Must commute: 121 Regional or 135 Home Based?
08-09-2022, 03:41 PM
#12
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2008
Posts: 144
Originally Posted by kaputt
Just passing 1,000 hours right now as a CFI so I'm at about the time to start planning my next career move. However, I have one situation that is going to maybe dictate which direction I go. I moved a pretty far way for my current CFI gig to actually get decent hours and pay from a crappy Part 61 gig I was doing. Wife was supportive and she got a good job at a hospital with a sign on bonus and a contract in our new area. Unfortunately, the new area is really not near any airline bases, even within a few hours driving distance (closet is 5 hours). I'm getting about 100 hours a month so I will be at regional mins well before we are due for a possible move again. As such, I'm trying to decide if I should be leaning towards doing the regionals and commuting or maybe one of the Part 135/Fractional type companies with home basing.
As I mentioned, I'm not near any major airports. I live in between two Class C airports (50 minutes to each), and the regional that actually has the most direct flights to a junior base is CommutAir. At one of the airports there are 3 daily flights to/from the junior base with 2 on C5 metal. The other class C airport has two flights to the base, with both flights being on C5 jets. There are also two airports a little further out that both also have two daily flights on C5 metal to the base. Is this a commute that would be possible or should I be looking into home based flying jobs since right now we can't move from where we are? We might be okay moving in about a year once my wife's contract is up with her current gig. There are other regionals serving the airports as well but most have flights to more senior bases that may take some time to hold, even in the current environment.
I would definitely prefer to go 121 regionals over something like a WheelsUp King Air SIC home base position (or similar), but I'm trying to gauge if that regional commute would be possible, even if for what is a relatively short time.
Appreciate any insight!
As I mentioned, I'm not near any major airports. I live in between two Class C airports (50 minutes to each), and the regional that actually has the most direct flights to a junior base is CommutAir. At one of the airports there are 3 daily flights to/from the junior base with 2 on C5 metal. The other class C airport has two flights to the base, with both flights being on C5 jets. There are also two airports a little further out that both also have two daily flights on C5 metal to the base. Is this a commute that would be possible or should I be looking into home based flying jobs since right now we can't move from where we are? We might be okay moving in about a year once my wife's contract is up with her current gig. There are other regionals serving the airports as well but most have flights to more senior bases that may take some time to hold, even in the current environment.
I would definitely prefer to go 121 regionals over something like a WheelsUp King Air SIC home base position (or similar), but I'm trying to gauge if that regional commute would be possible, even if for what is a relatively short time.
Appreciate any insight!
Part 135 home base schedule is 8/6 or 15/13 or something close so only commute few times a month and they buy you ticket, and you know your schedule for a year. Negative side is if you international or on west coast and live east coast may not make it on go home day, but they usually pay you extra day. 135 also leaves a lot to be desired if anything Net Jets would be best option regarding how they treat you mx issues and they are looking for younger pilots.
if your goal is a major bite the bullet seniority is paramount.
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