True Boxes, but you might be reading between the lines a bit. By the way, my brother also flew solo Aero Commanders years ago; whenever FOs were available, they often were foreign guys who paid the owner about $20/hour. With your solid background, you would have a much better chance at Pinnacle than many of the recent new-hires, even if you are a guy, who allegedly receives less extra help than a lady.
I've been mostly on DC-9s for quite a while (since '85), so none of this is my problem. Was only trying to pass on advice from many others I've spoken with over the years. Many pilots prefer to learn old lessons the hard way, but that is always their decision. Incidentlly, a friend quit Mountain Air Cargo (then an F-27 FO) because they often ignored seniority when they wanted to fill a Captain's seat, despite solid FO experience levels. They hired a few dierct-entry Fokker Captains, thereby avoiding the need to pay their senior FOs third- or fourth-year F-27 pay. One pilot got his ATR type-rating, paid for by the company, but the Chief Pilot could still not tell him when he could upgrade...
Lots of the Pinnacle new-hires (especially after the tragedy in MO.) have been fired, but lots make it through. They give more extra help to the lady pilots-this from the wife of an IP there. Even she was dismayed by the bias she heard about, first-hand.
Although Mesaba FOs earn about $1700/month, they are now also expected to accept paycuts. Baffling. Are their executives accepting huge paycuts? This is very much in doubt. Their bankruptcy judge excluded a $150,000,000 cash sum from the calcualtions of Mesaba's needs, because the money is with MAIR-their holding company!
Last edited by Ignition Override; 22nd Feb 2006 at 06:35.