Yeah, the PFT gig was (is) definitely controversial...it still rears its ugly head at Delta sometimes. There are some Delta guys that will give me grief for doing it.
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The SHOW: Airlines still a "good gig"??
- Thread starter A4sForever
- Start date
Gents - great info. Still trying to determine which path I ought to go down - golden path towards command or this. I don't think without a retirement check I could swing the regionals with a family to support; so I'm still leaning towards staying Navy but keeping the hope that I could end up in the airlines one day. Appreciate all the info!
Another option is to "ride it out." 2xFOS severance + the bonus for a couple of years can help cushion the transition and lessen the sting of a year at the regionals. That being said, you have to get 2xFOSd for that to work... There's always the "risk" of getting promoted, I suppose.
PFT was not something I was willing to do and I disapproved of the practice. But I have never given anyone grief over it. I'm just glad it is dead and a thing of the past.
@DanMa1156...PFT is "Pay For Training"...more specifically it involved paying for your First Officer training at a specific regional airline...you get hired and then you fork over anywhere from about $5,000 to $10,000. Not all regionals had PFT but many did.
Back in the early to mid 1990's there were a lot of individuals who wanted to be airline pilots...but hiring was fairly slow...so some bean counter knuckleheads had the bright idea to implement PFT to make more money for the airline...and there were plenty of wannabe airline pilot knuckleheads (like myself) that were willing to pay the $$$. Also, many wannabe airline pilot knuckleheads were not willing to pay the $$$ (I don't blame them one bit) and were able to get hired by other airlines and/or operators that didn't require PFT.
What's the best advice for us tiltrotor weirdos, ive heard of some of us getting hired by the airlines but they were jet transitions?
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Do shore duty in the VTs and fly your ass off.
Get some legit FW time by hook or by crook.
Most of the non-jet airline guys were VT IPs at some point.
Get your ME commercial ticket, then consider L3/Avenge/etc to build time.
Alternatively, embrace the dark side and return to helos, if you're a conversion. I'm making more than most airline pilots right now and definitely more than RJ guys. The potential top end is lower, but you'll actually be flying something you like, not flying an airliner because of the accompanying bennies and free travel.
You get a gig with MD State Police? If so, care to share about it?
No, I'm with Baltimore PD.
We fly law enforcement, sometimes called "ghetto birds." MSP primarily flies medevac.
Very cool...congrats...LE pilot jobs are not easy to obtain.
MSP has some real slick looking AW139s.
They are primarily MEDEVAC birds as part of the state's trauma care system as Phrog said and don't do much LE stuff, their pilots aren't even required to be LEO's anymore. It would still be a very interesting flying gig, doing really good work too.
Yeah I see them around here a fair bit when there are bad accidents. Saw one landing at one of the local Amish farms a few months ago.