Originally Posted by
Andy Dufresne
On an individual level, what is the benefit of upgrading if you’re planning on leaving for a legacy? They aren’t requiring 121 PIC time at all, and CA upgrade doesn’t do anything but add another set of jeopardy events that could keep you away from your dream job.
Why risk that with a JV training department?
If you're using the term JV to mean "junior varsity" as a condescending view of regional airlines, then no, you probably shouldn't bother upgrading.
Upgrading is about more than checking boxes. It's about experience, pay, and doing what you should have come to do: fly airplanes. It's fine to be copilot for so long, but there comes a point when one may just want to be a pilot in command again, and take on the privileges and responsibilities that come with the job.
If you're afraid of risking your position, ask yourself about your competency level.
A first officer once asked me for a recommendation as captain. We chatted for a bit, and when we discussed his pilot in command time, he had a grand total of about 300 hours. I asked him about which of the seven companies he'd flown for, that he got that time as captain. He said he'd never been a captain. He'd jumped from company to company as a first officer, never upgrading. All of his pilot in command time was in a Cessna 172, years prior. He wanted to gain pilot in command time, he said; that was his motivation to upgrade. He wanted to do it in a widebody heavy transport, flying internationally, in an environment in which the company essentially tossed the captain the keys to the airplane and said "good luck." Perhaps not the wisest choice on his part.
If you've been flying the airplane at your regional for a time, and you believe you're proficient enough, know the airplane, procedures, and the company enough, and you've been observant enough to understand your duties and the process of being a captain, then it's a natural progression. I can't imagine hiding in a little paper bag and avoiding upgrade, out of fear one might not pass.
What do you get from being captain? Insight, understanding, and experience about the role that is beyond what you'll experience playing it safe in the right seat. You might just find some satisfaction, too.
Remember, day one of your upgrade training was day one of your initial hire indoc. You may not have appreciated it at the time, but that was the first day of your captain upgrade class, whether you knew it, or not.