Can some regional pilots please fill me on what the lifestyle is like? Particularly your first year as a F/O. What hours do you work? How many of it is flying. What is being on reserve like?

How much are you away from home in an average month? What cities do you usually fly to/from? How often do yo deadhead?


Sorry for so many questions.

 

These days, I would expect the entirety of your first year to be spent on Reserve -- that means hopefully living in base and getting paid to sit at home, with the occasional out-and-back to keep you in the saddle. Pay is horrendous with no per diem...I'd count on no more than $1500/mo after taxes, medical, 401K, etc...Where you fly is based solely on who you work for, what equipment you fly, and where you are based. If you want to expand your horizons, get yourself in with a company boasting a wide route-structure with interconnecting cities between hubs (IAD, ORD, DEN, LAX, etc...)

What is your experience now?

 

First year nowadays will probably be spent on reserve (if you can find a job anywhere). If you are on reserve, you will usually have 11 days off a month. At my company (well, former company, since I am furloughed) these days are scheduled as 3 hard days off in a row, 4 hard days off in a row, and 4 soft days off that the company can move if they need to. Reserve pilots have a call out time of 1 1/2 to 2 hours (depends on base) and if you do not live close enough to make it to work in that time, you will either have to get a crash pad ($200-$300 per month) or stay in the crew lounge (which sucks if you are on reserve for 6 days straight). On reserve you will have many time where you are on reserve for 6 days, off for 1 day, then back on for 6 days. If this is the case, and you have a late reserve window, you may not get home until your day off, if at all.

Reserve pilots get 70-75 hours minimum guarantee and you will most likely not go over that. (75X $22 per hour = $1650 per month before taxes). Included in one paycheck a month will be your per diem, which on reserve is not that much extra.

Another fun part of being on reserve is sitting at the airport on Ready Reserve. They (at my company) can give you up to 6 ready reserves per month, where you come in and sit at the airport so that if they need a last minute fill in, you are there. The greatest part of ready reserve is that they only pay you half of the time you are there, and those hours count toward your 75 min. so you are pretty much there for free (ok, I know your being paid for 75 hours, but hey, it would be better to stay at home instead of sitting in the crew lounge).

One other thing I can think of that happens on reserve is that you will get a trip, then half way through it, you get pulled off and put on something else. This sucks if you have a good crew and you get pulled off and put on a trip with a bad crew.

If you are starting out, your first few months will be spent in training. Study hard and when you are not in class or the sim, study your flows and systems.

Well, there is probably other stuff that I can't think of. Don't want to make it sound negative, just giving the facts. If you live at home with mom and dad, you should be fine. If you're married or have kids, it is very hard that first year (unless your wife makes pretty good money).

Remember that getting into the airline business, you are subject to being furloughed any time the airline cuts back, the economy worsens, or flights are reduced. All of these things are happening at once right now, so there are thousands of furloughed pilots on the street right now.

 

It all depends who you get hired with. In short, expect to be never be home and to make less money than people on social assistance. Depending on where you live, you may qualify for food stamps. No joke. After that, depending on the economy, inflation, oil, Iran, mergers, furloughs, bankruptcies, outsourcing, whipsawing, ect., it could get better. But I could be completely wrong and somewhat pessamistic.

 

My solution:
1. Live in base
2. Bid Nap reserve(or CDO or Highspeed or whatever you want to call it)
3. Get a flexible daytime job

That should be a decent temporarily fix for money problems

 

Check out this website that is done by ALPA...it really puts EVERYTHING in perspective. The benefits, typical pay, typical work day, time away from home, etc. I found it to be a really good website and wish I had found it before I got hired. It really would've helped me understand things a lot better!

www.clearedtodream.org > Home

 

All well and good, unless you are based in a very expensive city (JFK, LGA,EWR,LAX,etc.) then it is almost impossible to live in base without a second income.

 

60 hours weeks get paid for 17.5
you will learn alot about whats in the terminal at you base
a near heart attack when your phone rings
good times

 

Don't work for MAG WHATEVER you do; the others may be fair to decent. You will end up hating life at Mesa. Believe me, I'm 5 years in and want to quit. Only thing keeping me going is debt to pay off, and loads of it.

 

Your broke. You have no life.