Week in the life of a regional FO
 

I’m considering a career change and trying to gauge what life would be like working as a regional FO without seniority. Please let me know your thoughts on a week in the life of a regional FO:

While flying, do you generally feel fatigued and burnt out? Or, enthusiastic and 100% focused?
Do you find the actual flying engaging or boring?
Do you generally like most other pilots you work with? Do you think some pilots are jerks?
What is it like on a day off? Despite being a walkaway job, do you need time to decompress and feel like a normal person?
Do you have time to explore the cities you fly to?
How many legs do you fly per day?

Let me know any other thoughts on being a regional FO.

I'll take a stab. This is just my short take.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Great.
Nah. Soon as I'm in my car driving home I'm feeling good.
Sometimes. Depends on how long your overnight is.
Where I'm at, 2 to 6 legs per day, with 4 being typical.

Short answers, I know, but that's my take so far. You'll get the full spectrum of experiences. If you're with a good crew on a good trip with desirable overnights it really can be quite fun and you look forward to similar experiences.

Get stuck on a trip with people you're not especially fond of, and in sucky weather and the worst overnights, then you'll be ready to get out of the plane the moment the door is popped open and disappear till report time, but that isn't a frequent experience for the most part.

Your personal attitude about work/life/people, as always, plays a big part on how you experience it.

A Day in the Life (Regional)

Here is a pretty good write-up.

If you live in base your regional experience can be good. I enjoyed my time. Mostly you'll enjoy the friendships you create at the regional level. Once you get to the majors the fun is usually gone and it becomes more of a profession then a job.
Living in base will make your regional stay a ton more enjoyable.

I've found that living in base makes this the best job I have ever had. I commuted to reserve prior to getting awarded my home base.. and it really is as bad as they say.

Sometimes enthusiastic, sometime bored. 2 to 4 legs per day. Sometimes 5. Overnights can be good if they're long enough and they're in a good place and your hotel is in a good location. Other pilots are generally good. Flying the plane is kinda fun.

Got a quick question about this. For a new hire, what is the process of being on reserve if you don't live in the state where you're based? Do they let you bid a reserve with a longer time to show up so you have some time to get there? And if not do they put you up in a hotel the night before? Just trying to get an idea of how this works.

Flying the line can be monotonous, especially going to the same airports over and over. To me, it's a job. The novelty of flying a jet has worn pretty thin. Dealing with weather, having abnormal and emergency situations definitely makes the job more interesting and stressful.

Where you live is your business, but the commute is your problem. Show times for trips or reserve response time isn't customized because you live away. That's why commuters complain about the extra time away spent commuting. Commuting comes out of your free time.

GF

Most airlines don't care where you live and it is your responsibility to get in place for reserve. Seniority holds longer call outs, typically 2-hour callout for junior reserves so you need to be in base (or close) for the entirety of the reserve period. If you plan on commuting long term look into the commuter rules and commuter hotel policies at your airline choices. Some pay for a limited number of hotels for the month -- and some commuter policies are more generous than others. I would also favor the one leg commute with multiple runs for the day. Good luck, hope that helps.

I dont get why people bash on commuting. I do it and life is fine. I guess I stay positive and know in the long run I'll take sitting in the back of a plane another 2 hours in order to see family/friends was much more beneficial to me. What sucks is reserve being 5-6 days long and sometimes they won't use you. That gets the mind racing a little bit. Just step outside and go for a walk and think about what you're going to do when you get back versus not being there and throwing a pity party.

Not bashing commuting... only saying that I'll take my 20 minute drive today over my two leg commute of yesterday. I think you would agree that my QOL is slightly better now. I think most people's point (at least mine) is to factor in your commute when deciding. Reserve rules (and utilization), length of reserve, commuter policy, and hotel reimbursement should all factor into one's decision. Wouldn't you agree?

I've been doing this six years. I'd compaere a weekly commute by choice to a weekly voluntary colposcopy. For the love of God don't commute by choice.

how long is the commute that people are complaining about...i'm looking at envoy, and if I got LGA, i'd move back to VA and commute, 1.5 hr flight isn't all that bad.

not only the flight, consider being at the gate 30min-hour early, getting your bags on board vs checking, dealing with oversold situations/ people with higher priority for the jumper, and start/ finishing at a time when you can commute same day (depends where you go, kinda).. overall it sucks. Sure, I do it by choice at the moment but my goal is one day move to my base and stay. And hope like hell it never closes.

Much appreciated! This helps a lot and really narrows down the choices since I don't want to commute. I've seen a lot of back and forth on whether to commute or not and I didn't know what the particulars were as far as the call out times and how they were assigned. I should have figured you don't get your choice right off the bat, but you shed some light on it. I've read a bit about "ready reserve" or standby reserve where you wait at the airport to possibly be assigned or you just go home after. Do all airlines have this?

LOL Snacky :D

thanks for the heads up. i'll consider it. I've got plenty of friends in NYC that may make LGA an option, although living in base at DFW would be nicer

Commuting isn't so bad when flights are open and on-time. A 1-2 hour flight isn't so much the big deal. It's the constant unknown that gets to you.

When there's a question of if you're gonna make it on a flight, it's an added mental and emotional burden. You don't know if you're gonna be sleeping that night at home, in a crash pad, or crew room chair. If you're doing this every week, it gets old.

If you find a commute that is consistently wide open with little competition, then it can almost be enjoyable. This happens with slow seasons on city pairs, but if the flights aren't full, they'll reduce the number of flights eventually.

It's what you make it out to be. In the beginning it's going to be a special kind of hell being on reserve unless you go somewhere where guys are getting build up lines from day one. No one will admit that they are fatigued while flying but I'm not smiling from ear to ear the whole flight. The flying depends on where you're going into. I appreciate the flying and the views simply because I know I could be sitting in a boring office somewhere like my friends complaining about it's Monday. Every place has its bad apples unfortunately but where I am most guys are great. Being easy to get along with also helps. There are CA's and FO's that unfortunately aren't easy to get along with. On my days off I'm mostly at home working on bachelors homework when my gf is working or at the gym. Being normal basically. I commute to DTW from the west coast so when I get home I'm hibernating for a day. Exploring a city depends on how much time you have there. Last month I was able to rent a car in JAX and drive over to Atlantic beach 3 days after the hurricane. But there are some overnights where I said I'd have dinner with the crew after a nap and slept right through dinner. Legs depend on what you're flying (sometimes). I'm on the 900 at my company now and most of the time it's 2 or 3 legs a day. Sometimes it's more. It honestly all depends on different variables. Everyone's experience is different. Some guys will hate it and some love it. I enjoy it and just take things for what they are. This keeps me sane especially when commuting. But I am looking forward to the day I can drive to work.

Thank you all for the replies so far. Great perspectives.

When some of you mention some crews and co-workers who are difficult to get along with, what traits do they exhibit? What makes other colleagues difficult or hard to get along with? I generally like most people and consider myself easy going and easy to get along with. I'm just trying to gauge if there are any recurring traits of people in the industry that are unfavorable.

Some people don't realize that it's never appropriate to talk to someone who is essentially a stranger about their politics or religion.

As an FO the biggest issues I had with captains, where those who had authority issues (treated my like a baby, micromanaged, acted like pricks), didn't care for my input, or just generally didn't care what I had to say about anything. There are some a-holes out there, but it's been my experience they are few and far between. For the most part the people I don't want to fly with again are people that had a personality I just didn't mesh with.

These are things that I try avoid. With everything going on politics seems unavoidable but I usually nod my head and if its something I don't agree with I don't say anything. This usually gets them to change the subject or just be quiet. I'm not big on political or religious debates anyway. There are guys too that think there was is king when in reality there are many different ways to skin a cat. As long as its safe and legal i'm fine.

Depends on the week/month I build for myself. Sometimes I have 7-8 days off in a row, go work for 4 or 5 days, then off again for a week. Then work another 4 day and a 3 day at the end of the month. During those days off, sometimes my wife and I travel and other times we just take it easy around the house and go to the beach.

Other months, where I decide to work more (like this month), it's your typical 4 days on, 2-4 days off routine. All of my trips are commutable on both ends and usually credit pretty decent (18-22 hours).

The answer to your question will vary greatly depending on who you ask and what airline they work for.

Typically you bid for a start time for the entire month. So let's say you get 6AM. You go on call at 6AM and would have to be at the airport within 2 hours if you were to get called. Since you aren't guaranteed to catch a flight into your domicile during that 2 hours you have to fly in the night before. So now you're sitting in a crash pad or hotel waiting to get called. You're frequently on call for 4 to 6 days in a row. You may not get called. Now you're away from home and paying for a crash pad or hotel.


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Would it be accurate to conclude the following?:
-Commuting on reserve is hell.
-Yet, being a reserve while living at base city is borderline heavenly. You can go about normal life until you get called with the only restriction being that you need to be sober.

Hypothetically: If I live near DEN, and got hired as a FO at Skywest (or any other legitimate regional with a base in DEN), how long do you think it would take me to build up enough seniority to get based in DEN? In other words, how long do you think I would need to tolerate a hellish commuting situation before I got based in DEN?

For seven months right now at Skywest. Well, more like four or so after you finish IOE. Four months of commuting to reserve still takes a toll on one though.

I'll add, if you're on the fence seniority is everything. The sooner you jump in, the quicker you are home based.

For sure! I wouldn't mind living in base. I honestly hate moving and have a house. You almost have to move before you start training. Anyways, I'm kind of banking on the mainline job where I live and hope to just build my family here and not have to relocate them again when they're in middle school and or high school.. So I guess I'm a small sacrifice for the end goal. I guess our commuter policy and hotels are nice to have. Luckily haven't had to use either.

What's IOE schedule like? Is it a set and predictable schedule? Are you based out of one place?

I was talking to the person at PSA that builds up the IOE lines and supposedly it's pretty short. They positive space you, deadhead or however you want to put it, from your home airport (close to where you live) to wherever they want you to go and then you fly trips that contain a lot of flight hours/legs. It appears that the IOE is fairly short from a calendar time perspective and doesn't really have anything to do regarding base bids, etc. They fly with you as required for proficiency so not everyone will have the same amount of training. It is in the company's best interest to get you through this process in a timely manner so you can be a full fledged line pilot... After IOE is when the hurry up and wait part starts. If the subsequent classes remain large, then reserve times are short. If the stream of incoming pilots dries up, it could go very long.

The requirement for Class II airplane is 25 hrs with a minimum of 4 operating cycles and 2 as flying pilot. In most cases it can be completed in a high value trip or a piggy-back trip. You may be assigned to more than one check-airman. Some folks need more than 25 hrs and some check-airman need more than 25 hrs!!!

And then with PSA you would need another 10 hours in the CRJ200. I'd allow about 2 to 4 weeks for the process.