Originally Posted by
da1dp
Hey all, long-time lurker and first time poster here!
I'm a KC native and probably 2-4 years from from 1500 hrs depending on if and how aggressively I approach a career change to becoming a pilot. Still working through ratings...but considering ramping things up...
I went into this thinking I definitely only want to fly charter/fractional, but I've lately been considering the airline route.
If you are considering the airline route then you ought to be SERIOUSLY considering ramping things up. Why is that? Because where you want to end up is living in base at a major airline. And the quickest way for that to happen is for you to get to a regional where you can start flying some SERIOUS hours. Hours that count. Turbine hours. 121 SIC and PIC hours.
And how quickly you do that is important because seniority is EVERYTHING in quality of life AND pay (not necessarily synonymous) in the airline world and the legacy airlines are starting to retire large numbers due to the age 65 cutoff for airline flying.
Those numbers will continue for quite awhile but (depending on the individual airline) they will PEAK in the 2022 to 2025 timeframe.
You are going to be spending a minimum of three years at a regional to be competitive for an upper tier major and two for a second tier major. The closer your hire date can be to the peak of those retirements (if not before it) the better your QOL and pay is going to be. The fewer people hired behind you, the worse your pay and QOL is going to be. It's as simple as that.