Bjerkely

I have two years left before I can pop smoke as a fresh 0-4. I currently have 1100TT (650 king air, 450 rotary) and plan on having approximately 1500 before I am done. I currently meet all requirements for a perceived immediate hire at whatever regional I decide on (FW time, FW PIC, etc.) I am leaning towards Envoy as they are close to a nearby reserve unit at DFW to minimize commuting if able (understanding I will likely have to, at least initially).

My preferred plan is to work for a reserve unit in conjunction with a regional to create a safety net and not throw away my 10+ years of service. I may do a few months of contract work in between transition and beginning with the regional to pad my wallet for the pay cut to come.

With 500 of my FWPIC hours able to count towards part 121 requirements I anticipate a quick upgrade to Captain (despite the upgrade time with most regionals being quick anyways from everything I have been reading on these forums). After two years with the regionals I anticipate having 3000-3500 hours depending on my luck, or lack thereof, with reserve. At this point I will obviously be hoping to start becoming competitive for a legacy, ideally AA for the reasons stated above.

My hope, and reason for this thread, is that I will be competitive for the majors after 2-3 years with a regional. I have been reading about a lot of discontent amongst the Envoy and other regional pilots about concerns over their flow through taking much longer than advertised. While I expect to have to pay my dues I am assuming (maybe wrongly?) that my military experience will give me a leg up to be a direct hire much faster with AA, or another legacy, as opposed to counting on a flow through. The flow through with Envoy is nice and all, but I don’t have any intention of waiting 6-8-10 years for my number to be called that way.

Short version of my plan, best-case scenario:

- In two years, pop smoke having lined up a few months of contract work to create a savings buffer

- Get on with a reserve unit near DFW at time of separation

- Prepo my apps to the regionals to have a class date soon after my contract work is completed

- Live the regional life with military flying sprinkled in to build time to be competitive for the majors

- Get hired by the majors, Yahtzee.

My plan, to me at least, seems pretty feasible, with the only true unknown being how long I may expect to be at a regional before a likely pickup by a legacy, which is where I come to you all for your input. Please feel free to poo poo on my plan or offer insights on any of my incorrect assumptions. I was going to post this on the Envoy forums but I sensed that I would get a bit of disinformation from non-military pilots. Thank you for your feedback.

rickair7777

The AA flow seems to be a very decent plan B. But any winged military type should be able to apply off the street and get hired long before they flow. Don't get too focused on AA, if it doesn't come through for some reason, you might have wasted time that could have been seniority at another big-4 airline. I would not pass up any big-4 based on the location of your reserve gig unless you need that job to make O7... and really want to be an O7 bad.

Also, while it would be easy for you to get a non-flying reserve job, flying jobs are harder to come by, I wouldn't automatically assume you'll get any particular one unless you have an in and are familiar with that unit.