Originally Posted by FlyinCat

I'm an older FO at a regional who started this year. Flew military for 10 years and instructed in various airframes for 7 years, this is my first 121 gig.

1. It was harder than I thought. But I think it has more to do that I was more worried about failure this time. The timeline is very short. 6 months to learn my aircraft in the military, here you'll only have about two. On the bright side, there's much less to memorize.
2. The guys who washed out of my class were younger. Everyone my age and older did fine, but possibly because we just had more experience with studying and with checkride nerves.
3. If you have 121 experience enough to be a DEC why would you go to a regional? You can likely qualify for a ULCC at least. If you want an easy schedule, come in as an FO. At my regional FOs have the cushy schedule, the CAs are being worked to death because there's not enough of them. Forget ever dropping a trip.
4. A good reason to go to a regional when you're already in your 60's is to get your ATP paid for so you can hop over to the fractional side. Not just to "say you were an airline pilot" and retire. Anyone with serious discipline can do that at an older age. Especially if you've been in some other demanding field and know how to study.