You might be able to get calls from some airlines without flying in the last 18 months, but you're always going to have to get over the hurdle of not having flown in a year and a half. Show them that you made an effort to ensure you can still fly a plane and you're going to make it 20 times easier on yourself to get past that.

My advice, get a flight review and an IPC, and if you need a few extra flights with a CFI to get those done, then do it. The airlines don't want to step into questionable territory if they don't need to, so your app would likely be thrown to the bottom of the pile if you don't have any flight time recently.

You’re getting good advice here. A guy in my class hadn’t flown since February of 2020 and thought he would wing it. Sure enough, he ended up being the weakest person. Failed his oral, failed his LOE and needed several extra sim sessions along the way. He’s going to be here for a while now. If you have any hopes of moving on, shaking the rust off is the single easiest thing you can do for yourself right now. Training can be hard enough even when you’re current. Plan accordingly.

Agreed, thanks very much for the thoughts guys

^^^^ What those guys said. Don't take 121 training for granted, *especially* if it's your first rodeo.

You'd be surprised at what basic skills you lose after not flying for a while, and one year+ is definitely going to make it rough. BTDT.

I’d definitely follow their advice and try to build up some recent experience again. The airlines will want to see you took the effort to get current again. Good luck!

im with the “do you have a 1st class medical?” crowd

But put another way “hire them all, let indoc sort it out”. You want to be current, for you.

Agreed 100%. The OP question, was not “is it smart to go to a 121 training program not having touched an airplane in 12 months” it was “can I get a class date?“

I would say don’t give up potential seniority to get every single duck in a row. One class date worth of seniority can make a huge difference, just ask all the COVID furloughees.

You’ve got a few weeks between the call and start date to get current, knock the rust off and start studying. Base it on your comfort level, but don’t hold back an app right now to try and make sure you have everything you think they need. Just one guy’s opinion. It’s a pilot’s job market again, especially on the regional side of the house.

Nobody advocated for him to not take his first. Lass date. Folks are suggesting to just show up to training current

Everyone is saying get current.

One way to do that is with a good sim. A lot of flight schools offer monthly rates. You could prob pay a couple hundred bucks and have a months worth of unlimited Redbird time to get confident with approaches, flows, checklists, approach plates and briefings, emergencies and failed instruments….

you’ll be flying a sim during training so the sim environment might be better once you do a couple currency flights in an actual plane

That’s great advice. Saves money, can always stop the sim and go back on weak areas, substantially more time to practice, less stressful environment should allow for the training to be retained faster/easier.

This gets my vote.