Regional or Sim Instructor
 

I have a bit of a specific question, I am quickly approaching my availability date and last date in the service. Unfortunately I have not received an offer from any majors yet and am working on finding another job while I continue to build time and apply to the majors. I do however have a job offer to a regional airline and a sim instructing job teaching in my former platform. I will also be serving in a reserve unit that I was fortunate enough to be accepted into. My question is, should I go and work for the regional to gain 121 experience and spend time away from my family, or should I accept the sim instructor job and dedicate my time to instructing and my reserve job while I continue applying to the majors? Below are my specifics for my experience. I greatly appreciate any advice or help.

Fighter Background
Weapon School Graduate
1848 Total
1517 PIC
1388 MEL
507 Instructor
Safety Officer and Training Officer in my former squadron

If you want to work for the majors, part 121 experience will do more for your application/resume than being a civilian military sim instructor.

If you don’t want to/can’t spend time away from your family, you may want to consider withdrawing your applications from the airlines all together and stick with the sim instructor/reservist gig full time. I know someone who went to the majors, couldn’t make the away time from family work and left the majors to become a UPT sim instructor full time and is happier for it.

Sim instructing won't get you the time you need. Go to a regional

DMV CO,
Regional shows commitment and willingness to learn 121 commercial operations. HR perspective at every airline you likely want to end up: Staying inside your fence line shows lack of willingness to learn.

Airlines like to see you can get through a new aircraft and adapt to the commercial operational environment.
Go regional and start your new career to the final destination.
Best fortune.

Why not do both? If you earn more “points” towards military retirement, would that not help your piece of mind?

It will probably take a while in the guard to build enough additional flight time to change your app scoring (unless you happen to be ten hours short of the magic number). Sim time won't help with that.

Regional will get your time up faster, with type rating and 121 tickets punched as well. A guy like you will *typically* spend less than a year at a regional.

Re: Sim instructor
 

Sim instructing gets old really quick. Imagine sitting in a dark box four hours a day watching the same thing everyday. A Regional is no cakewalk either!

I’ve known different guys who have gone with both of your scenarios. All fighter guys (but flying T38’s), all got jobs with a major eventually. The guy that went to a regional was pretty low time, about 1500 hours. He spent just over a year there and then got 4 major offers (not interviews but CJO’s). The two I know that went the sim route actually got hired quicker, but I don’t know their TT. None were WIC grads. To me that ought to hold a lot of weight, but I’m not the King of hiring.

Try to get over 2k hours either way, as I think that looks better.

121

Sim instructor does almost nothing for your pilot resume.

Regional. It may not be fighters but it's still flying. And as has been said previously, 121 time is what you want if you really do want the majors at some point.