Getting lines that overnight in a particular city is an unrealistic approach to spending "more" time at home.

Yes. Schedules change and even destinations change.

Also if it's a typical 11-14 hour overnight, that's not much quality time at home after accounting for travel and sleep. Also if it involves a very late arrival or very early departure that can be disruptive for the fam unless unless maybe you have a separate guest suite. I won't even go home on some hometown overnights unless there's enough quality overlap with the fam to make up for any late/early disruption.

There are plenty of other metrics that you should be focused on when prioritizing airline employers.

Probably not but I'd apply anyway, at least to your top choices... the way hiring is trending we may be getting into uncharted territory with hiring practices. Get some professional interview prep asap, so you don't get caught unprepared for a unexpected interview call (they have been known to call people months prior to sep date).

If you have fighter time especially that might possibly happen this year. If the legacies are going to have to hire at 1500, they'd prefer mil anything over CFI's by a long shot.

Thanks for the input emersonbiguns and rickair7777, that's why I'm here. I don't have fighter time but 90% is multi-engine turbine if that helps. Am I able to submit applications without my ATP completed?

Read the instructions carefully, if they don't make an allowance I would be hesitant to apply prior to meeting mins. If in doubt, ask an interview prep consultant.

That's for majors, regionals will likely all entertain apps and also interview you prior to ATP mins as long as you can reasonably predict when you'll get the mins. Presumably you already have the mil 750 R-ATP mins?

I do. I should've clarified, I meant unrestricted ATP. I'll be starting the R-ATP process after I get back in May and start flying again.

Hey brother, welcome. Echoing what's already been said, don't base your career on overnight schedules. One thing that probably won't change are major hubs, i.e., Memphis and DFW. So, highly recommend you look at FedEx and AA. FedEx is a pretty nice place to be and I believe Little Rock to Memphis is just under a 2 hour drive so you could practically be living in base there, which is a heck of a setup with them. If you're really not into night flying, I'd go with AA. I realize DFW is more than twice as far, but even so, I know a lot of people that live 4-5 hours drive from base and just drive it if wx or whatever else gets in the way of their commute. I'd probably even look at UA over DL since Houston is closer than Atlanta, but again, that's assuming you want to stay in LIT.

If you don't mind night flying, start greasing the levers with anyone you know at FedEx because internal recs really matter there. They're pretty much the top destination right now for a lot of pilots; never have furloughed anyone, business is booming, upgrades on the 757 are about 3 years right now and you're only a 2 hour drive away.

Question for retiring military
 

Hello everyone. I am 17 years AD (non-aviation) and thinking about making my second career aviation. My biggest question is am I too late? Is it possible to start flight school at roughly 40 years old and still make a decent career at an airline?

My second question is should I go the collegiate route to maximize my GI bill benefits, or go to an accelerated flight school to skip the extra 4 years after retirement?

My wife is totally on board, as she always supports anything that I want to pursue. And she understands that the first few years will be of minimal pay and potentially low QOL, but I’d have to assume the QOL is better than what I currently have lol.

Apologies for stealing the thread but I am not able to create my own thread and when I searched I couldn’t find any related situations.

Thanks,
Ron

Ron,

See my responses in red above. Good luck with your choices. The civilian world offers an immense variety of great career options to pursue.

Tnkrdrvr,

Thanks for the reply. Your assumptions are correct, except I already have my B.S. but yes, I am an enlisted guy in a combat arms MOS.

While I wouldn’t mind being home every night, we are used to me being gone on a regular basis. The wife is aware of how my schedule would be while being low on the seniority list. To her all that matters is I am doing something I enjoy after 20 years of living the suck.

Would you recommend going to a flight school and getting into a regional as fast as possible or going the collegiate route and losing another couple years of seniority? We both work and have a somewhat decent nest egg so money isn’t technically an issue. But I hate the thought of losing more than half of my GI bill benefits by going to an accelerated flight school.

Thanks, Ron