Back in the day that used to go pretty senior. Not sure about lately.

I think the real question the OP is asking is it it possible to be home most nights as a junior pilot. The answer is no at most airlines, but maybe not all.

Yes, that’s exactly what I was wondering about too… Thank you for the information! Then I guess biggest question is - which ones are those (perhaps few) airlines that would allow a junior pilot to be home most nights?

Horizon has airport reserve. It is available right out of the gate and you’re home almost every night. Senior folks bid for it to be home. People also use it if doing online college, stuff like that. You hardly ever fly.

If you actually want to fly a line though you won’t see many trips less than 3 or 4 days.

Thank you for the information! That’s exactly what I was wondering about.

Being home most nights and being an airline pilot are not usually synonymous, especially when junior. At some point you’re going to have to bite the bullet and deal with being gone 12-16 nights per month and have an honest conversation with yourself about whether or not you and your family can handle that.

Allegiant is one of the few airlines that do mainly out and backs, but if you’re just barely qualified for a regional then I’m not sure they would look at you. Most places have majority 3-4 day trips, so I don’t think you’re going to be able to totally avoid that. May want to base your regional selection criteria on different factors if that is unavoidable, because those other factors may be important to your family (schools, safety, cost of living, etc).

Hopefully you find something compatible with you and your family. Best of luck.

Yes, thank you so much! Yeah, my family and I completely understand - traveling and being away from home comes with the job. That’s fine, it’s unavoidable. I am just trying to figure out ways to keep spending the nights away from home to a minimum. We would even be moving to wherever I end up being based.

If I could choose my perfect schedule, I’d prefer to only be away from home 2 nights per week. Even 3 nights per week is alright really - especially if it is not 3 nights in a row. But I really don’t want to be away from home more than 12 nights per month. So I’m just trying to figure out the regional airlines that would be most likely offer that.

From what I’ve been reading, Piedmont and Mesa don’t seem to be good for that. PSA, SkyWest, Horizon, and CommutAir better. Not sure how accurate all that is though? And don’t know about Envoy and AirWisconsin at all, to be honest.

The only pilot hiring Horizon plans to do in the next 18 months is two pilot development cadets per month while they park all their Q400s, half their fleet. Their management would rather shrink and go to an all E175 fleet than compete for pilots. If you aren’t already in Horizon’s pilot development program I would scratch them off your list.

MIAMIA,

Last I checked Silver Airways is home every night or close to it. Not sure if it’s still the same, but for a long time that’s how it was. You’d be flying ATRs and or another turboprop. Pay was terrible, but they got a TA/ new contract that greatly improved it in the recent past. If you are dead set on being home more than away you may want to consider options other than 121.

There are many flying jobs in 135 where you are guaranteed to be home for the most part. Some of those options are medevac, feeder cargo, and others. Only thing about the 135 side is there is a much greater variance between what is considered a good company and what’s not. You need to do due diligence before accepting an offer. If a company pushes a training contract your way, consider if that’s something you really want to do. It isn’t always a red flag, but unfortunately many times is. These are not uncommon on the 135 side even up to now.

Bottom line is that the most prestigious, highly sought after, and best paying jobs in the flying part of this industry are 121 major px and cargo. You will likely be gone 30-50 percent depending on a variety of factors, especially when junior. YMMV but that appears to be the overall situation from my point of view. Best of luck.



Edit: Silver appears to be sticking with their traditional home most night schedules. Pay is also livable.

https://www.silverairways.com/careers

Thank you so much for the info! I’m going to look into 135 and Silver for sure. Even if I have to be gone around 8-12 nights per month - that’s okay. I just really want to make it is not end up being more than that.

If you live in base at any regional and do 4 4-day trips in a month you’d be looking at 12 nights. With a little seniority you could do better than that.