I've got less than a year in the military and am hoping that hiring picks up just in time.

If I can get picked up I'm considering commuting from Germany, at least for a while, and am curious what typical schedules are like. Is it similar to having a line where you're on for three or four and off for three or four, or something more like on for a week and then off for a week? Also, at what point on your last day on is it typical to get released? The more time off with such a long commute the better.

I realize each compay is different, which is alright as work rules will play a factor in me determining if this is a viable course of action.

If anyone has any info on the ease of international jump-seating that would be great as well.

 

The most days off at Mesaba on reserve without vacation is 12 (by bidding into conflict, 7 consecutive days). That will change to 11 in August with PBS since the computer won't allow for bidding into conflict. Right now I've never seen a reserve line built with more than 4 off in a row. After PBS starts, who knows. After the final lines come out you can try to trade days around to give yourself a longer stretch off. But then you'd put yourself into a 6 on 1 off 6 on, ect then have 7 or 8 off in a row once a month. I'm going to go out on a limb and say you'll be ready to move to base within a few months of doing that.

 

Commuting from Germany to reserve at a US regional?! You sir, will be the picture of misery.

Most companies that I know of only give reserves 10-12 days off a month. Depending on the company only some of those days will be "hard" days off (unmovable by the company). Depending on whats going on that month, you can count on days off getting rolled/shifted based on company need. Or, if things are slow and your company doesn't have much flying that needs covering, you fly in from Germany and sit in a crashpad for 5 days then have 2 off (making it impossible to commute home) and then sit in the crashpad for another 5 days. Sounds miserable to me anyway you slice it. Assuming you like your family, I imagine it'll take you a month, maybe 2 of that hell before you pack up the family and move to the States.

 

I think most regionals reserve rules will give you about 12 days off per month, usually 2-3 days off at a time. I work for Eagle, and they allow reserve pilots to swap days, so you can sometimes wind up with a string of 6-7 days off if you get lucky. The further away from base you live, the worse your QOL will be (especially on reserve).

Once you get off reserve and can hold a regular line it would probably be working 4 day trips, with 3 days off in between. We have an FO who commutes from Ireland, and he swaps his trips around so he works a 4 day, with 1-2 days off then another 4 day usually winding up with 6-8 days off at the beginning or end of the month. Depending on your finance situation, you can drop trips (unpaid) to get more time off if you prefer.

It might be difficult, but if you have to do it... good luck!

 

Maybe you'll have the times for a major, which might be better, but if not: reserve at any regional more or less sucks, no other easy way to put it really to be honest. You'll get 11, maybe 12 days off a month, sometimes no more than 1 in a row however, which would impair your ability to go home. You might be able to work it to group your days off to get several in a row which might help you out a bit, but it would mean only getting home probably once a month with that commute. You'll definately need a crashpad, I lived a 4 hour drive away from my base and there were times I was stuck in my pad for the better part of 2 weeks without flying and not being able to get home. Not trying to be a downer haha, reserve really is not a lot of fun though. Days get switched, you can't make any big plans more than a month in advance, I can't imagine what it would be like commuting from Germany, but by all means give it a shot, I'm sure you're not the first person to have a transatlantic commute. As far as the actual commute, I'm not familiar with international jumpseats, maybe someone else can chime in but I don't think it's as easy as jumpseating domestically. Plus I think you'd have to pay taxes and fees. So like Avroman said, you'll probably be wanting to move in base after dealing with all that for a little while. In the meantime sit back and enjoy the antics with the rest of us!

 

That's not going out on a limb - it's almost a sure thing.

Commuting sucks. Commuting to reserve REALLY sucks. Commuting from Europe to reserve would be miserable.

 

I should've known while I was taking my time to reply other people would beat me to the punch....either way hopefully you're getting the picture, that although not impossible, it would get pretty miserable pretty quick.

 

I am getting the picture. Thank you for all the replies so far and I am getting the common theme of no gaurentee that I'd get enough days off in a row to commute. I had to ask the question though.

Please keep the info comming as you all are putting out good general info about reserves that I'm sure others could find useful.

As for Military to the Majors, I don't think my 2200 hours and 1000 PIC will get me there, hence the temporary detour to the Regionals.

 

That's exactly what I'm doing. I live in base, though. I have 8 days off in a row coming up. However, to get that, I had to have 6 on 1 off for the other weeks. It's ok for me, though. They don't call me often so I like to use my days off for traveling elsewhere.

Like Avro said, 11 days off while on reserve is all you get from our company. If I had to commute, I would deeply hate my job. However, I don't mind it now since I don't 'work' much and get to stay home doing other things while on-call.

Commuting from Europe would be insane. Your QOL would be obliterated.

 

As far as the actual jumpseating, that could become a burden in and of itself. For one thing, you'd be limited to airlines that your pilot group has jumpseat agreements with or you'd be stuck buying ID90/ZEDs (discount tickets for airline employees. ID90/75s are based on a 90% or 75% discount off unrestricted coach fares and ZED, aka zone passes, are a flat price based on distance) which can get pricey. Next you'd have to pay the departure taxes each time you went international, typically between $20-$150 each leg (UK is the worst). If you had to connect someplace (say, Germany to AMS or the UK then to the US to make your commute) you'd get nailed twice. And finally, you are limited to seats available in the cabin. No cockpit jumpseat even if there is one available. And depending on the time of year, where you are commuting and aircraft type, some of those seats may not be available to you due to relief crew and weight restrictions. Sorry to have to paint such a rosy picture. But there is something to be said for living where you want to live.