Regionals and after a couple month on the line start hitting the job fairs.
Going ACMI (Atlas) your friend can retire as a wide body Captain.

 

Thanks, that’s definitely good food for thought and you’re probably right about not diving right into the deep end. As a follow-on question then, would the regionals be interested right off the bat, or would I need to do some work to be competitive for them?

Thanks again

 

Yeah what those guys said... regionals are in the business of training piston pilots, retreads, etc.

 

Before their last round of pay raises they were looking for 25-50hrs in the last 12 months. You’re a military pilot so can still upgrade in 500hrs which may peak their interest. Regionals, iAero, Atlas, Frontier all have some version of a RTP program for military so might be good starting points to look into.

 

Awesome, thanks a ton! This calms my nerves a bit for when I think about post-retirement plans.

 

Regionals will hire you in a heartbeat.

Since have crew transport category experience (moblity, MPRA, bombers) you might qualify as a direct entry regional CA, which will come with bonuses.

If you're legal for that, the regionals will probably try to steer you there since they are desperate. I would not accept a DEC position in your case, having never flown 121 and nothing recently that would be a bridge too far for most people... if you do make it on line you'd then be threading a fine line between getting fired for not completing missions vs getting violated by the FAA (or worse). There's just too much to learn and you won't get it all from manuals or IOE. You really want six months on line as an FO, or 300-500 hours IMO.

 

Just a curious question, how did you manage 10+ years out of the cockpit? Don’t have to answer, if it’s too personal

 

Rickair7777, Oh gosh, yeah I don’t think I’d want to go direct entry to captain. Maybe my opinion will change after I get recurrent but for know I think I’d be a frazzled mess for quite a while if I went straight to captain. Glad to know my experience would be in demand though.

Galaxy_flyer, in 2013 I was staring down a UAV assignment but at the last minute I got picked up to learn Russian and become a Foreign Area Officer, and the process of learning the language, going to grad school and getting through my first FAO assignment was 7 years(!). Then I asked for another FAO assignment so I could rejoin my spouse in DC - I honestly thought I was out of opportunities to fly again but now I’m hoping the airline situation stays the way it is and I can get back in the cockpit. But btw, how do you find airline flying as compared to AMC? I imagine it’s less exciting but comfier?

 

Look into skill bridge for your last year for both recency and civil flying experience. I know a couple folks that had been out of flying for a while use it to work for civilian flight school as instructors.

 

Hi MightyQ, I was in a similar situation and I’m now at a major. PM’d you and happy to chat.


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