Sound advice..............

Thanks guys, I have been reading about this career on these forums and everywhere I can find while also talking to current and former airline pilots. I am not going into it for the money I am graduating with a mechanical engineering degree from Villanova, which is a top 15 undergraduate engineering school and I see what kind of jobs I can take and what kind of money I could make, but that is not me, I want to fly and the single most taught lesson I have learned from all professionals is do what you want, do what you love, the money will follow.

I understand the hardships if I have to live in a single bedroom apartment for years, all o need is a job I love a 6 pack for the weekend, my girlfriend and football. I really hope everything in the industry gets better for everyone not just me

I don't necessarily mean to rain on your parade but I think there are alot of kids who get into this career as optimistic as you and they end up incredibly bitter years later. I'd love to hear from you on here in 5 or 6 years and see if you were able to maintain your positive outlook.

Three?
 

Why do you have 3 years left?

Dude, I'd be really careful with that kind of attitude. There is a legitimate debate on here about "quality" regionals vs "quick upgrade" regionals, but in the end all of us are here to make a paycheck. Sure, we sacrifice some things early on because we really like flying but ultimately it's got to be about "show me da money!"

That said, if you have an engineering degree, you should absolutely go out that to good use and self fund your flying. Heck, go check out Boeing then go get your ratings on the side. You may find other aspects of aviation that float your boat. SpaceX, Scaled Composites, LockMart, etc, etc, etc.

Ultimately, it is absolutely, 100% worth slowing your plan down a little bit if you can end up with three instructor ratings, an engineering career, and a ton of money in the bank and then making a decision about flying for a living instead of getting your instructor ratings 6 months faster, but being broke when you're done (albeit out of debt in your scenario).

That's just my self imposed regional career limit. I'll still be young enough to switch careers.

Whoa whoa whoa lets not talk about captain pay things just yet...

OK, so 1000 hour Skyhawy pilots are getting an attitude now? OK, they think they are in demand? Nada.

I have considered engineering, but do not feel it is fit for me. Sure I have only been in school for it and don't know exactly what the field is like, but I have the flying bug, bad and have loved planes since I was a little kid. The main three pieces of advice I get from pilots are:

-Stay Away (sorry I am young I would rather get in now and find out I hate it then switch when I am 30-40 and find out I hate it with a wife and kids and low income)

-Avoid commuting (that was the purpose I started this thread to get an idea of a regional that has three hubs within close driving distance, hopefully not all three would close down or the airline itself before I was hopefully able to move onto a major)

-and finally, I should have started sooner.. (I know there is a lot of pessimism out there and of course I don't want to hate being an airline pilot or any pilot to feel that way, I don't know how tough it is yet, but I am open minded that is why I am discussing all this, I am preparing for the worst)

My Engineering degree is my plan b, and my colleagues here at school are my connections if I were to ever need them (hopefully aviation works out)

This won't be the situation at Republic, based on current conditions. You will work close to every day of reserve. Some times you will know your assignment days in advance, which will be nice. Other times, your reserve period will start at 3am with 90 minutes allowed to get to the airport. Luckily, because of this schedule, you will most likely break the guarantee of 75 hrs monthly pay.

They don't have a system which allows pilots to pick trips to fly. Pilots are assigned trips at scheduling's discretion "in reverse seniority order, as long as all other factors are equal and taking into account operational requirements for the specific type and base. (which means they can do what they want)" Nobody at Republic has any control of their lives on reserve, the motto there is that scheduling "uses and abuses" reserve holders. But the upside of this is that the grinding reserve (and ubiquitous reassignment practices) are so efficient that I think they have less need for reserve than other airlines.

To the OP: If you're young and without commitment (or debt), why are you so set on living and working where you are right now (EWR and PHL)? Why not pack up all your stuff and move somewhere completely different? If you plan to stay in aviation for any long periods of time, you need to come to terms with the fact that you don't find 'local flying jobs.' You have to move to where the operation is. I'm 28 and graduated flying school when I was 21, so far I've lived in CA, AZ, FL, IN. Oh, and I commuted for a very short period CA to LGA. No sense shopping for bases at this point in your life.