rickair7777

Thread created on behalf of a new user.

flyguy0246

Thanks for the help Rick.

Hello guys and girls,

I currently am a 25 year old with about 1100 TT, built pretty much all of the time as a CFI/CFII. My ultimate career goal is to be a Part 121 pilot. I recently took a job at Cape Air, since I didn't see the regionals coming around for someone at the ATP mins for quite some time, and I have to admit, I was burnt out of instructing. Some of us just aren't born with the patience to teach primary students! The Cape Air gig seemed pretty decent. Until I upgrade, its a slight pay cut over my instructing job, but once I upgrade, it will be more pay than I was previously making, while being able to work less as well. I was also pretty low on multi time, and this job is all multi engine flying, albeit piston powered. Really the only downside to the job is a 15 month commitment beginning once I upgrade when the company gets me my ATP. All said and done, I should be finished with the commitment Winter of 2022.

With how quickly the vaccine has come around, and sensing the pent up demand for travel, I am starting to feel like I may have made a mistake. I know this career is all about luck and timing, and a lot of that is guesswork. Nothing I can really do about it at this point anyways, just wanted to hear others opinion on the matter. This may cause me to get to 121 flying later than if I stayed instructing, but also I may be competitive to go straight to an ULCC when I'm done my commitment. I don't have any checkride failures, and I have a 4 year degree as well. Curious to hear more experienced folks opinions/thoughts.

Thanks

iceman21

Too early to accurately speculate when the regionals will start legitimately hiring again. I think you make a good choice given the situation. Remember there are a couple of thousand who are still out of a job from doors closing.

We as a country are also going to have to pay the economic price for Covid-19 eventually. Make you money while you can.

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rickair7777

You can't always call it perfectly, and there's still a lot of uncertainty with covid. Normally I would say that if you're airline-bound, be wary of locking yourself into a contract which might hold you back from career progression but under the circumstances it's too hard to predict.

Good bet most of the regionals won't be paying for ATP's for a while, although even that's not certain.

How long to upgrade? If that's where the obligation starts, might as well sit tight and see how things look at that point. I expect we'll have a better idea by mid/late summer as vaccination closes in on herd immunity as to what the (domestic) airline recovery is going to look like.

flyinthrew

Is the training contract connected to the ATP-CTP? The ATP checkride? Is it prorated? What’s the total dollar amount? I think there is probably room to explore and analyze contingencies that involve either paying for whatever is causing the training contract or paying the prorated portion if something exciting comes along before winter ‘22.

And as others have said, nobody can call the top or bottom of any market. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get in on the bleeding edge of the recovery.

RustyChain

Apply. You don't have a decision to make unless you get a job offer. I'm sure if push comes to shove, you can buy out of the contract.

Excargodog

Absolutely correct. As a 25 year old you have 40 years of 121 flying ahead of you. Get the ME time you are short on as a SIC. By the time you are eligible to upgrade explore the options available THEN before you commit to upgrade. Right now you need HOURS with multi engine better than single engine and turbine better than piston. Even the ULCCs are going to want you to have ~3000 hours.

captive apple

The experience at cape air will be more valuable than you know. Unless you have a job offer from a regional in one hand and a training contract in the other I don’t see a problem here.

rickair7777

It's unclear at this time if the regionals care much about AMEL time. Maybe the market will drive competitive times back up to 200-300 ME, or maybe not. They might just stick with 25 hours and you get the rest in the sim.

But he can probably get a few hundred before he upgrades anyway.

galaxy flyer

At 1100 hours, concentrate on becoming the best pilot you can be—study everything, learn from captains, develop well-honed basic instrument skills; then and only then, worry about career progress. It’s a 40 year marathon, not a 2- year sprint.