'd now have sweet flow to Frontier!
 
To each his own I suppose. Frankly if I wanna see far away places, I do that in my off time on vacation. Most of the Europe trips out of EWR/JFK are about 24-30 hrs or less layovers and turn back and return for a 3-day type thing. Hardly any time to explore.

Since the 2nd rugrat in 2017, we haven’t vacationed anywhere. But our last big vacation was a 2 country tour Austria/Spain on our own time and our own terms.

P.S. Astronaut is over rated. :) you go to space at best 4-5 times your whole 25+ Yr career. It’s a whole lotta down time on earth doing “stuff.”
 
Screaming_Emu said:
False
Click to expand...

We weren’t discussing the 8-16 day trips, but yes those guys get to see a lot of the world with decent down time. I was in a Flight Ops Intern at Evergreen and worked on their pilot schedules for the 747-1/200s. Most of their schedules were round the world types that started in JFK and ended there 16 days later. But I got rug rats, I can’t do the 8-16 days on the road.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
We weren’t discussing the 8-16 day trips, but yes those guys get to see a lot of the world with decent down time. I was in a Flight Ops Intern at Evergreen and worked on their pilot schedules for the 747-1/200s. Most of their schedules were round the world types that started in JFK and ended there 16 days later. But I got rug rats, I can’t do the 8-16 days on the road.
Click to expand...

That’s not what I was saying.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bp
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top