Chaps,
Thought I may as well shove in my two pen'rth for what's worth. (Tuppence apparently....)
I fly the Electra for Atlantic, having come through the fuglie scheme many summers ago, so I reckon I'm qualified to say a few things. Now I'm not a "company man". I see that the company has bad points as well as good, so talking about the reality of my day to day work, let's start with the bad.
Long hours, antisocial working patterns, makes it very difficult indeed to run a normal social life. Frequent pressure to work days off, old aeroplanes which have, shall we say, their idiosyncracies.
Right, that's that done, now what, from my own selfish perspective, are the good points?
I got my ATPL without ever paying for an hours' flying. I work with blokes who are also my mates. Everyone is my age and shares my interests. I can get pi**ed with the chief pilot over a curry. Early promotion (two years in the right being normal). I earn enough money to feed my sportscar habit very nicely. I do look forward to the day when I will be flying a shiney jet, but I like the fact that, by the time I retire, there will not be many pilots around who started their career on a four engined turbo prop. The Electra is a great machine to hand fly. There is plenty of scope for an individual to do the kind of work that they like - some prefer flying on scheduled cargo routes, others like the ad hoc side, and it is quite possible to do more of one and less of another to suit.
As for the fuglie scheme (which may well have changed dramatically since I did it) It was seriously bloody hard work, make no mistake about it, seven days a week for the first six months, no money, loads of pressure, all that jazz. BUT!!! I reckon I had a very good apprenticeship which was entirely free. While I was training I also got to see all the workings of the company which would eventually employ me (better than any LOFT course going)
So to sum up... Was the training hard going? Yes.
Is it hard work day to day? Yes.
Am I glad I joined? Yes.
Would I do it again if I were 21 and looking for my first job? Yes.
Will I be here until I retire? No
If you are a prima donna and expecting to become a pilot in the hope of being treated with kid gloves and worshipped while you tell war stories, then good luck to you but Atlantic is not where you want to be. If you want a tough and demanding job, are not afraid to get your hands dirty and like having a laugh, flying aeroplanes and having a few beers with your mates in the bar afterwards, then come on in the water's lovely!