Every Regional Pilot question answered 2022
 

The answer: nobody knows

How long to hold a line. How long to upgrade. How long to get X base on Y equipment.

No. Body. Knows.

I get you are curious. I get you are a Type A planner. But the current data is representative of what happens in a 100 year pandemic, not what will happen after you get hired.

And current major hiring is calling even the continued existence of many airlines into question.

Welcome to the industry. Make the best choices you can. But no one can give you any useful prognostic information right now about timelines.

Every bit of this is true.

The attrition at some of the regionals is currently higher than it has ever been. The hiring at the legacies has set records in the last 2 months. There is more movement right now in the industry than any time in the last 20 years.

Major airlines are dropping their requirements to get enough candidates to fill classes. And it is only November. It really hasn't even started yet.

Right now, there is absolutely no way to tell which regional airline would be best for you in terms of upgrade and upward mobility. There are some really bad choices (avoid 50 seat airplanes for United, for instance), but no one has a crystal ball. You could choose somewhere with what appears to have the fastest training and upgrades, and they could completely fall apart operationally in the next 2 months and upend everything. All it takes is a handful of key pilots to leave (check airmen, managers, training department) and everything can get delayed.

One thing is for sure, if you are already at a regional, make sure your application is in and update it at least every other week. Even as a new hire FO, get that app in.

Make yourself as "attractive" as possible to the majors and be ready to go when you get your chance. With hundreds getting hired weekly, don't lose out on a LOT of seniority.

Here's the thing....I don't care about upgrade. I don't care of QoL. I'll live anywhere. I want the regional that will give me the most flight hours. That's all that matters. I want the most hours each month. I'll get to the other places I'm trying to go on my own whenever I get there. Which regional will allow me to come off/ skip reserve quickest and start building flight time?

Many of you were military. I'm keeping a bit of that mentality for this. I understand that you can eat your cake and have it too at certain regionals that provide better benefits, better time off schedules, etc. I'm going for the trenches. Fly when I'm on the schedule. Volunteer to fly on days off. I exist to do two things; chew bubblegum and fly aircraft. But where will I get the best opportunity?

Upgrade should be the number one priority for anybody starting out in the industry, not flight hours. But then again the quicker you accumulate flight hours the quicker you will be eligible to upgrade. Whoever is mentoring you right now, fire them.

“Most flight hours” and “don’t care about upgrade” don’t really mesh. Why do you want flight hours? After awhile right seat 121 time has diminishing returns on your resume.

You answered it didn't you? I don't care about upgrade opportunities at whatever company I'm at. But flight hours...that gives me the ability to put in the apps to the companies that I am interested at that I'd actually like to enjoy QoL, pay, etc at. The hours give me the ability to pursue who I'd actually like to work for. And it allows me to be competitive with company x, y, z that much sooner if I build my hours that much sooner. Is any of that not true?

Don't most major carriers want 1000-1500 hours? I'm personally not going to reach those FW hours without flying for a regional. The sooner that I reach those hours, the sooner those positions are an option. I'm not debating the value of PIC vs SIC time. One is obviously better than the other. But when applying for a job who says 1000 hours required, did I win the day as a 800 hour CPT vs a 1100 hour FO? I am, as the name says, a New Guy. So please, educate me if I'm wrong. Seriously. I thought time was king. If going CPT is sexier than hours, ok. I wasn't tracking that.

Unless you’re like the CEO’s son or something you can just toss the minimum hours for legacy carriers out the window. Those are the absolute bare minimum they will hire, your odds of getting hired at those hours are very low. Captain time is more valuable than FO time, and LCA time is more valuable than captain time. It is rare (although not impossible by any means) to get hired without any PIC time.

Dude...... I am at a loss for words...... find a mentor quick.......

Will do. I clearly have a poor understanding of this arena. Thank you for the advice.