Wingnut64

Howdy all,

Today I got a call to interview with a national carrier. That made me think of a question, so I'll pose it to this group:

I'm a 6-month Captain at a regional, with 4 years of 121 and I'm a retired Army helo guy with 6500+ total time, 3700+ turbine PIC, but only about 2400 total FW. As far as improving my chances at getting an interview at a Legacy / Major airline--am I better off staying at my current regional job and building 121 PIC or taking a job with a smaller national in order to get some full-size FW time, i.e.--Airbus or 737?

Other considerations...I've only been at my current job just over 1 year. If I left for a Sun Country, Spirit, Frontier, etc. type of job and then immediately continued applying to Majors / Legacy carriers, would that actually look bad to the recruiters?

Sorry for the long post. There are so many angles to consider.

Looking forward to your replies.

rickair7777

Anecdotal evidence says stay put. If you had 3K-4K+ 121 TPIC, might be a different story.

The benefit of staying put is that you'll accumulate 121 TPIC, which is still the single most reliable predictor.

The benefit of moving is really just another type rating. Might be worth doing after you get some more TPIC.

Of course if the bigs don't call soon, it might make sense to go to an LCC and reserve your seniority somewhere that offers a living wage. But I think you should finish the hand you're playing now, see what more TPIC does for you.

I'm assuming you don't, but if you have any background glitches which would be problematic for the top-tier, then you might want to just go now.


I think they'd be fine with that, at least the top-tier big six. It's not like there's really any place to go from there so they don't expect their new hires to leave... unless you have an app in at NASA or something.

Mid-tier, like jetblue might worry that you'd move again.

viper548

With a military background your times look competitive. I would base your decision to move on or not on which airline you'd rather work for if for some reason you're stuck there for the next several years. If you're already a captain, it may be a paycut for several years going to some of those companies. Be sure and look at the entire picture though. When you add in the 401k, work rules, etc. going to the national company is probably better than just the pay rates. Personally, I'd make the move in hopes that a recent training event will get you a good look from one of the majors.

rickair7777

Word on the streets is that Army helo guys, who didn't get FW UPT training, may get treated more like civilian track pilots than mil FW pilots. He might need the TPIC, but other army people probably have the best insight on that.

Bozo the pilot

Get out of the regionals immediately unless there is a flow in place.
A 320 type rating is more valuable than any time spent at a regional.
Plenty of first officers from LCCs getting hired at the legacies and you have a solid resume.
Tpic isnt what it once was, so move up while you have the chance. If the economy tanks, youll at least be stuck at a better job.
Pm me if you want and good luck whatever you choose.
Bz

BarrySeal

To add to the discussion but not throw it off course


I live in Dallas. Various mentors told me I need the "121 block" and jet time checked for majors to consider me competitive. I am 2000 Turboprop PIC, ATP, 6000 TT, corporate background, 4-year, yada yada.



Questions

1. Go to Envoy (has a flow program), and accomplish above, and eventually try to get Dallas Envoy base, and apply to majors. AA as "external" preferred but "back up plan" is flow to AA
2. Go to Frontier (no Dallas base), Spirit (yes Dallas base), Atlas (commute to the plane) and get "big airplane time" and also check 121 box

Otterbox

Spirit
Envoy
Atlas
Frontier

In that order.

We can debate the merits of a lower paid regional with 11 year flow vs a LCC that now pays decently well but you’ll make just about as much at Envoy flying RJs early on with the bonuses as you would with Atlas flying 74s international and it would keep you home in Dallas longer term.

rickair7777

This is what I expected a few years ago. I expected the bigs would prefer to raid their LCC competitors' pilots rather than shoot themselves in the foot by robbing their own feeders.

But it is not what I have observed or heard lately. TPIC still seems to be the gold standard for most, although I'm convinced they randomly select a handful of lucky winners from the low-time FO ranks just to keep hope alive and encourage interest in the regionals. One 2500 hour RJ getting hired at DAL will make 1,000 RJ FO's think they'll be up next.

Maybe the bigs think people will flock to the jobs which lead to jobs at the big six... and they don't want people flocking to LCC's.