Regional and Family
 

Yes I'm a newbie. Although I have been on this forum for few years, I have never worked at any airlines in the past. I am currently married with two boys (7 yr and 3 yr old).

Low pay for Regional FO is one thing but having to be away from kids 4 days each week totaling 16 days per month sounds scary. That's if 4 day trip is norm.

So how do you guys with kids balance this? Do your kids suffer because you're away so many days per month? How do you make it work?

What do your kids think of you being away so many days?

How many 4 day trip compared to 2-3 day trip can one expect? or is 4 day trip rare thing that happens once per month?

Lastly, does being away become easier once your kids get older? say high school. LOL! Probably not...right?

Thank you very much all!

I don't have any kids, but I know plenty of airline guys that do. At the regional level it can be tough, especially as most regional schedules are not very commuter friendly. The best thing you can do for yourself and your family life, if time at home is important to you, is live where you're based. That can be accomplished by either applying to a company that has a domicile where you live, or moving to base. This job is night and day different living in base vs commuting. Especially on reserve or if you have uncommutable trips.

That said, life is what you make of it. In your hypothetical example you cited above, someone gone for 16 days is going to be home roughly 14 days a month, not counting days lost to commuting. Depending on how the schedule at your carrier are, if those trips have late starts or early finishes that's up to 4 more mornings you're around in addition to 4 more evenings, assuming one was living in base. One could argue given that hypothetical case you're around much more than a parent working 40-50 hours a week M-F.

I also don't have kids, but I can speak for the schedules at least. 4-day trips are the norm at the two regionals I've worked for. As you become more senior you can hold 2 or 3-day trips, or day trips eventually. Some people bid for CDOs (stand-ups, high-speeds, whatever you want to call them). You're still gone at night, but only one night at a time and you're around for a good portion of every day. You won't get much sleep though.

4 days? Try again. I usually work 6 on 4 off. If you're at the bottom, you're going to get a lot of 1 &2 day hauls with a lot of sitting. Your best bet is to live in base.

Move into your base. Do high speeds and enjoy life. Commute and you will hate life

What is high speeds? and is it something 1st or 2nd yr FO can easily do?

Thanks

Goes by a few different names, another one is a "standup", another is a "nap". But the name that most accurately reflects it is a "CDO", or continuos duty overnight. It can depend on various factors as far as how junior or senior they go.

It's where you're usually flying the last flight out of the night to an outstation, then the first flight back into the hub in the morning, and done. Time on the ground/at the hotel can vary naturally. And is all dependent on the length of flight, the contract, delays, etc.

So an example may be an 8pm show, a 9pm go, 1 hour flight. Arrive at hotel at 10:30pm. Have a 515am report for a 6am go, back into the hub at 7am, hopefully home shortly thereafter. Look at the pattern, you're basically home all day. At one place I worked, they went senior in the summers. The guy gets to see his kids off late at night. Gets home, may take a nap, then gets to spend all day with them. Your rest period is taking place in the day time, NOT ON THE OVERNIGHT. Hence the name, you are on duty all night.

Now, for the variables. At one of the places I worked, there were restrictions on how much time HAD TO BE scheduled on the ground, as well as how many could be scheduled consecutively on your line. We could only be scheduled for 3 in row for line construction purposes. As well a duty rig associated with them that made them not to shabby for pay purposes.

This is going to take this off on a tangent. The bolded part is scheduled. Say that 9pm go is now delayed till midnight. Time on the ground/at the hotel is now very small. If you were banking on that nighttime nap, it's gonna suck.

They can also be hard on the body, unless you can get yourself into a groove as you'll notice you're NOT getting your full sleep at night. I did them for months for the commutability. Get to hotel, get 5-6 hours of sleep (if able), get back home or to crashpad, take a nap RIGHT AWAY, and NOT longer than 2 hrs. Get up, eat, workout, eat again. It worked for me at the time, but I was also younger then. Another thing is, you're NOT flying a multi day trip, with crappy/short overnights, flying 10-18 legs over 4 days. You're simply (usually) just doing one leg out, and one leg back. I haven't read into the details of 117 and how they affect CDO's.

Op,

With 2 small kids I would only say living in base is what you should do. If your lucky you get to sit reserve and see your kids all the time. If not you're gone 4 days and get to kick it with them 3 days.

Commute means you just ate up your days off commuting in. When I had 4 days off. I lost 1/2 day for my commute in and home. Mean I really only had 2 days home.

You will miss holidays, kids functions and other important dates. Skype and modern technology makes it easier and manageable. But keep in mind your doing all this sacrifice while making $1200 a month. But hey, give the airlines a shot. Whats the worse that can happen? The kids call the postman daddy?

Regional and Family
 

Regional life with kids is tough, but what the guys are saying is correct. Quality of Life being based at home makes a difference. I was out stationed in my first turbo prop operator and hated the commute, I came to a bigger regional just for base and got the base in training as I was the oldest in the class. CDOs do work, I had them for three months now and I am home everyday and on my days off I pick up day trips to get me over 100 credit... But once again I am living at base makes it a lot easier.
I have two kids and a full time working wife, if that helps.

OP here,

My intention or hope is to live in base. I am currently in San Francisco so I would prefer Skywest or Compass. I don't know of any other airlines based out of SFO, OAK, or SJC.

Thanks