I think you have a good attitude about the whole process. Get your time, get a tough CFI to beat you up in the airplane, maybe pursue another rating, and then apply to the regionals. One of the most heartbreaking things for me as an instructor is to see a new hire that I know could make it through if they had another few hundred hours but we simply don’t have the resources to give that to someone in the sim.

Ask around for someone who needs time to be your safety pilot. You can help him/her and they can help you. You can perhaps alternate seats and split fuel with one always under the hood.

Yeah, no amount of effort in training can make up for lack of recency unless you're a natural yeager (some are, most aren't).

I just flew with a OO Newhire. 62 and he just got awarded upgrade. He did come with experience....

Congrats on the career change. I always liked flying with the second career folks at Republic because they seemed to really enjoy/appreciate the job. I’ll second the get good and instrument current and add try to fly something with a complex flight guidance panel and autopilot. As far as regionals go I really enjoyed my 8 yrs at republic. Quality of life was too notch. I’ve heard similar about Skywest as well.

Thanks; I appreciate the positivity.

I'll be getting plenty of current IFR practice (including modern glass avionics and autopilot) once my new RV flies later this fall. That, plus some quality Redbird time will hopefully see me through interviews and training.

The more I hear about Republic and SkyWest, the more they solidify as my two top choices.

You want a guidance panel and an auto pilot. Are you purchasing your own DA 40? I think that’s what it’s going to take and the last guy I knew who bought one spent 165K. And he didn’t even get the air conditioning option. Which was particularly uncomfortable going to Key West in July. And that was a 2006 model so I’m not sure what they go for now? He was so clueless he had his maintenance manuals sitting in the backseat of the aircraft. I told him to get them out of there and put them in a safe place.

No, I'm building an RV-14A. Yes, it has a guidance panel (LNAV, VNAV, et al.) driving a 3-axis autopilot. Dual G3X screens, GTN750 GPS/Nav/Comm, G5 backup, etc. Very well-equipped and all glass.

I have a bit more than that in it before paint. :)

I don’t doubt you my brother had an RV6-A. Very equipped with avionics and cost a fortune in maintenance and got rid of it in three months. I told him not to buy it from day one. He just rents from the local flying club now.

I'm sorry to hear that he had such a poor experience; sounds as though he didn't get a competent pre-buy and got stuck with a rare bad one. He should've gotten involved with the local RV builder's/owner's group. They're everywhere and would have been a huge help to him.

This is the second RV I've built, so I'm well acquainted with the type and its relatively few peculiarities. I hold the Repairman's certificate for my RVs and do all of my own maintenance.

Here's a pic of my old RV-8:

https://kenbalch.com/wp-content/uplo...048355931.jpeg

The panel of my new RV-14A during bench testing:

https://kenbalch.com/wp-content/uplo...9880507385.jpg