If you have a pulse and an ATP there's one regional that will hire you over the phone without question.

 

I've been out of the industry also and wondering if I need to get a bfr. I have an atp three types and 4000 hours. A lot of people are telling me I won't get hired because I'm not current. Just curious

 

I don't think a BFR is going to help you, especially if they called you for an interview. Although, if the interview includes a sim evaluation, it would probably be worth the investment to get instrument current. (In an FTD.)

Where are you interviewing?

 

I think you could get scooped up with one of the bottom feeder regionals right now, via phone interview. Or get current and have your choice.

 

Oh boy, who is it? Most people are telling me that I won't get looked at because I'm not current. Getting some sim time but don't want to give up the cash for a bfr that I won't use. It will cost about one quarter of a type in an old learjet.

 

I have three scheduled no sim eval but getting the sim time anyway.

 

No he won't be on reserve forever. There will plenty of new hires joining the plane below him, and we are taking delivery 2-3 planes a month.

How do you know what the upgrade time will be? I have seen more movement in these last three months as SkyWest then I have seen in my three years here. We are technically a growing airline. We are taking on 40 new planes and we have bought 9 used ones this year to replace planes that had to go to the desert.

The first three rules of picking a regional 1. Don't Commute 2. Don't commute 3. Don't Commute and you could throw the 4th one in is maybe pick a regional that is growing if you can't comply with the first three.

 

I've commuted for my entire time at the regional level with a family. It was manageable and I hold commutable lines as long as they have them. The commute is horrid, and I cant wait to get a job where I can drive to work which may or may not be flying airplanes.

 

Mesa is the one doing phone interviews. Fire off an email with resume attached to [email protected] after you fill out the airlineapps.com application and see what you get for a response. I would hazard a guess that sim/instrument time is more valuable than a flight review in the airlines' eyes.

 

He needs to do what is best in the long run for him and his family and take the one year upgrade at CPZ. This is a very rare opportunity and he'll be a senior lineholder within months and if he wants to bypass upgrade for a while and 'pretend' he went to SKW then he can simply do that. Why not have the opportunity to upgrade? Who knows, CPZ might have a base in ORD someday anyway. Even if not, I think the seniority progression will cancel out the negatives of commuting. Upgrade is already just about to come down to ~14 months. People starting in the next 2-3 months will upgrade in 12 months if they want to.

Why on earth go to SKYW when this is available, with the class date right in front of him to boot?

The path to a major airline is not the right seat at a fee-for-departure airline for half a decade while a major hiring spree is ramping up. The family needs to understand this. There could very well be a million extra dollars made because of it; you never know with how the timing and periods of stagnation go in this industry.

He needs PIC time now, more than a single guy with no family does.