While some folks may be content with life at a US regional, they are generally NOT viewed here as a career destination: get the experience...move on. There's plenty to criticize about it but it just is what it is...and that's an entirely different subject.

oicur12.again,

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize any US carrier had taken to formal sponsorship.

To get to the “do you require sponsorship” drop-down you mention, did you have to fill out the actual application itself ? I couldn't find it by just scanning the pilot employment section of their website.

[I'm not looking for a job nor is any job looking for me ! I'm just curious.]

PPRuNe (Downunder) at its very best and worst.

Glass half full pilots trying to get ahead, provide some useful information and help to similarly minded pilots in an industry that is more than tough at the best of times.

Glass half empty pilots (some of them possibly pilots) who have literally nothing better to do with their time to either throw advice down from their heady heights of Mt Wisdom or try to discourage anyone who has just a tad more intestinal fortitude than themselves.

For those that see what this opportunity may or may not offer give it a go.

Carpe Diem.

Just remember that you may have to fly with some of these discouraging drop kicks some time in the future so keep that glass half full!

Good Luck!

I did something similar. I was young and single.

I'm now older and married, sitting at home where I grew up (not in the sandpit) and in the LHS of a narrowbody jet. I even see my kids for 20 days of the month that I'm not away. The first wife is still putting up with me. I'm under 40 years old. (don't believe everything you read in a profile..)

It worked for me.

Opportunities are what you make of it.

Sure there are going to be hardships, there are going to be hardships whether your sitting around Kunnas or bashing around Bots or dashing around in a American Regional. Each is a different challenge. We learn and get that sought after "experience" through challenges.
When or even if you do decide to come home, who are they going to hire? Someone with 1000s of hours in a clapped out twin or 1000s hours of jet regional time. I've seen it before, but all the recruiters see is previous airline experience.

I've been on PPrune a reasonable amount of time. (2010 is just my second login start date :O) I had just finished my CPL when I stumbled on this site. The naysayers were louder and more numerous when I was trying to start out.

Ignore them. I did. They may have valid points which when analyzed, can be mitigated. Its also up to you to make sure you line up all your ducks in a row.

Sure you can be idealistic like KRUSTY and j3pipercub. They are entitled to
their opinions. I have no problem with that. The problem is, if you buy into their baggage too much, you'll get nowhere and at the end of the day, KRUSTY, j3 and co aren't paying you to sit around passing up jobs to be idealistic.

GO out there and make it happen.

Gotta love those consecutive 12 hour days.

Now before some of you shoot from the hip, try learning to "Play the Ball".

911 was a traumatic time with far reaching consequences, but what an even cursory glacé will reveal, is the sheer opportunism that followed. Sure, initially it was about survival, but now 15 years later it's all backslapping and "World's best practice". Once hard won conditions and ultimately career satisfaction are destroyed, they never come back. This the new reality of the American Regional scene. I mean a CRJ captain earning the princely sum of $90K! Sad days.

My remarks about "pretending to be a real Airline pilot" was not meant to insult. But that's exactly how the perpetrators of this crime see you. As I said, regional flying, which now accounts for more than 60% of US domestic travel is by that very fact alone an extremely serious business.

I don't think it too much for the travelling public to expect the pilots up front to be paid a commensurate amount, both in wages and lifestyle of the value of the cargo they are entrusted with.

I don't have the link, but if someone could post Chelsey Sullenburgers latest address to Congress (January this year I think) maybe his take on some of this will be accepted as a little more diplomatic.

Good luck all.

The offer here was so poor the union did not even put it to the membership for a vote.

Republic Airways Submits Last, Best and Final Offer to IBT Local 357 | Business Wire

Guys, smell the coffee. 20 Million people 4 carriers with long seniority lists. If you stick around here one thing I can assure you of is that you will never get past the right seat of a narrowbody jet IF you are lucky. Most likely you'll be flying some ****box turboprop for the rest of your days.

You will be even luckier if you can make it through your career without the outfit you join closing and finding yourself mowing lawns to pay off your Sydney mortgage.

I suspect their regionals are the equivalent of our GA. What are the TC's of their majors? Any retirements coming up? Think outside the square.

Best of luck.

The penny has finally dropped! Minimum requirement ATPL. Missed the wood for the trees on that one.

After years of seeing this coming, rather than putting in place initiatives to help reinvigorate and sustain the profession, they suddenly go looking overseas.

It's good to see that at least Airline Managements across the World are equally predictable.

I trust that none here would complain if the reciprocal arrangement for American pilots on 457 to work and fly in Aussie on the regionals?

We have and they do! In fact for not that dissimilar reasons.

The difference here of course is that our regional Airlines offer vastly greater T&C's than our American counterparts. No doubt why they came over.

The challenge for us of course is to stand united to stop the same rot setting in here.

Movement in Australia will be glacial at best for the next 10 years so if you can get some jet time overseas I'd say go for it.

Really what are the options? Hang around in GA on a similar low salary, or go to a regional here on say ~50k a year.

If you go to Republic it looks like you are straight into a jet. I imagine a few years and you can get onto a Embraer and you have the option of going to the middle east.

With the high number of compulsory retirements coming up in the USA there may be alot of movement through the system.

Krusty

Yep 90K plus allowances but you can not compare that to Australia. I been in the US many times and I can assure you when you fill up the trolley at the grocery store, there appears to be a hell of a lot more change out of a hundred dollars at the checkout. Abit of time over there makes you realise how much of a rip off this country actually is. The only good thing is Medicare but I am sure Abbott has that in his sights to fund tax cuts for the Coal Industry or Rupert Murdoch?

Real Estate is a lot cheaper so as long as you were not living in a major US city, 90K would be enough for a decent house.

Some things are the same, if you choose to live in New York or Sydney as a Regional Captain, then you probably need to do some casual Space Shuttle flying on your days off unless you are happy to raise a family in a 2 bedroom unit.

Gidday biglanchow,

You'd be surprised what a Regional Captain in Oz can earn, and probably equally surprised at the lifestyle many enjoy. Most Captains I know regularly clear well in excess of $4,000 per fortnight. The kicker is, although there is usually some measure of overtime in that, the hours they work still come nowhere near the pilots depicted in the video. That's right, no 12 hour back to back days!

But the reality is that this thread is all about chasing opportunities overseas, and obviously the aforementioned life is not for everyone, and that's fair enough. Although you will need at least an ATPL just to get a foot in the door.

As I've said, best of luck boys and girls, but be mindful of what you wish for.

Yep, I know what they earn as I am one :ok:

Regional Capt's CLEARING well in excess of 4 grand a fortnight, what the hell are we all whinging about, I want that gig and I fly widebody.....:confused:

Absolutely rockarpee.

Helped in no small measure by the same short sighted greed that now see American Regionals scrambling for right seaters with ATPL's. Because they killed off the Golden Goose that laid those little eggs years ago!

If they don't get them (and I sincerely doubt they will in any quantity), then they'll either adapt (unlikely), or die. And in the end wondering What the F#ck happened!

Not sure where you work, Most of the guys I know would clear $3100 with maybe an extra $200-$400 in allowances max. To clear $4K would need a pile of extensions or working RDOs.

Just out of interest, the E3 visa has been around for over 10 years now, has it been possible to do this all this time and nobody knew, or has something changed recently?

It's taken a while for the visa benefits to filter through to employers and for them to realise how easy it is to employ an Aussie (after the employer applies to the DOL for approval that is)...

Interesting reading so far.

I have done the expat thing and have a slightly different slant on it, as I did it for the "adventure" not the SJS (shiny jet syndrome). I was already employed by a major at the time when I woke up one morning (recently separated) and said f$%k it, I'm off to broaden my horizons. 2 operators and many years later I am back in roughly the equivalent position I left 8 years ago.

Pros - the experience I have gained as a human being (and also as a pilot :}) is something I would never have gained if I had stayed in Aus. Like it or not, we are a very very parochial bunch here and believe it or not, we are not the worlds best pilots as we may like to think. Funny enough the crushing loneliness that one feels from time to time as a result of being away from friends and family, has led to a much more well rounded view of the world and a better relationship with those dearest to me now that I am back home.

Cons - It has cost me financially and a command in a city of my choosing with a major. More importantly it has cost me some time and experiences that could have been spent with my children, but somehow I always managed to get back to see them reasonably regularly. See above - the con did become a pro.

My advice is if you are single go for the adventure and see where it leads you regardless of the money, time on type or crappy places you may sleep. If you are single but have kids, think long and hard before you commit to an overseas jaunt - I previously used the term "crushing" when trying to describe the feelings that some time overwhelm you when you are away from your little ones, I'm not exaggerating.

So often we get caught up with where we are and where we think we should be without enjoying the ride along the way. I know I sound like some silly old coot but this has been my experience and I hope it helps - would I do it again? In a heartbeat.

10000 signing bonus along an 80000 bonus on top of regular pay if you stay 3 years on the regional.


Upgrade in a year or less.


Wish i was australian, we spaniards dont seem to get this great opportunity right now.