Originally Posted by
Evil
Probably going to be flying with the ANG for the first 5-7 yrs in the airlines, so I'll have some supplemental pay (an extra 15K or so) to augment sitting reserve. Out of curiosity, as lets say a 5th yr FO on a 737, what would sitting reserve in base pay you?
If you truly want to spend time at home, then here is how I would play the game with options.
1) Get hired by Guard or Reserve unit in the same town or driving distance from a major airline domicile.
2) Hope to get hired by the major airline that has the domicile in your town.
3) Ideal world, Guard or Reserve unit and airline domicile all in same town, but very difficult to pull off.
4) If you have to commute, live in Guard or Reserve unit town and commute to airline job. This allows you to pick up Guard or Reserve duty on days off to supplement the low paying years.
5) When all else fails, don't get wrapped around the axel on where you live, treat it like the military. Living in your home base makes the airlines a very tolerable and enjoyable career. This is just my opinion and many will disagree, but if family time is your goal you don't want to commute. Commuting makes an airline job miserable. Again, my opinion, many folks commute and they deal with it, some even enjoy the time away, but it sounds to me like you want to be home with the family, so avoid commuting at all costs, especially a double commute to Guard/Reserve unit and airline. Double commute is a short road to the big "D" and I don't mean Delta.
6) Good luck.