Originally Posted by
Counselor
Can a regional pilot with a family who commutes realistically shoot for overnights in his/her hometown to offset those 4-days? Especially if the pilot lives in a smaller city that is served primarily or exclusively by regionals (KELP, KAMA, etc.)?
It depends, you could try. But a few things to consider;
With the way legacies play the regional shuffle game, your company may do that city/overnight one month, it may get handed over to another carrier the next month.
117 comes into play a little bit, but even though the overnight is there, how long is the overnight? In other words, is that 10 hrs worth it? Especially if you're not that close to the airport. Now, it gets better. What if that 10-12-14 hour overnight at home ISN'T on a commutable trip? In other words, you have to give up a night at home and come in early, to spend a night at home, so it's a wash. Or worst case, have to come in a night before, and finish late and have to go home the next morning. Sure, you had a night at home, but it cost you two nights away from home to do it.
This is real broad/big picture. Being an airline pilot means guess what? You WILL BE AWAY FROM HOME. It's in the brochure, it's ALWAYS been in the brochure. It's NOT even in the fine print.
Yeah, we ALL know that legacy narrow body CA. Does day trips, home every night, works 3 days a week making 200K a year. Has a boat, sports car, takes exotic vacations. He WASN'T born into that job/seat, took him YEARS to get there. And along the lines of the regional world, what if his equipment gets realigned and NO LONGER does day trips anymore? Or due to a seasonal change, doesn't do those day trips anymore? What if he get's displaced off that equipment, or worse displaced out of base?