Originally Posted by
Seagull201
To clarify better what i was getting at before.
Some of you guys should be more realistic about your info.
1. There's a website called "airline pilot central" or "airline central'', if a person clicks under the banner of regionals,
a list of the U.S regional airlines will show up, there are a good 20 or so, which operate regional jets.
Out of the 20 or so listed regionals, at the moment, ONLY less than 4, are ACTIVELY E3 visa holders, others don't do it.
(please note: if i write something in capitals, i'm not shouting, just highlighting. Thanks)
2. You guys there should be realistic, there is NO flow path to the U.S MAJORS or L.C.C airlines at the moment, for OZ pilots on E3s.
A person has to be a U.S national, resident or greencard holder.
How someone wants to sought out getting an eventual greencard, is for the individual to workout.
3. A first and second year F/O on any regional jet is on somewhere 37 to 40 dollars an hour, say up to 40K a year.
That's not enough income for a person to rent their own unit, pay utilities/bills, groceries, travel to the airport.
That's why i previously mentioned, a person should bring cash with them, they'll need it.
4. The U.S tax system is very close to the Australian system, there were jobs advertised for multi engine flight instructors in the U.S recently,
pay was 48K, i did the figures on the U.S tax calculators, it worked out to be $750 a week net or $3,000 a month in the pocket.
The unit which was offered for rent was at $1,500, so the other 1,500 or 375 per week would cover living expenses.
The 48K figure was a reasonable income AND you guys there, want to tell me your 40K a year as an F/O, is comfortable?
i'd say you would be pretty stretched on 40K a year.
A Captain on a regional jet there would be on 70 to 75K a year, that's about $1,150 a week net or $4,600 a month in the pocket.
That's a reasonable income to start living comfortably.
5. Any OZ pilot that's at a regional, will more than likely be upgraded to Captain, as their turn comes AND have their E3 continuously renewed,
every 2 years, there will be NO FURTHER progression into the majors or LCC, unless you're a greencard holder.
6. Bafanguy: Thanks for your post, you picked the parts that i was exactly getting at, you got the eyes of an eagle, whilst others are trying to see through it.
ummmm okkkay.
i earned 85k year one as a regional FO by hustling g and picking up as much OT as possible as well as bidding schedule conflicts and trading into sequences with check airman that I got displaced off but pay protected for.
I upgraded at 15 months with the company (flew 1000 hours in 12 months after getting checked to line).
Took a few months to get through CA training due to backlogs and a new LOA requiring 50 hours IOE before being released to the line in the left seat. So I’ll be on the line as a CA all said at roughly 20 months ish with the company.
I am recieving CA pay rates from when I was awarded the upgrade 2 months or so prior to going to upgrade training.
year two for me as a mixture of FO and CA rates will be approx 100k +
3rd year CA will be in the 110-120k ish range. Perhaps 130-135 if I do the check airman thing immediately at 6 months after upgrade.
check airman are making about 150k +
If all you are doing is gleaning your information from the APC forum then you really have no idea how the system works over here and how we credit hours for pay under the various contracts. only the dumb pilot make minimum guarantee.
And for info any of the Aussies on that joined Piedmont on an E3 will flow to mainline AA when their number comes up in 3-4 years from now. There’s nothing in their contract preventing them from flowing and mainline has concurred, the unions also support it. So good luck for those guys that took the punt. Also a good point to note is any Aussie joining Piedmont now still can flow to mainline AA as the contracts have not changed, except that the time to flown is getting exponentially worse as the queue is getting longer there.
as for me, I’m with Envoy NE USA based (albeit on a green card) and have about no more than 3 years left from now before I flow to mainline AA unless something better comes along in the meantime.
All this with the cost of living being wayyy cheaper over here. Short of trying to live in downtown new
york or SFO, your many goes a lot further than in Aus.
so you really have no grasp on the reality over here except for some back of the napkin calculations.