Cleared direct IND, climb and maintain FL370...

Well, the unthinkable has happened. I actually caught a break. Now, this isn't a little break as in a good deal on a TV or a hurricane being downgraded to a Cat 1. This is a big one. This summer, my wife and I will finally be able to move back to Indianapolis. I was hired as a first officer for Republic Airways. I will be flying a 50-passenger Embraer 145 regional jet.

I used to work for Republic (then known more commonly by the name of their only "child" airline, Chautauqua) as a records clerk. It was the only aviation job I could get in Indianapolis immediately after 9/11. Being a graduate from Purdue's flight program, I was able to get an interview there for a first officer position after being a records clerk for about six months. The interview went okay but not great. They put me in a "hiring pool" that they said they would call from if they needed more pilots. They said that getting more flight experience would help move me up in line in the pool. Well, after about six more months I had received no calls and could not find a good way to get some flight hours.

It was closing on summer 2003 at this point. My wife and I decided to move to Florida where flying was much more abundant. After getting there I found out I wasn't qualified enough to flight instruct at most of the schools there. It took us over a year to get on our feet after the move and that setback (I had to add a rating to my flight instructor license). Then in early 2005 I was offered a job at a very good flight school, the same one I had used to get that needed rating. It was a great job compared to the other jobs I had worked since 9/11 (substitute teacher, taxi driver, records clerk, fax pusher, and internet tech support). The pay was significantly less, but it was ok, because I was finally making some career progress for the first time in nearly three years.

After about a year of instructing I was introduced to corporate charter flying, mostly in a Piper Navajo (twin-piston engines, 8-10 seats). It was a lot of fun, and made me seriously consider changing my career goal from airline pilot to corporate jet pilot. We still wanted to get back to Indiana someday; maybe I could find a corporate job up there after getting a couple of years on a Learjet or Citation in Florida. The nice thing about corporate flying is it's a little more independent, and you make more money sooner than airline pilots, though it doesn't usually top out as high.

In the mean time I had been keeping tabs on Chautauqua. Its holding company, Republic Airways Holdings, had started Republic Airlines and acquired Shuttle America. It had been growing very steadily since I left, I just wasn't sure I wanted to go that route any more.

Lately however, I suddenly became very sure I'd rather go to Republic after thinking about it for a bit. The main goal has always been to get back to Indy. Florida is pretty nice, but the bottom line is it's just too damn expensive. The higher corporate pay compared to regional airline pay is more than offset by the much lower cost of living in Indiana. There are many other pros and cons of both types of flying, but I've pretty much covered the main ones.

It all happened so fast. After my last post, on my "day off" I totalled up my logbook and discovered that I met almost exactly the new (higher) minimum flight experience required to fly for Republic. Up until that time I had pretty much only been considering the corporate aviation route, but then I thought "we could move back to Indy next summer." Working for Gulfstream the past couple months made me realize how much I missed working at a regional airline. The fact that I was flying for Gulfstream on call almost 24/7 made me realize that the similar lifestyle of corporate flying might not be all that great. I tossed and turned over it that night, and the next day I applied online to Republic. That was Friday the 10th.

I joked that I expected a call on Monday, knowing it could easily be a week or more, if ever. Monday came and went and no call. They called on Tuesday. They offered me an interview that Friday the 17th or a later date if I preferred. I chose Friday. I was sent a ticket and flew up on standby on Thursday. For some reason, I had no problems getting to sleep Thursday night.

The interview itself and the entire day was unreal. It was more like homecoming than anything else. I saw a lot of my old coworkers who knew me from when I was a clerk. They were all happy to see me and wished me well. After a very painless interview (I was very thoroghoutly prepared, despite the two days I had to do so) I was offered a job on the spot. I can't take all the credit; they are growing fast and really need pilots. They asked when I would be available to start. I joked that I would like to start Monday. To my surprise, they (non-jokingly) said that Sunday would be better. As much as I prefer to be professional and give the traditional two-week's notice, I could not pass this up. I could have taken a later date, sure, but seniority is everything in the airlines, and any waiting would not have been productive anyway. I was immediately flown home so that I could pack and fly back the next day.

On the flight back out of Ft. Lauderdale, looking out the window I could literally see over half my aviation career passing before my eyes, as I could identify and remember landing at almost every single airport in the eastern half of Florida. I had a great time flying there, and will miss it, but I know that future memories await.

My training consists of two weeks of indoctrination training (company policies, regulations, etc.) in Indianapolis. The second week of this starts Monday. This will be followed by three weeks of training on the aircraft, most likely in St. Louis. Then several simulator training sessions spread over the following three weeks, either in St. Louis or Houston. Finally, there will be a couple weeks of real-world flying with a training captain before I go off to my base and am officially "in the system."

I might not and probably won't get Indy as my base right away, but I will be jumpseating back and forth to Ft. Lauderdale till the summer anyway. Then we just have to sell our place in Florida and find a new job for Abee up here and it will be "mission accomplished!" We can call Florida a 4-year vacation. Most of it was far from it though we did enjoy what there was to enjoy (namely the weather and the ocean) and we made some great friends there, so we will miss it, but coming home means so much more.

What else can I say? I'm thrilled that this change is happening. I'm sure it will not all be sunshine and puffy clouds (that's the technical term for them), but a main underlying goal will be met. If any part of it sucks I'll be sure to post it here. :P

In the mean time, since many people have not heard of Republic or Chautauqua, here is one of their PR videos showing just how much they are growing. If you want to learn more, go to their website at www.rjet.com



See you in February...

So Busy...

Today is my first legal day off since October 20. Legally meaning "a period free of all responsibility for work or duty should the occasion arise." There have been a few days when I've been on call, but not been called in. Also it's not really a day like most people think. I am officially "off" from 4 p.m. yesterday till 4 p.m. today, which is a day as far as it's 24 hours. I'll gladly take it though.

I'm not complaining though, just needed the break. In fact most days I wish I were flying more hours. I got way more hours in my first month here than any month at my old job except for one. Yesterday I hit the magical 1500 hour mark. It's not as magical as I thought though, since my life hasn't dramatically changed since yesterday. I'm now eligible to apply for an Airline Transport Pilot license, which is basically the highest pilot's license you can get. I have to find time to take the written test first, then once that's done, I can get the ATP on my next checkout for work. Other than that, here's to 2500 hours....

So what am I going to do on my day off? Maybe play Flight Simulator....maybe not, though I would like to fire up the F-16 and blast around South Florida for a little bit. Now that baseball is over, I'm done playing computer baseball and can maybe finish Need for Speed Most Wanted. I'd also like to ride my bike again (haven't been able to do that in weeks), and maybe wash my car. One thing's for sure though, I'll never get around to any of that stuff if I keep typing on here all day, so...have a nice day!