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Posted (edited)

You need to meet ATP experience requirements.

 

If you read the notice that you posted (which you should do, before you post), you'll find that it's 50 hours of multi-engine airplane, not 100.

 

You'll also find a requirement for 250 hours as pilot in command, fixed wing.

 

Despite the "$70,000" annual salary promised in the ad, the actual starting rate for a FO for the first year at mesa is 22.00/hr. The monthly guarantee is 76 hours, which means 1,650 a month, or an actual annual salary, before tax, of 19,800...so what's promised in the ad is actually inflated by 350%.

 

20 year pay for a first officer at Mesa is 33,300. Nobody stays as a first officer that long, and the reason the pay is so pathetic and doesn't increase after year 8 is because nobody stays there that long, and because one is expected to upgrade to captain quickly.

 

The ad states that pilots will upgrade within three years on the average (very misleading, especially by base, as the Phoenix base most recent upgrade, by seniority, is 2007...so nine years there), and makes the claim that upgrading within three years means the Mesa captain is making 70,000 more. The problem is that the Mesa captain at three years, assuming he upgrades in his third year, is 58,500. If he's getting seventy grand more, that means that the competitor is paying twelve thousand a year to remain employed, and that's a lie. In fact, a Skywest three year captain pay is more, at 64,752.

 

Having said that, a 11 year captain at Mesa makes 77.00 hourly, and at the monthly guarantee, doesn't quite make 70,000. He makes 69,300 before tax. But that's as a captain with Mesa with 11 years of seniority. Eleven years of the crap schedule, constant commuting, starvation, and exceptionally lousy quality of life enjoyed by a regional pilot...especially a Mesa pilot.

 

Bear in mind that most all of the regionals are presently hiring at basic ATP minimums, not just Mesa...and none of them are particularly desirable places to go work.

 

Remember that you'll need the basic skills and abilities to upgrade and get to that point, too. Simply having a few hours to qualify for the minimums doesn't mean that you will, or can. More importantly, would you want to?

Edited by avbug
  • Like 1
Posted

From the posting

 

  • Mesa Airlines recognizes the skills associated with helicopter flying. Rotary Wing time may be included in Total Time, but the applicant must meet the 100 hour Multi-Engine, Fixed Wing requirement.

Thanks for your perspective on the regional industry. I thought it was an interesting ad since i often see people on this forum tell newbies seeking advice that they wish they would have gone fixed wing instead of helicopters.

Posted

From the posting

 

  • Mesa Airlines recognizes the skills associated with helicopter flying. Rotary Wing time may be included in Total Time, but the applicant must meet the 100 hour Multi-Engine, Fixed Wing requirement.

Thanks for your perspective on the regional industry. I thought it was an interesting ad since i often see people on this forum tell newbies seeking advice that they wish they would have gone fixed wing instead of helicopters.

 

 

Again, read your own link. What you've cited is found under "restricted ATP." It's not a lesser requirement, but specifies reduced total hours for a restricted ATP. All the other ATP requirements apply, as Mesa's hiring minimums are ATP minimums (bearing in mind that if others have more than the minimums, then the actual competitive minimums are greater than what's published...in other words, you'll need adequate experience to compete with everyone else who shows up on that day or whose application is reviewed at that time. If you've got 100 hours of fixed wing time and everyone else has more...you're not competitive unless they have such a shortage of applications at that time that they have no other choice. Bear in mind, too, that military experience and military rotor pilots will weigh more heavily than civil, if both have minimal fixed wing time, owing to military instrument experience. Remember that it's an instrument flying job; all flying is IFR).

 

 

Restricted ATP Requirements (Total Time)

 

  • Military - 750 Hours
  • Four-Year Degree from approved aviation program -- 1,000 Hours
  • Two-Year Degree from approved aviation program -- 1,250 Hours
  • At least 21 Years of Age -- 1,500 Hours
  • 200 Hours Cross Country Time
  • All other ATP Requirements Apply
  • Mesa Airlines recognizes the skills associated with helicopter flying. Rotary Wing time may be included in Total Time, but the applicant must meet the 100 hour Multi-Engine, Fixed Wing requirement.

Note in bold. Also reference back to the rest of the ad, which specifies the ATP qualifications listed as minimums for hiring:

 

Qualifications (ATP Minimums)

 

  • 1500 hours Total Flight Time (or anticipated before potential training class assignment)
  • 500 hours Cross Country Time
  • 100 hours Total Night Time
  • 50 hours Multi Engine Time, Fixed Wing
  • 250 hours of Pilot in Command Time, Fixed wing
  • 100 hours of Instrument time
  • Commercial Pilot Certificate with Multi Engine and Instrument ratings
  • Current FAA First Class Medical Certificate
  • Ability to demonstrate instrument proficiency
  • ATP Written (CTP training can be provided to qualified applicants)
  • FCC Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
  • Current Valid Passport
  • At least 23 years of age
  • Legally authorized to work in the U.S.
  • Able to pass security background check and FAA mandated drug test
  • High school diploma or GED
  • Ability to read and speak English language
Posted

Have you nothing to contribute to the topic?

 

Have you something to contradict what's been provided?

 

No? Hard to contradict fact, isn't it?

  • Like 1
Posted

For what it is worth...... I have been there, done that and got the t-shirt.

 

What seems like a lifetime ago, I wanted to be an airline pilot. I was a First Officer for a little over a year for a Regional Airline. I hated it, absolutely the worse year of my life. Everything Avbug said above about working and flying for a Regional Airline is true. The only additional points that I want to make are these:

 

  • Computers have made it easy to schedule you exactly to the letter of the law. Unlike the majors, where the contracts are far more favorable for the pilots, you do not get credit for the wait time or the down time between flights even though you may be (are) performing crew duties. You only get paid for actual flying time. So to hit your minimums of 75 hours a month flying time, you are actually on duty 250-275 hrs.
  • The weather is either above minimums or below minimums. If it is above minimums- you go fly. If it is below minimums you can only delay. Cancelling a flight is a business decision made by people sitting in an office miles away from you looking out the window at the crap. It is a binary system. All black and white to those running the operations. No shades of grey to them.

So, if you want to live in hotels and eat airport food for half your life- go for it. For me, the negatives of the lifestyle was not worth the future money (if you ever even get there?) down the road. I returned to helicopter flying.

 

Just my .02 cents.

Posted

So, if you want to live in hotels and eat airport food for half your life- go for it.

Airports are some of the few remaining places I can find a Sbarros,...plus they always have Mcfries! I'd sign up but I make more money driving boxes around.

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