Regional Pilot, or AD Pilot!!

[Guest RookiePilot]

Sorry to start a new thread but I didn't see, a thread in which i could post my question, without hi-jacking the purpose of another person's thread! My question, is more advice since I have no family members in the aviation feild/ We're a family of Medical Pro's! I'd like to know your opininon's on being a AD pilot, more or less, heavy's but really on just being an Officer, and the lifestyle or quality of life! I'm also since I have about 20G's in savings considering finishing up my PPL and IRA then going to an Ab-intio program called Mesa Airlines Pilot Development Program (MAPD)! I'm currently 23 yrs old, i have an M.S. in Mathmatics, and I have a strong desire to fly something for someone! thanks!

[Guest comanche]

Don't do the MAPD thing it is crap!!! It is expensive, and right now Mesa isn't hiring. Also, employee moral is HORRIBLE there!!!! I know a girl that did that program got hired, and has lost an engine twice in 500 hours!!!! There planes are not maintained to the highest standards, and the CEO and ALPA are always battling it out. Go to a good regional, ASA, SkyWest, Air Wisconsin, ExpressJet (Continental Express)

Most of all don't do the MAPD thing, can't stress that enough. 60K is to much, you could get your 1000 hours for a lot less.

[Guest comanche]

https://forums.mesalounge.com/

Is a mesa site that employees and wannabe employees can talk on. You can see employee moral on that site is pretty low!

[163 FS]

BE an AD pilot...why not? You can always fly for the airlines later.

[Guest comanche]

Or go guard/reserves and fly for an airline!

[BFM this]

Originally posted by comanche:

I know a girl that did that program got hired, and has lost an engine twice in 500 hours!!!!

Go AD, maybe you'll get to fly E model Hercs and get to loose an engine every 30-45 hours! :D

RP, in fairness to your question, I don't think anyone can look in their crystal ball and tell you which is the winning route right now. If it was a year or more ago, I'd say civilian--that's when you would have hit the bottom of the market, poised to ride the next wave. Get in on active duty right now, and timing may or may not be with you on the tail end. Or, better yet, the officer thing will grow on you and you'll never look back.

A whole paragraph and I didn't tell you jack! Go with what you want to do. If you want to be an airline pilot, go for it. If you want to wear a bag and a leather jacket and live some stories to tell the grandkids, go find an officer accessions recruiter.

Three years ago I was at your crossroads with about 1500 hours in my logbook. I just wasn't ready to settle down and drive the bus. Nothing wrong with the airlines, I just wanted something different.

[ 20. February 2005, 02:02: Message edited by: flyinjunky ]

[USMCAirWinger]

Go to the regionals. You will be making over $100,000 within your first 2 years. Right after that, a major such as Delta will call upon your expertise and ask you to join their ranks. Upon completing their training you will be making over 300 thousand flying a 777. In other words only a moron like myself would be looking at joining the military. Peace!

[BFM this]

Pilot, Nav, Uh, Standby, standby... Yeah, ok, I think I'm getting a reading on my sarcasm warning meter. Be ready on the countermeasures.

[Guest comanche]

First off 100,000 within 2 years where do I sign?? You will be in poverty your first year at a regional something like 18,000. You start off at 21.07 usually if you get a jet. You are guaranteed 70 hours a month. Your second year you will go to about 30. You will make a big jump once you go to Captain, something like 55 an hour.

USMCAIR I guess you haven't been watching the news, the majors are taking HUGE pay cuts. The only 300 thousand dollar jobs left are on FedEX and UPS, and I'm not even sure they are anymore. Majors will make good money, but the day of the 300,000 dollar Captains ARE GONE!!

[Guest comanche]

Ohhh one last thing, after 20 years at a regional you can make 100,000. If you really want a pay scale I can find one.

Comanche

[USMCAirWinger]

comanche...I guess your sarcasm meter has been MEL'ed.

[Guest comanche]

Hard to tell on the comp, looked like you were posting a fact.

[Guest dabandermac]

Originally posted by USMCAIRWINGER:

comanche...I guess your sarcasm meter has been MEL'ed.

lol, agreed.

[Guest mernest]

Here is a good link on pilot pay scales for all the majors, regionals, and cargo operations.

https://www.airlinepilotpay.com/index.htm

[Guest Piperpilot2004]

Well, I havent flown for the airlines but here is my take, that may make some sense. If you decide to go the civilian route, pay all that money for training, and then not get hired by anyone(even though I doubt that would happen, but you never know this day in age..) then you just wasted thousands of $$$$ for basically nothing. If you do make it, expect to be paying off all your training the first few years while recieving not too much money unless you make it to capt. If you go to the military, they pay for your training-if you make the cut. If you dont, there is another job awaiting you if you shouldnt make it. Im sure you will do fine either way, but if I were you, I would pick the route that I know will give me some support. You can always fly for the regionals or w/e after the military. Also, flying the same routes in the regionals sounds pretty boring to me. Making only $30+(-) the first couple years doesnt sound any better.

I would go military...

then retire try to get a job with the regionals or just fly for fun and get out of aviation. (Its competitive in the civ world, and you wake up everyday wondering if Ill have my job when I get into work...thats a lot of stress when your trying to support any kind of fam personally-if thats what you plan...money isnt everything!)

Going guard also might not be a bad idea. You said you wanted to fly heavies(thats pretty much what the guard only flys besides a few fighters), and if you go guard you get to choose what plane you fly based on which unit you apply for. Selection is more competitive, but its just an idea for ya though. I would go guard as a last resort if you want to fly something since its so competitive and there is no guarentees. At least your only 23 so you have plenty of time to figure out what you want to do.

Anyways good luck, whichever direction you go-know its going to be competitive(no getting around that), but also know you will make it, and you will do fine! GO AD!

peace.

[Guest Piperpilot2004]

I have been thinking, and I should have added this in my previous reply..

If you decide you want to go military, there are a few things you should do/ask yourself..

1.) make sure you meet the strict requirements for pilot training. (look up the FC1 and make sure you medically qualify, also take some practice AFOQT tests to practice, and pick up some study guides at the library)

2.) Ask yourself, what other job can I see myself doing if I cant fly? Then pick the service. If you honestly dont want to fly, maybe the military isnt for you. You could be setting yourself up for a crappy ride. Dont joke yourself, you will be more happy with yourself if you listen to what you really want. If you can honestly say, I have always wanted to join the military no matter if I can fly or not- GO FOR IT AND DONT LOOK BACK! I know a lot of people are going to disagree with what I am about to say, but this is only an opinion. I would go Navy. If I understand right, if you go to NROTC you will find out if you have been selected for pilot training before any commit to anything.( I may be wrong, but thats what I have heard, you may want to check further instead of taking my word for it.)

Again though, I would go military if I were you unless you really just want to fly and thats it.

[Guest Piperpilot2004]

"If you honestly dont want to fly"(oops my mistake)

(correction) "if you cant see yourself doing anything else besides flying"

^^^there we go! haha sorry

[Guest Piperpilot2004]

https://www.studentpilot.net/cf/msgboard/me...essageid=101962

^^

def check out what this airline pilot had to say! It would def benefit you to look at this. Also a lot of questions are answered there about military vs civ

[Guest RookiePilot]

Thanks for all the replies, I've had the chance to fly dwn to FMN and checked out the MAPD thing first hand. Seems like a good program but just not for me! I still may do the civ thing but my $$$ would be better spent at ???! Does anyone know like how many hours a "typical" KC-10 pilot would fly AD? Thanks again!

[BFM this]

Originally posted by RookiePilot:

Does anyone know like how many hours a "typical" KC-10 pilot would fly AD? Thanks again!

I'm sorry, RP, or no , who gives a %^#@! how many hours a "typical" -10 driver flies?

Rereading my reply, I feel that I might have mislead you, so let me reemphasize main point:

Originally posted by flyinjunky:

If you want to be an airline pilot, go for it. If you want to wear a bag and a leather jacket and live some stories to tell the grandkids, go find an officer accessions recruiter.

Pick one or the other. It sounds to me like you are trying to count the hours that you'll have in your logbook the day that you bail on the military: ten years after you get your wings. If you aren't looking forward to a week straight of maybe 4 hours sleep per night when you add the 12 hour days to the 8 hours of studying; If you aren't sure that you'd enjoy 3 years out of the jet on a staff tour, or a year wearing a kevlar vest, then go back to Mesa and don't look back.

I don't want to crush your enthusiasm, or steer you away from this forum in your search for answers. But I only ask that you try and find a calling, not a material end. I'm sorry if I sound a little disgusted, but I came back to the military after I left a college flight program where my buds with 300 hours of Piper time debated whether they wanted to drive a Lexus or BMW when they made it to the Majors.

I'll leave you with a letter by someone who's seen both worlds. Its the 5th post from the top. It's more for the stud who's chosen the military path, but I think it will have some healthy nuggets for you to chew on.

[USMCAirWinger]

Dude, do you really need to go to a public message board to figure out which path to take? As previously stated, if you have to ask, do everyone involved a favor and go the civilian route.

The military is not for everyone and is sure as hell not the way to build flight time to go to the airlines. What I'm trying to ask is do you just want the flight time or do you want to serve your country? Would you be extremely disappointed if you washed-out and had to do a desk job for the rest of your career?

Just look at the commitment from each side and that should be the deciding factor. Don't be one of those dudes that apply, get selected, and then turn down the slot.

AirWinger

[BFM this]

Originally posted by flyinjunky:

...I don't want to crush your enthusiasm, or steer you away from this forum in your search for answers...

That appears to be AirWinger's job. :rolleyes:

[USMCAirWinger]

Sorry guys...you can't expect me to sugar-coat all my posts. I'll work on my people skillz!

[USMCAirWinger]

Thanks for the one star...It will go as one of my accomplishments. haha

[Guest RookiePilot]

Sorry to offend, any AD mil guys on this board! as I may have previously stated, I have a long standing tradition of mil service in my family, even my mother was an Army WO-2. I hope I abbrev. that right! But from my stand point I want to fly, I want serve my country first and absolute foremost but still I don't want to lose my "scan" after sitting at desk for 6+ mos. I mean if pilot is your career feild then shouldn't even a fighter pilot log more hours than a typical GA PP. Yes I do understand that as a mil Officer you are the "leader" and the pride of the AF, but still logging only 7 hrs per month can't be safe. I mean you start IFT, flying say 3 times aweek, then go casual, for 1 week to 10mos. then start UPT, but what about actual QOL. By that I mean , I as every pilot loves to fly I don't wanna be sitting on the fence watching. I'm already doing that now. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I'm an exceptionally gifted person, academically, I don't want to make the wrong decision. That's pretty much it!!