Originally Posted by
traderpilot
At the possible expense of creating another "which regional should I choose" thread, I would welcome insight into whether to pursue a specific aircraft for a semi-unique situation.
Background:
I have approximately 1150tt and 450pic (P3 and C12 time) but I'm not current. I retire from active duty in a few months. Given my age, 40, the goal is to try to get to a LCC as soon as possible in order to maximize "area under the curve" in terms of pay over my career. The pay thread with some of the LCC guys chiming in was enlightening since I assumed that LCC guys weren't making as much as they are (or can). If I get lucky and land the big guys, great but it's fine if I don't. I am not tied to any specific location or base and plan to fly hard, even max out annual hours if possible. QOL, dare I say, is secondary to getting time accumulated. I have no issue leaving work at work (never have) so I'd say my capacity for b.s. is above average. Reserve, I'll sit that joker no problem as long as I can get hours.
Question:
Do I go to one of the shops where I can fly 700+ hours per year but maybe not in the E175 with the idea of landing at any LCC?
or....
Do I pursue the E175 through a regional and shoot for JetBlue?
All opinions are welcome. Facts, timelines, progressions would be amazing. People are undoubtedly going to disagree on which path is best so I'd just ask for pros/cons with whatever idea you may have.
Don’t chase aircraft, chase pay/QOL.
QOL is very important because with QOL you can work to manipulate your schedule to get/have the time off to do important things like go to job fairs, meetings with Chief pilots, hang out with buddies who are at the places you want to work who can push internally for you. Also, having more time away from work allows you to do volunteer work etc. to beef up your application.
Flying your butt off is great when you’re low on the hours like you currently are but you’re only going to be low on hours for a relatively short period of time and the extra points on your application aren’t going to come by spending your time flying.
Some folks say that applying to the majors is a full time job. Flight hours accumulation is only one part of it.