OK big question for those of you that have been flying corporate or Airline for a While?

Question

I have ATP G1159,GIV,Lr-Jet with approx 7000tt 4000turbojet.most of my jet is gulfstream not much lear maybe 100 hrs. Long story short , used to work for a fortune 500 company out of Vegas for about 6 years. My mother got quite sick and nearly all the crews were getting serious burn out and i was one of them.Well i quit to be closer to my mother and now my sister has moved here and I want to get back into the game.qestion is i have been looking and everyone wants you to be current and qualified.Should i spend the 15k to 20k for GIV recurrent and pimp myself out (don't have all the money yet) or just renew my Lear ppe thats cheaper but pain because dont have much time in lears.or pay for GII andGIII recurrent or go get a boeing type ,any serious ideas i'm not made of money and never flown airline. Last sim check was 2003 last flight was 2005. please, I need some serious ideas here. thanks in advance. Kind Regards Paul T

Answer 1

Not too many jobs in the irlines right now.  Most of the bigger ones are either in the process of furloughing pilots or will be by the fall.  The best bet for an airline job at the moment is Southwest.  They are the only one I know that are hiring right now.  If you want to go there buy a 737 type.  Check out air inc. for the latest.

Answer 2

I know Sentient has a handful of Gulfstream positions that they are still interviewing for.. Netjets has stopped hiring for the time being, and Flight Options has laid off/fired pilots recently. Citation Shares and Flexjet are still hiring as far as I know. Look up charter companies online or visit the ones near you to see who is hiring.

There are job sites online that have a lot of corporate job ads, but you have to pay a fee to get those. There are some free ones also. 2 pay sites that I've used and had good results from are climbto350.com and bizjetjobs.com  .

As far as paying for recurrent...I don't think I would do that unless you are sure you can contract until you get a full time gig. Times are hard now, and that is a lot of money for nothing so to speak.That said, I also fly the Lear, and can tell you that there are lots of opportunities to fly this type because it's so common, plus the LR-JET type covers a lot of Lear models as you know.

Answer 3

flew corporate my entire career after the military and i can assure you it's not the aircraft you fly but the company who hires you. forget chasing recurrent courses. just get your resume to every nbaa member company and hope some chief pilot will see the potential in you regardless of what your current in. good luck.

Answer 4

Agree with the rest, if they want to hire you, they'll get you current.  Get the resume in shape and good luck.

Answer 5

I don't know if this would even be a consideration for you, but how about looking into a fractional outfit like flight options, or netjets?  It sounds to me like you would be the perfect candidate for them, and they would get you current again.

I don't know your financial ability, but for me, I would see no reason to spend 15k to get a job. Then again, maybe for you it is worth it.  Have you contacted anyone that is hiring for a GIV? maybe they would be willing to retrain you seeing as how you have plenty of experience.

The choice really is all yours, but I wouldn't spend any money to get recurrent until I know I have a solid job prospect.