Coming back after years of not flying
 

I am starting to prepare to come back to flying professionally since the early 90s. I am coming from piston charter and flight instruction and am looking to work for a regional.

Has anyone else attempted and have been successful at this? If so what advice can you give me? I have passed my first class medical and BFR (like riding a bike) I completed almost all of my IPC and am working privately with an Airline Trainer on a full motion simulator. I am also reading manuals and studying Technical Interview gouges. Any advice on today’s glass cockpit airplanes and transitioning to EFBs is appreciated.

Sorry no advice as i’m in the same boat.
I haven’t flown post my commercial ratings in 2011,due to motherhood.
I’m pretty confident about the ground studies ( theoretical knowledge), as i’ve been studying regularly. But i’m not sure how much skill i’ve lost in all these years that I didn’t fly. If you could share your experience of how it was, getting back to flying, i would appreciate. :)

What is your end goal? How old are you? How much time do you have? That will help to align what to study. Maybe something like Cape Air would be a better fit to start? If so, you’d want to be sharp on round dials. Maybe C208 for a FedEx feeder? Maybe SIC in a 135 to bridge the gap. Taking a year and working 135 before 121 might help bring you up to speed. Or, if you think you have the skills, fly some sim time and study 121 stuff.

I didn’t fly for almost 2 years at one point. I got back into it by getting a CFI. That helped a ton. Glad I did it too. Now days, a lot of movement for 500hr guys, so that does change it a little. But even 250hrs-500hrs will be great learning for you as a CFI

I will be working on getting my CFI as soon as i gain currency again. I think being a CFI is excellent for learning and gaining experience. Thank you for your input.

Anyone out for a while needs to start checking boxes, current medical, recent hours, currency. It’s all doable, factoring in age with expectations. I wouldn’t stop at the bare minimum, renew or get a CFI, jump in & go for it.

Come on up to Oshkosh, WI in later July, great aviation motivator.

Get the IPC done, and get instrument currency prior to your interview.

For interview use aviationinterviews.com and sheppard air Airline interview test prep (its for regionals) and that should get you passing any technical/HR questions you're likely to experience for your regionals of choice. You'll get hired by someone you're interested in, especially if a lack of currency is the only negative thing on your record.

Its much easier to go to glass from traditional gauges than reverse. The Biggest difficulty will be FMS management.

I haven't flown since 2002 after my Commercial checkride. I thought the flying would be easy and the studies would be a bit tougher. Just the opposite.

Studying and getting my knowledge back was pretty easy, the flying has been a complete disaster. Holding altitude in steep turns, doing checklists in a timely fashion, getting back to entry point of lazy 8 at altitude and speed. I have flown 6 hours and my instructor said things are pretty bad (which they are).
Granted, I can only fly once a week, but I'm really starting to second guess my decision. If my VFR maneuvers are this bad, trying to shoot an approach would be an epic disaster. 38 yrs old, awesome wife who supports me and 3 kids.

If it is what you want though, it is certainly attainable with today's movement in the industry.

It would be easier if you had 1,000 hours. As a new CPL, you just didn't have enough experience to solidify the skills. If you were comfortable flying in 2002, it should come back eventually. Probably need to fly three times/week at least. More would be better.

Also.. if you're planning on working as a CFI, then you'll need the commercial maneuvers. If not, I'd skip those, just do stalls, steeps, and landings until you get comfortable, then on to IFR work.

Thanks Rickair. I do need to fly more than once a week, unfortunately my schedule just doesn't allow for it between work and kids. I honestly would rather not instruct, but my options are very limited with where we live. Even as a CFI I would still have to work a full time job and instruct on the side. There aren't enough students around here to keep a CFI busy full time unless I commute 1hr 20min. Thanks again for the reply!