Days Away From Your Home
 

I was just wondering about the days spent away from home compared to the majors. Do Regional pilots not spend alot of time away from home? How many days on average are regional pilots away from home compared to those at the majors?

depends on seniority, airline, economy. You could work for a regional and get more time off than at major due to seniority and some people know this and choose to stay at regional. I think generally though you have a better chances at a better QOL at a major. Also, longer trips = less legs per day. There are many variables that come into play however on the whole issue.

Figure 10-12 days off per month at a regional as a junior F/O. If you live in domicile, that is basically 10-12 days at home. If you commute, cut it by 30-50% for the purpose of commuting to and from work and you are left with 5-8days at "home."

Someone else can comment on some of the smaller T-Prop regionals. Colgan for example, I believe you can be "home" most every night if you live in domicile. If you have a wife and kids, this can be a major consideration.

I think RJ is right about colgan. I know all the 1900 flying at Mesa is back everynight. However most of the bases are outstations this might make it hard for the wife to get a decent job. One plus of the outstations is that your 17K F.O. pay...or your 27K captains pay will go much farther. These are the first year gross pay figures under mesa however i'm not sure about colgan. I know if you commute from one of these outstations, the 8 days we get a month can turn into 4 days at home very fast as you will most likely be flying the only flight in or out. This means you will have to wait till the following morning to jump out on your own A/C. Hope that helps you.

XtremeF150

Thanks alot guys, your replies are helpful!!

Our company lists time-away-from-base with each available monthly schedule. For June, the highest are around 350-370 hours, and the lowest are in the 290s. Think about 24 hours per day times 30 days to see that there are around 720 hours in a bid period. If you are on the company's clock for half of that time, you can imagine what's left. Keep in mind that of the other half of the month left over, you will spend at least a third sleeping.

Work rules determine time away from home in a big way; for instance, is the company allowed to give you 10 days off with one day at a time spread over 10 instances? That stinks. Hopefully they require that days off be at least paired. On reserve, is the call-out time (how long you have to get to the airport after a phone call) one hour, or 24? As you can see, there are lots of factors that are really going to impact quality of home life, and perhaps the largest is where home is with regard to where your domicile is. If you are home at the end of each trip, you will have more time there than if you have to try to catch a flight to some other place. Being on reserve at your house isn't so bad either, as long as you are good at entertaining yourself with hobbies and other interests.

I've been at Eagle just over a year, have 15 days off this month with 16 last month. I spend 2 nights a week in a hotel and see my wife every day.

2 nights a week? that's awsome! If you don't mind my asking, what plane and base?

u in saab?

Thats what I'm talking about. Thats a perfect life if the pay is right. Alot of people would envy you for that!