Originally Posted by
2StgTurbine
I would disagree. The best time to start training is BEFORE the hiring wave. We are 1/3 of the way into it. By the time the OP realistically finishes training and gets 1500 hours, we will be half way through it. Then the OP still has to gain experience at a regional and by the time they are competitive, the bulk of the retirements will have already happened.
Also, the first 10 years of the career can be rough. You will spend a lot of hours away from home building 1500 hours as an instructor for little pay, then you will spend a couple months away training at a regional, then you will be gone 18 days out of the month (or more), you will most likely be commuting, you will have junior schedule meaning you two will rarely have time off together. And then just as you start to move up in seniority, you can upgrade which will require the entire cycle to start all over again.
This is incorrect. We are not 1/3 of the way into hiring. Most of the hiring just started 2 years ago and the big 3 are hiring 1K pilots a year for the next 10 years. 2/3's of the industry will turn over in the next 10 years. The hiring wave just started.