On 2004-01-12 14:49:40 -0800, "Jim" said:

may not be accurate, but someone claims to have researched current
regional
pay rates

Mesa FO year #1
$18.15 per hour
70 hours per month guarantee
flying Beech 1900s
$15,246 per year

ouch

That sounds about right. But even those figures don't give you the total
"cost", if you will. Consider what the job and your quality of life is
worth to you. Also consider that commuter pilots aren't moving on as
quickly as they used to. Used to was you could spend no more than about
two or maybe three years doing commuter flying. At least half of that
time, probably more, would be PIC. In the current airline environment,
you're easily looking at five years or more.

I just spent five days at annual recurrent training with a guy who spent
six months working for Mesa. He told me one horror story and said he had a
lot more just like it after only six months of working there. I used to
work with another guy who left Mesa to go back to flight instruction - it
was that bad. Mesa may have improved some in the last few years, but in
the Risley (former CEO, IIRC) days, it sounds like Mesa was an absolute
nightmare. There are other jobs out there, though, that will be just the
same.

I sometimes think I should have gone the commuter route instead of part
135. I would probably have the airline job I want now. But at the same
time, I've always made pretty decent money and although I have some
stories, none match the horror stories I've heard from some of my
compatriots who did their time with low-budget commuters.

--
Larry Fransson
Seattle, WA