You should have asked "Which Regional is the best for my situation" and let us know where you live. Then we can narrow it down for ya.

I assume you are a C17 driver, cool Plane! Saw Biden in ATL few weeks ago had his C17 with him and limo. hah

 

I dunno I like it here on the L-ASA side of ExpressJet (CRJ side). After interviewing at a couple places I like the people I've dealt with and the training department. Just got that southern hospitality that made me feel at ease and comfortable. Couple of my friends here go on Mil leave no issues. But this is my 2 cents and there are ppl that complain here too.

 

Not that you could be aware of my situation moon wolf but being active duty does not leave me with a lot of time to sit around and search threads.

 

For the rest of the folks that have been helpful, thanks. I live I'm Buffalo, NY so there is
Nothing based near me that I am aware of.

I have a wife and little guy back home and would prefer not to move as our finances so not support it.

I have done a lot of research of airlines and originally thought RP would be where I would like to start. Years ago I loaded bags for Delta and their pilots always seemed happy, seems like that's changed.

Nearby cities that are a easy one hop commute are LGA, JFK and DTW. CLE is a 3 hour drive and CMH is 5. It is possible to commute to IAD or DCA via US even PHL but US presence in BUF seems to be decreasing.

 

My list of best regional airlines for a new F/O:

Harvard School of Law
Virginia Tech School of Medicine
MIT
Cal-Tech
Stanford School of Business

Hell even ITT technical institutes are better "regional airlines."

Don't kill you love of flying by becoming an airline pilot. Take a different career path, one that makes you wealthy then buy and fly your own jet on vacations to the tropics...

This is a no-brainer man.

 

Why a regional and not a major?





.

 

Thought about Jet Blue?

 

I love how people just assume it's all rainbows and unicorns outside of the aviation industry.

Mustang, living in BUF...I would try to find a regional that has LGA as a junior base. I haven't looked at the loads but it looks like there is at least 7 direct flights a day to LGA. I assume you're looking at the regionals as a way to make you app look better for the Legacy carriers...have you applied at Jetblue? Are you flying in the reserves? I would avoid a double commute at all costs and would reccomend living near your Guard base. You'll make more as a part time pilot in the Guard than your first year pay at a regional. So it's a massive pay cut from AD but still manageable for a while. With any luck you won't be at the regionals for very long. Goodluck!

 

NYC is the most junior base for most airlines that have NYC bases. You should be able to pick out a few airlines and do some research to see which one you'd like to go to. Compass has a DTW base and has a lot of movement and quick upgrades. One thing that would keep me away from RAH especially in an NYC or ORD base is no cancellation pay. You can potentially commute out to work multiple times in the winter never knowing if you're actually going to get a paycheck. Their FO pay is also far below every other 170/175 operator.

 

I know that sounds easy, but...the number of people with Ivy League degrees, whose net worth is enough to own and operate a turbine aircraft, is extremely, extremely small. To attain that level of wealth requires that you either be a very successful entrepreneur, or in the C-suite at a Fortune 500 company. It also requires many decades of 90-hour workweeks, usually with endless days on the road.

I say this as someone with two Ivy League degrees, my own (piston) aircraft, and nearly two decades in Fortune 500 style jobs. Heck, I'm writing this from a cube at Google*. But none of my Princeton classmates have come anywhere remotely near that level of wealth, and unless you get very, very, very lucky and work very, very, very hard for multiple decades, the odds of getting to the point where you can afford your own turbine aircraft are very slim. Realistically, to own even an entry-level jet (call it $2M acquisition and $400K/yr operating costs), you'll need a net worth well north of $10M and a yearly income in excess of $2M. There are very few people in this world who can touch those numbers.

Bottom line: If you just want to fly, I'd agree that there are better options than the airlines. Do a non-aviation job for money, and flight instruct on evenings and weekends, maybe pick up some charter gigs. But if you want to fly jets, I have never seen an easier time for pilots to get into the right seat of a jet, if they go to the regionals. It is many orders of magnitude harder to rise into the rarefied ranks of turbine owners, as it is to get a job in the right seat of an RJ...

*And yes, I'm leaving that career to go fly for the regionals. Call me insane, but there you have it ;-)