AKNGPilot

There are a few guys I know hired by Endeavor and Compass that weren't current.

tikicarver

I'm in a similar place as you. Flew 121 for a bunch of years and then company went BK in 2008. Got a good job outside of flying because only flying jobs back then were overseas. I went to some job fairs recently and I basically got the same answer from all the big boys, "your resume is great, but you are not current" (even though I never stopped flying GA stuff.) They said I need to go fly at a regional for awhile to be competitive. They tell guys out of the military that are not current the same thing. Then I talked to the people at the regional booths. Got a mixed bag there. Some said , ya no problem apply here. A few said, well you are not current. When I asked them who is a better candidate, a 1500 hr CFI or someone like me with years of 121 experience? They responded that they would be worried that I might not make it through training. I told them the risk is on me to get through training, I'm quitting a good job to do this, so don't you think I'm going to put 110% into training. They have no answer to that. So I figure i don't want to work for a company with that mentality. There are many of them that do value pilots with experiencing and are happy to have you.
So like others said, find one that fits your life. Live in domicile will make QOL 100% better. I did commute a little in the past, at best it adds 1 day to each trip, so more time away from home.

ClickClickBoom

You chose to have kids, now man up and be a father. SKYPE is no way to raise your kids. Even living in base you will be doing 4 day trips until you are senior enough to hold locals. Your kids need a father, not some selfish, chasing "his" dream absentee. Sorry, I fly with guys who are wrapped around the axle about their kids. A few months ago I was flying with a guy who's 14 year old daughter announced she was sexually active, needless to say the entire 4 day was about kids.
When your kids are launched, this industry will still be here, chewing up families and generating baskets of money for divorce lawyers in every state.

aviator493

When did eaglefly become stratapilot???


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sky jet

Tikicarver, what 2008 failed airline? If you can get even remotely current there are plenty of ex ATA, Midwest and Aloha refugees at Kalitta. Hit up your friends and you could go there, get back in the saddle and if you are young enough be at a major within a year.

FirstClass

Buy the sportys bfr DVD and then get a bfr in a 172. That's all you need to get hired at a regional of your choice.

03sport007

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies.

My question was more advice on how to get current and how "current" do I need to be to get hired.

Thanks again and good luck to all.

FirstClass

LOL that's horrible advice.

tikicarver

Ya I know a few there and at Atlas/Southern. But after reading a bunch on the cargo threads, a yr at a regional living in base sounds way better.

hindsight2020

You have to address the issue that drove the departure in the first place. If a 10-yr regional CA in 2007 couldn't establish a work-life construct that empowered him to have the lifestyle he needed to be part and parcel of his children's upbringing, how in the heck is that going to be different as a first year regiona FO in 2016, considering the dramatic paycut over his current 9-5 job and the schedule downgrade he'd take compared to 10-yr CA? Are the kids completely out the house and college no longer an issue? Because if they're merely teenager, ruh roh, this doesn't sound like a reasonable proposition.

It's not the regionals you have to worry about, it's having to explain it to a major airline interview. I know mil friends of mine who went and got froggy and got a job at a regional and dumped it 6 months later citing economic and QOL duress. Now when they go to a major airline they're gonna have a tough time explaining away that bonehead move. It's just bad business if you ever want to make a lucrative retirement-worthy living in part 121, to be flippant about short lived stints at the lower rungs.

BTW, I reject the idea that being an airline pilot makes people bad fathers. But I do agree that it requires a concerted choice to make your family a priority over flying, and that means making career choices within flying that might give up money in order to have the requisite amount of time flexibility to accomplish a suitable role as a father figure. Other traveling jobs have that opportunity cost embedded, this is not unique to airline pilots.

Hate parroting the obvious, but don't air-commute, and certainly don't transcon commute. It's almost flippant advice itself, but it truly makes or breaks this occupation. For a regional, that's even more true.