Originally Posted by Myboyblue
koz200,
thanks for this valuable info, is it possible in your opinion to commute on B reserve? I'm not sure what that means, I'm assuming it is something along the lines of long call reserve.
B reserve window starts at 12 noon and goes until 12 midnight and the show times are 1330 to 0130 (1.30 to show at the least). For me ( and a lot of guys) it's easier to stay up late rather than get to bed really early and start flying early 0130+ in the morning until mid morning. Often on B reserve you'll launch in the afternoon. People can/do commute as new hires (there are tons of crash pads avaliable) but if you're wanting to deadhead only from a particular city, (as Deuce said),you'll have to be pretty senior. When I was hired only three people in class were local to Memphis. As far as the long call reserve, there is R-24 which allows 24 hrs to show time, but there's only a few lines like that. Best thing to do is to get a Secondary line (where you actually hold trips) and then trip-trade to make your schedule better. IMO, it's better to have a crappy line and be able to trade better than have reserve and not have the ability to trade.
Bottom line. IF you can get on at FedEx, make the jump. 60%+ of pilots commute and if you can suck it up for a bit, you can commute even being junior. It might not be the last job you'll ever have (I know people who said that getting hired at United in 1999-2000) but I think it (and UPS) is about as stable as you can get in the industry.