Quote:
Originally Posted by Gargamel
You buy that plane yet?
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to answer this question, not yet i have not, i found a few candidates over the holidays but passed on each for one reason or another (engine needs overhaul, extreme airframe total time, in bad need of updated avionics etc).
It was flying in the mean time with friends both in and out of the airline business that has piqued my interest in returning to the airline world. When these companies were advertising six month upgrades to captains i understood that there was so much movement in the industry that upgrade times were now just ridiculously short. as i've explained, thats just not the case. they are upgrading new hires who qualify immediately to slap a band-aid on a staffing problem and every single guy now on property will be upgrading on top of me on the seniority list, keeping me very near the bottom of the list through some estimated 1200-1300 upgrades. at perhaps 40 a month, you do the math as to how long i'll be bent over in the barrell
I have spoken at length with my wife and friends on the subject. The consensus is much as Aktungbby pointed out... at this point i need to be focusing on paying off my house and building a solid retirement moving forward. not playing airline pilot in the northeast
I have sat reserve for several months before, and i was in my home base with a 90 minute drive to the airport and it was a purely miserable hell and i hated every single minute of it. I cannot imagine having three days a week off and being forced to use half of the first day off commuting home, and half of the third day off commuting to work for as much as 2 years.
and even if i did get the crew base i wanted, what happens when that FO in Chicago gets forced into a captain seat in my crew base and equipment? well... i get displaced to whatever base my seniority allows me to hold, which would be anywhere else but where i want to be.
with my income as it is now at my current job...
i wouldn't sit reserve at an undesired crew base even if they offered me $100,000 sign on bonus!
i have decided to pass on the job offer.
I may put my feelers out to see what other companies are offering. Though i imagine they are all in a similar position. but in the mean time, I'll soon be called up any day now to hit the road for several months straight, and i guess ill just see my family when i see them.