38y/o, bold career move, need some guidance
#11
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2015
Position: DHC-8 CA
Posts: 462
#12
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2014
Position: B747 FO
Posts: 610
Hey all. I am 38yrs old and finally starting the career I should have been in from the beginning. I will have my commercial with nearly 300hrs by end of April, 2020, then moving to ME, CFI, etc, etc. I have a 4yr Aviation degree from a credited university. I have been researching preliminary regional carriers for some time now and there is so much info out there that it is hard to know when to start applying for conditional offers and know the right route to take. I live in FLA and need to remain here for at least another 8 or 9 years so I will be commuting. Any advice would be great as far as carriers to look into, etc. or just good solid info. Many thanks in advance look forward to some great insight, thanks.
I live in FL as well, in Port Saint Lucie, i commute to Chicago O'Hare, mainly using AA or Spirit out of FLL or AA from PBI.
When i was in the same situation i decided to go with SkyWest Airlines, mainly due to the fact that all my friends where there and they were happy and the fact that my college had a path to OO with an on campus recruiter.
Had i been diligent i would probably have gone with Envoy, since my end goal is AA out MIA. Hopefully i can reach that goal from OO. Only time will tell.
If you want to stay in FL, you can either go with Envoy, Republic och Silver. Envoy and Republic are very senior in FL and Silvers compensation is not the greatest.
You still have other options that are close by, SkyWest and Endeavor have Atlanta bases, or you can commute to Charlotte, Raleigh or Greensboro.
I love being based in Chicago and have found the commute to be much less stressful than anticipated. I spent one year in Detroit and getting there from Florida was extremely hard since i had to 2-leg it through Atlanta. And Atlanta i hell on earth on a good day, so when you are trying to get to work, it's worse...
Good luck with your endeavors.
#13
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2018
Posts: 259
A relatively recent change and not sure how long it will stay this way, but new hires are currently getting MIA at Republic.
#14
New Hire
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Feb 2020
Posts: 7
#16
That said, avoid it if you can. I was willing to do it while building experience, but my ultimate goal was to drive to work at my career-destination job. IMO, that's more important than shorter-term regional considerations.
#17
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2017
Posts: 3,656
I have heard the easiest commute for a Miami based Envoy pilot is LGA, so assuming you got on the 145 that would be where I would plan to be for the forceable future at Envoy. Best of luck to you.
#18
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2019
Posts: 200
Hey all. I am 38yrs old and finally starting the career I should have been in from the beginning. I will have my commercial with nearly 300hrs by end of April, 2020, then moving to ME, CFI, etc, etc. I have a 4yr Aviation degree from a credited university. I have been researching preliminary regional carriers for some time now and there is so much info out there that it is hard to know when to start applying for conditional offers and know the right route to take. I live in FLA and need to remain here for at least another 8 or 9 years so I will be commuting. Any advice would be great as far as carriers to look into, etc. or just good solid info. Many thanks in advance look forward to some great insight, thanks.
#19
On Reserve
Joined APC: Jan 2020
Posts: 21
I am also in aviation as a second career. I live in Florida as well, so I have been looking for an end game legacy or ULCC to end up with decent seniority. Frontier is poised to grow double its current size, with bases in Orlando and Miami. It also has significant operations out of Tampa which is a possible future domicile. Acquiring hiring mins to these major carriers from any regional and then getting your apps out should be your target for settling back in to Florida with less commuting in the long run.
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#20
Retirements are far more reliable.
Caution. Plenty of major pilots have been holding their breath for years for certain bases to open. An actual base that you know you can drive/commute to should be the goal. If your hometown does become a base, even better.
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