Originally Posted by c402fr8er

It is time to be brutally honest with yourself. And I mean brutally. What was your background before 121, how well prepared did you feel as you started IOE, and how much time have you spent preparing yourself for upgrade?

I did 4 years as a check pilot at a regional with a DEC program. It was very rare that I saw someone come in to a new airplane, new airline and new seat succeed. Even ones that were upgrading for the first time into the same type struggled mightily. The very few that excelled were from the previous “generation” where fast upgrade wasn’t a thing and had thousands of hours and many years of experience as an FO at another airline to draw upon.

In addition to learning a new airline’s SOP and culture, possibly a new airplane, along with learning how to be a captain, you’re also going to be dealing with inexperienced check pilots teaching you, who themselves are still learning the role.

Upgrade at a regional can be hard, so much gets dumped onto the captain. In this environment you’ll be pushed eight ways from Sunday; scheduling, dispatch, gate agents, passengers, FAs, chief pilots, FOs, mechanics, all trying to take your certificate from you. And as been pointed out, you’ll be doing it not just on probation, but without the foundation of good relationships developed over time.

Unless you are absolutely, 100% positive you are ready to take on that task, I would pass. That you’re asking is a good sign; if you had no hesitations about it, that is a sure sign you’re not ready and prepared; way too far to the left on the Dunning-Krueger curve, possibly near the peak of Mount Stupid.

We often say that flying is a very, very small part of being a Captain, and that is true. The problem is, too many think that to mean that it is not important. It is vitally important, and should not be any conscious concern, as there are so many other things that are occupying your attention. 1000 hours SIC is, in my opinion, the bare minimum required to prepare oneself to upgrade at their own airline; my preferred metric would be to see each season twice. At the very least, two winters, and by winters I don’t mean flying around the warm weather areas in and out of Houston, Miami, LA and Phoenix.

This is a rambling post, but in a long way of saying it, I strongly discourage attempting to upgrade for the first time as a 1000 hour FO as a DEC at another airline. It almost never goes well.

Originally Posted by captande

To build on that, there’s so much more that gets missed foregoing those 18-24 months in the right seat of said airline. Knowing the contract, the FOM, the nuances of the airplane that aren’t always written in the manuals. Knowing your contractual rights when scheduling tries to push you. Having a working knowledge of the FOM to CYA when you have to make a difficult call as the PIC. Having that time as an FO to live and digest that stuff passively as you work towards that 1000 SIC is often overlooked. In today’s hiring market I’d be very cautious making that DEC jump, whether it be for TPIC or financial reasons. A bust isn’t the end of the world but it just leads to unnecessary questions on an interview. As it was said: be brutally honest with yourself, weigh all possible opportunities, and know what you’re getting into.

Originally Posted by rickair7777

Along those lines... the CA is often the adult supervision of the operation. If he's not familiar with operational and cultural nuances, it's going to be a lot harder to tap the brakes and say "we're not going to do this today". He has to be comfortable saying no to dispatch, station ops, crew scheduling, ATC, and even flight ops management. Have to know the regs and FOM inside and out, at least to the point where you know what page to turn to for the right answer. When you have 3 other crew, 70 pax, four rampers, one gate agent, and one station manager all standing there expecting you to go, the pressure is on... hard spot for someone who is basically a new-hire 121 noob.