I'm a prospective airline FO, trying to educate myself about the ins-and-outs of the airline career.
My understanding is as follows:
- To shorten the time it takes to get up to the majors, start building turbine/121 PIC as soon as you can, and build as much as you can, to gain interest from the majors and beat the flow-through.
- To do that, upgrade to captain ASAP. The majors don't care which jet the PIC is in.
- Upgrade times are short enough that some FOs miss upgrades for lack of the 1000hrs. Once you have the 1000hrs 121, your current domicile/airframe won't be a factor in getting picked for upgrade.
- Since you can't do anything about your seniority number, all an FO can do to accelerate the upgrade is to make sure to have the 1000hrs 121 when the upgrade opportunity comes around.
- To get to that 1000 quicker, an FO can
- try to pick a base/type with a short reserve status?
- try to pick a base/type that flies longer legs?
- try to book additional/overtime trips
- live near base and answer/accept the "junior man" calls
If all above is true, it seems to me that the airframe/domicile a new Envoy FO chooses right out of the gate can have a significant impact on how long it takes to get up to the majors, as it will affect how quickly he builds time, including the 1,000 PIC needed to upgrade.
That's what I've got so far. Please correct me where I'm wrong. If there are important factors I'm missing, please let me know.
Hypothetical Situation
Entry-level pilot (civilian, no 121, no TPIC, qualifies for restricted ATP), joins Envoy and starts training (CTP/ATP) in November 2017. He has no geographical preference, and will move to any domicile to avoid commuting. What initial base/combo will give him the quickest path to upgrade (and ultimately, to the major airlines)?
If the pilot prefers Dallas, what type will offer the quickest path to upgrade and moving up to the majors?
Any other thoughts/advice?