I've spent dozens of hours reading 1000s of posts trying to get a feel for which regional airline to potentially apply to.
I live an hour away from ATL. I've gathered from my reading that commuting sucks and would like to avoid that but...

A little about me:
I'm age 58, have 8700 hours of mostly piston twins and singles. Most of it is PIC
got 110 turboprop, never been in the cockpit of a jet. I have over 5000 hours of part 135 time but none of it qualifies for the SIC requirement for 121. ie, I'll have to have 1000 hours SIC before I can upgrade to captain.
I've got lots of actual IFR, night time and PIC but it's all ancient history as I've been in an administrative type job for the last 20 years. I've recently resigned and am now seeking a line pilot job.

What I need: Pay, retirement program, insurance and QOL. I have rental properties we refurbish and maintain so the more time home the better so I can continue to build that.

Due to my age, "flow" is not a factor. So what I'm looking for is to get my 1000 hours SIC, move to the left seat and build up some jet PIC. This will better position me for options in the corporate or 135 world after I reach age 65. Since I'm realistic I'll never reach the majors, I need to pick the best regional for the next 6 years.
Additional info: Hold single and multi engine ATP, all the flight and ground instructor ratings for airplanes.

Any insight would be helpful

 

Assuming you want jet PIC, live in ATL, and don't want to commute then expressjet seems to be your only choice.

You'd have to do some research about how senior ATL is, and how long to upgrade (might be never for you).

 

You'll retire before you get any TPIC at ExpressJet.

 

Expressjet. Great training, ATL base. Do it! Only downside is you'll never see the left seat. Are you willing to commute at all to get that PIC time?

 

PSA. Easy commute - dozens of flights to CLT or even drivable to TYS. Low time on reserve with lots of new growth and attrition. Upgrade time is also pretty low, and will remain so with new airplanes coming in and pilots flowing out of the list at the top.

Schedule Adjustment Period - you can have any schedule that you want. Can drop/swap/add any trip without regards to reserve grid.

You can easily drop to 65 hours a month, which can give you 17 days a month off. Many guys work 75+ hours a month and get 14 days off. You can get every weekend/holiday off if you want.

 

Yes I will commute to get the jet PIC time as I feel it's necessary for my future options. I've looked into the ATL based option but as of now the very long upgrade times move that way down the list. In fact, off the list since it won't meet my goals. I realize things can change dramatically in this industry. With PSA having a Charlotte base, that's a little attractive as I can drive there in less than 5 hours. That obviously wouldn't work for short call reserve but by the time I drive to ATL (1 hour), get through security and get to a gate, board the flight (hopefully), flight time to CLT, get to where I need to go... The 5 hour drive doesn't look that horrible.

 

As that guy said, PSA is an easy drive or flight for you.

Don't expect to be able to stay in Atlanta for short call reserve. With the commuter clause you have to have 2 flights getting you to CLT. Though I suppose if you want to be a cowboy, you can just for the 1. (I tried that once and it almost bit me in the a**)

I know a few guys that drive from the Atlanta area (Marietta and Newnan) to Knoxville and they said it isn't bad (there are also a few ATL-TYS flights if you don't want to drive at times). TYS is a fairly junior base on the FO side, you can hold it out of training as of now, so that may be your better option upfront...though recently it has been super senior on the captain side.

With the new pay and rumor of getting more airplanes, it may just be your best bet.

 

Only a 3 hour drive to TYS (from ATL)

 

I think you might need to adjust your expectations on retirement and QOL. Any entry level regional job has the potential for what you might find to be an unacceptable level of QOL. Be prepared to be gone a lot. As for retirement, again, these are entry level regional jobs, I wouldn't expect much.

 

There's been more talk lately here @ endeavor of a possible atl base. Complete rumor and unsubstantiated by anything from the top but it's nice to dream. But if you want to make $55,000 your first year easily and get into the left seat as soon as you get that 1000 hours, here's the place to be. DL is putting a lot of money and resources into us right now because we are performing and if anyone else was gonna open an atl base it would be us. As for what's gaurenteed; if you hire here you'll get lga or jfk base (whichever you want) in training. From a quick look DL has 23 flights between those 2 bases out of atl. Sit reserve for a month or less if you pick the 200 and build seniority very quickly. That will allow you to start cherry picking trips quicker down the road that fit your commute. It's a great place to work and it's only gonna get better as our mec is starting negotiations with the company again due to the AAG owned regionals bringing up pay, so expect to hear more within the next couple months. PM me if you have any specific questions about the line flying here.