Dash-8 Fo or Pic

[Yowdriver]

Hey, just need some career advice

Fo up north on a Turbo prop 703, currently sitting at 1000 with all my Pic time

What’s the best option? Goal is Mainline down the line for sure

Would it be smarter to go capt here( decent 703) , get up to 1500 Atpl and then apply for a 737 gig

Or

Go for a dash-8 at a reputable 705 as an Fo

Going capt here seems like a sure deal , problem is I don’t know how long the industry will keep the hours so low ( hiring 737s at 1500 ish and Dash as low as 700)

Any insight is appreciated!

[spruceair]

I would do the 703 Captain for a year or two. You’ll learn more about flying and also about yourself as a pilot and that experience will be much more beneficial down the road at a large 705.

[Heavy Rayn]

I would do the 703 Captain for a year or two. You’ll learn more about flying and also about yourself as a pilot and that experience will be much more beneficial down the road at a large 705.

I second this. Command experience will benefit you in in the long term and you’ll make more money in the short term while being able to skip the regional stage.

[vanislepilot]

How fast can ya get up to 1500? Some would say pic is king, I say seniority is. The quicker the better !

[flyinhigh]

Ugh, I’m going to go against all my previous years of advice here.

Do you have the requirements met to claim your ATPL (I.e, do not need PICUS)? If so, then I begrudgingly say go to an airline now as your seniority number in an airline is everything. With your ATPL in hand, you could most likely upgrade in 1.5 years at any regional anyway.

If you don’t have the req’s for the AA’s then stick it out and get some hours before you ship off to the airlines.

I’ve always said enjoy the ride. The experience you get up North is second to none and you’ll always have stories about the crap this, crap that. When you’re having a boring day in the airline, you’ll be able to look back at all that crap and say, you know what boring is ok.

[airbussy]

Hey, just need some career advice

Fo up north on a Turbo prop 703, currently sitting at 1000 with all my Pic time

What’s the best option? Goal is Mainline down the line for sure

Would it be smarter to go capt here( decent 703) , get up to 1500 Atpl and then apply for a 737 gig

Or

Go for a dash-8 at a reputable 705 as an Fo

Going capt here seems like a sure deal , problem is I don’t know how long the industry will keep the hours so low ( hiring 737s at 1500 ish and Dash as low as 700)

Any insight is appreciated!

If I were you and you are comfortable making the jump, bail if you can. 1500 hours into a 737 might not last two years, bird in the hand and all that. If AC is your goal generally the sooner you make a jump to a 705 the better.

[airbussy]

Ugh, I’m going to go against all my previous years of advice here.

Do you have the requirements met to claim your ATPL (I.e, do not need PICUS)? If so, then I begrudgingly say go to an airline now as your seniority number in an airline is everything. With your ATPL in hand, you could most likely upgrade in 1.5 years at any regional anyway.

If you don’t have the req’s for the AA’s then stick it out and get some hours before you ship off to the airlines.

I’ve always said enjoy the ride. The experience you get up North is second to none and you’ll always have stories about the crap this, crap that. When you’re having a boring day in the airline, you’ll be able to look back at all that crap and say, you know what boring is ok.

Agreed.

As someone who's done it as well and I think this is the best option if AC is the goal.

[Meatservo]

Ugh, I’m going to go against all my previous years of advice here.

Do you have the requirements met to claim your ATPL (I.e, do not need PICUS)? If so, then I begrudgingly say go to an airline now as your seniority number in an airline is everything. With your ATPL in hand, you could most likely upgrade in 1.5 years at any regional anyway.

If you don’t have the req’s for the AA’s then stick it out and get some hours before you ship off to the airlines.

I’ve always said enjoy the ride. The experience you get up North is second to none and you’ll always have stories about the crap this, crap that. When you’re having a boring day in the airline, you’ll be able to look back at all that crap and say, you know what boring is ok.

Yeah... I get it. I think I feel the same way as flyinhigh here. I notice the O.P. didn't really mention anything about wanting to have adventures, or do anything exciting, or learn any special skills. They just want to get onto the conveyor-belt. And I don't blame them.

I used to wax eloquent about a flying life. I used to advocate for command experience. I used to frown on young people being in too much of a hurry to end up going to do the same repetitive thing every day. But guess what. Some folk think the day of the airline pilot is almost over. I don't. I'm sitting here, having chosen adventures and hard, pointless work, and I'm making about the same money as I would have if I was doing this exact job in the '90s. American and European pilots are raking in untold riches, and I predict some day soon Canadian ones will, too. Douchebag Airline executives tried to downgrade the profession to a McJob, and they are failing. People who are smart enough to become pilots can also get the education to do something else. Pilot numbers are dwindling, and we are at the beginning in Canada of what most other Western countries have gone through: you have to pay the pilots. Thank you, Westjet pilots. Also, there will never be a single-pilot airliner. Not because it can't be done: it can totally be done. There's simply no safety case to be made in favour of it, and a person whose job is to check another person's job will never be made redundant.

I forget why I thought working for a small operator was cool. It's far too late for me to have a career as a mainline jet pilot. I've commanded heavy transport-category planes with lots of engines; I've flown little rattletraps on longer trips to rougher strips than they were designed for. I've flown across the oceans; I've gone all over the country in Twin Otters on floats, tundra tyres and skis. I've almost drowned, frozen to death and been crushed by heavy equipment operated by retards in orange vests. I've fought pitched battles with defective equipment and malevolent weather. I've slept under docks, in quinzees, in the cargo pod and once even in an overhead bin. I've lost friends to violent death on average of one every five years or so. I'm making it sound like I'm Han freaking Solo, but I'm not. I know lots of guys who have done the same things as me, and most of them are better at it. Or at least, they are more cool about it at any rate. I've been scared shitless for thirty years. That's why I'm still alive I guess.

But I'm bored. It all ends up being the same old shit, day in, day out. F*ck it. If I had gone for that Air Canada interview back in 2005 when they called me, I would be JUST as goddamn bored, but I'd look younger, I'd have a nice house in Barry or Orillia instead of this proletariat dwelling in buttfuck nowhere, I'd have a pension, I'd have savings, I'd have a nice car, I'd have friends who don't move away every five years, and on the rare occasion I'd actually be expected to show up at work, I'd have a nice clean, dignified uniform instead of the rags I wear to work now. Look, I don't have any of these things.

Sure, I have all the skills you're ever gonna have. I also have skills you will never have. But I can't eat them. They don't make me happy or get me any special respect at work. They won't serve me in retirement. I can't trade them in. They just keep me from being killed. F*ck it. Go to the airlines. Go there now.

When I was twenty-two, the chief pilot (no lie) told me my goal should always be to do the least amount of work possible for the most amount of money possible. I thought he was a lazy cocksucker. Now I realize, I was an idiot. He was right. Don't be like me. Stay clean. Do the least amount of work for the most money. Always let that be your guiding principle. You will never regret it.

Well you might regret it. But you won't have the same regrets I do. As you are now, so once was I.

[Yowdriver]

Wow, That was absolutely beautiful, sincerely! If you ever write a book, I’d be the first to buy it. Seems like the king of guy I’d love to grab a coffee with and chat the day away.

The 703 gig is very decent, but the ultimate goal is Ac as stated. I do have all my PIC for my ATPL but only around 1,000hours. Problem is I wouldn’t mind staying here but I feel the doors of the industry are wide open now and I should get in before they close down again.

Also, being a capt here would prevent me from going to a Dash-8 gig and eating Kraft where I could make decent money here and move on to a bigger jet gig (737 or else) and then still have a smaller downgrade In pay



Thank you guys so much for the replies! Really opens my eyes to my situation! Very much appreciated

[spruceair]

Wow, That was absolutely beautiful, sincerely! If you ever write a book, I’d be the first to buy it. Seems like the king of guy I’d love to grab a coffee with and chat the day away.

The 703 gig is very decent, but the ultimate goal is Ac as stated. I do have all my PIC for my ATPL but only around 1,000hours. Problem is I wouldn’t mind staying here but I feel the doors of the industry are wide open now and I should get in before they close down again.

Also, being a capt here would prevent me from going to a Dash-8 gig and eating Kraft where I could make decent money here and move on to a bigger jet gig (737 or else) and then still have a smaller downgrade In pay



Thank you guys so much for the replies! Really opens my eyes to my situation! Very much appreciated

That’s a good point, I have several colleagues who were captains on 703 and 704 turboprops for a couple of years, and recently made the jump to WestJet. The same jump could be made to Air Canada. Skip the regional turboprop all together.

[airbussy]

Yea but don't count on that always being the case. If OP wants a more secure known progression to AC then going now to a 705 is the best option. For those who were already in 703 with lots of hours, and it worked out for them that's awesome. But for someone with 1000 hours, has their PIC all done there's better stuff out there. Dare I say even Jazz. Go fly for 6 months on the Q, then upgrade. Upgrades are going to quite literally everyone who wants it and has an ATPL.

Getting an ATPL and 2000 hours at a 703 (the AC minimum) to try to go OTS, by then they may not take 703 pilots of if they do take very few.

Better off IMO going to Porter or Flair if that's even possible now with 1000 hours and slog it out for a year and a half and then apply at AC from there.

[oldncold]

34 years later understand avbiz is ruthless and as hockey great wayne gretsky said you are only as good as your next goal// in my last 3 years> covid / layoff 18 mon /then flat out corp 800 hour jet 300nights in hotels / reevaluate. Stepped back to pre covid job for the work /home life balance. (Before the homelife vaporized // in 20 years noboby will give a rats ass how many type ratings only the memories

There are zero certanties in this biz be it flt level450 or dogging into a small lake at 500 agl . Choose your own path be accountable enjoy the journey . And save as much of your earnings as you can so you can look back in 35 years and smile Hell of a ride