Originally Posted by
aussieflyboy
A Cobham Captain pilot gave me the run down why he turned down mainline and it made a lot of sene:
Currently on ~210K per year in a lifestyle friendly job.
He estimated it’d take 22 years to make more then that at mainline and he would have to relocate multiple times.
When you consider on average every 10 years QF seems to make people redundant or reduces hours due to some sort of global event and the extra interest/extra loans ect over that period, he calculated (roughly) he’d be lucky to break even at retirement and he was only early-mid thirties.
Sorry to be pedantic, but are you referring to the ex-Cobham B717 National Jet now QF-subsidiary, or actually Cobham - who I believe only operate jets these days as FIFO E190’s and AMSA Challengers?
Each to their own - however, as others have pointed out, a B737 F/O gig has not been a long wait in recent years. For some pilots a jet command is everything - and would be very reluctant to trade it for anything that involved considerable RHS or relief pilot time.
QF’s expansion of subsidiaries at the expense of mainline promotion has become a predictable playlist over the past 20 years and doesn’t show any signs of abating. QF mainline Command is a very long wait compared to just about any other jet operation in the country, particularly if joining at mid-thirties. Some pilots who have joined QF in the past 20 years in their late thirties to early forties have had to resign themselves to the possibility of never getting a QF B737 Command in their base of choice.
Some people want a Command, some want LH widebody lifestyle, some just want $$$. Some want all 3, and some care not for any of the above.
And anyone trying to predict the future obviously hasn’t been paying enough attention!
Your mate may have just made the best decision of his life - or it may turn out not to have been. I just hope he didn’t make the decision based on poor information or rumours. For example, the redundancy comment.