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Must commute: 121 Regional or 135 Home Based?

Old 06-29-2022, 03:18 PM
  #1  
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Default Must commute: 121 Regional or 135 Home Based?

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!
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Old 06-29-2022, 04:47 PM
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Retirements are moving along and won't last forever. If your goal is a top-tier major you need to get there as soon as possible so you don't miss out on the wave. You should probably plan on needing some turbine PIC, so make sure you understand the upgrade landscape at a frac or 135. Almost all regionals should have fast upgrade except maybe QX.

Shoot for jet PIC... are people getting hired with turbo prop PIC or no PIC? Yes. Is that the majority? No. Might you get lucky? Yes. Should you bank on getting lucky? No.

Getting a top tier job while there's still a lot of retirements ahead will set you up for the good life. That's worth some short-term pain... I'd probably suck up the commute.

Five daily flights sounds OK, but the devil is in the details... need to tell us which airports and maybe a C5 person can weigh in with specifics.

If you're cool with a second-tier/LCC job, that's still a good life and they can't be picky right now as to what kind of turbine time you have. If you'd like to live in a junior LCC base, that tilts the scales in that direction. If you're young, you should probably chase top-tier. If you're older, it doesn't matter as much financially.
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Old 06-29-2022, 07:59 PM
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Appreciate the info.

I'm not super young but also not super old. 32, no kids, so embracing some suck would be doable. I'm almost exactly in the middle between Mobile and Pensacola. Base I would be looking at is IAH. Pensacola looks to have 3 flights, one mainline United, two C5, and occasionally a 4th is added in on Mesa (at least what I'm seeing on Flight Aware). There's also one Southwest flight to HOU. Mobile just has two C5 flights, and same story with Gulfport and Panama City. In your experience is that something that would be doable?

There are some other regionals in the area. Endeavor would have been a no brainer with positive space commuting, but looks like that's coming to an end soon. Envoy and PSA have a decent presence so I should probably look at them, although a buddy of mine is hearing rumblings of interviews and class dates getting pushed back at the AA W/Os for 1500 hour wonders as they try and prioritize the influx of prior 121 they're now getting.

Top tier major is the goal, although I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at an LCC if the base fit. I also am prior mil (non-flying) so I've been attracted to some of the federal flying jobs that are out there (FAA Flight Check, etc...), but I think with any of those options 121 jet time (and PIC) is going to be the best resume booster. With that being said, I don't want to launch myself into a nearly impossible commute or absolutely zero quality of life if I don't have to.
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Old 06-29-2022, 09:33 PM
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PNS might be tough, student naval aviators tend to meet local girls there and marry them, and then the wife wants to return home after the Navy. So that town might have more than it's fair share of commuters.
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Old 06-30-2022, 06:00 AM
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Go to Envoy, DFW base. Own metal commute both from PNS and MOB, and AAs non-rev system is much more predictable with time of check-in priority and WO's share priority with mainline pilots.
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Old 07-04-2022, 11:13 AM
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Originally Posted by rickair7777 View Post
PNS might be tough, student naval aviators tend to meet local girls there and marry them, and then the wife wants to return home after the Navy. So that town might have more than it's fair share of commuters.
Does own metal help mitigate that some?

To the other poster, I’ve looked at Envoy but it seems the mass influx they’ve had in applications is putting a big delay into class starts. C5 can get you on line in a much shorter amount of time.
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Old 07-04-2022, 11:34 AM
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Originally Posted by kaputt View Post
Endeavor would have been a no brainer with positive space commuting, but looks like that's coming to an end soon.
Say what? Can you cite a source?
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Old 07-04-2022, 11:37 AM
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Originally Posted by SonicFlyer View Post
Say what? Can you cite a source?
I asked on the Endeavor forum. The benefit expires in October of this year, and it’s tied to Delta keeping it, and it appears Delta is not going to be extending it past October.
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Old 07-04-2022, 03:29 PM
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Originally Posted by kaputt View Post
Does own metal help mitigate that some?
Yes, own metal helps especially since most mil guys are at majors and you'd have JS priority over them.

Next best is the major brand(s) that your regional is affiliated, you'd get higher priority than non-affiliated airlines.
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Old 07-04-2022, 07:25 PM
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Originally Posted by kaputt View Post
I asked on the Endeavor forum. The benefit expires in October of this year, and it’s tied to Delta keeping it, and it appears Delta is not going to be extending it past October.
I'm not doubting what you read, but I find it hard to believe DL would allow that to expire. Maybe I'm missing something, but that would really be problematic for nearly half of their pilots. How are people going to get to work? And it would seem that move would make the commute even more miserable thus giving an even greater incentive for people to find another place to work.
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