While sitting in a gradeschool classroom, I never dreamed of sitting right-seat for 15 yrs in a bizjet flying rich AAholes around and cleaning toilets. I did think often of flying pointy-nose fast jets in the military or flying airliners around the world. I know I would probably always wonder what that would be like if I worked at NJ or any other fractional (or regional).

Jetlife, brother , me thinks you should give it a rest for a bit , you aren't changing hearts and minds, in truth you are coming across as a bit of a crank. Stockholm Syndrome? I think you may have jumped the shark.Cheers brother , enjoy the Bus , and then the Boeing if you are who I think you are you are in a pretty good place .: )

This is important. As a PIC about to start my 14 year, I am expecting to gross 170K ish. I have another 9k going into my 401K and I estimate my health care to be around 5-6k.

So I estimate my compensation of 185 ish. That's what a mid seniority FO makes at a major using my same formula.

For me that is working 7n7 with 4 weeks vacation. I love my 7 off and my vaca, but the work part is less than ideal. Like I said. Working in a busy fleet at NJA gives you very little time off on the road. I try to get 8 hours sleep and eat 3 square. Other than that, I am busy every day on the road.

Customs, cleaning, stocking, traveling, and oh yeah flying makes for no life on the road.

If you live in a smaller town maybe you could look past the busyness and lack of free time on the road. If you want to go after higher career earnings and better QOL with seniority and can stomach commuting, you should look elswhwere..

Actually some of us have flown pointy nosed jets , and some of us have flown 747s to the far flung corners of the globe( loved it ) , and for some of us at the present time the job fits, for those it doesn't , well it's a big world out there : )

Is the FO on the Phenom 300 not flying his/her legs and only doing pilot monitoring work? No PIC legs until upgrade?

Seriously considering leaving my regional where I gross $44K/year at Year 2, if I can credit an average of 95hrs/month. Thinking the 3-4 hours sits at FBO won't be as bad as the 2-3 hours sit we get regularly at places like LaGarbage and other nasty crew rooms, staying in ****ty hotels and deadheading for a living.

99.9% of crews alternate flying every other leg. You'll have some ferry legs and some pax legs. IOE is the only time that is not the case. The IOE instructor will fly the first couple legs. That rule applies as a new hire, capt upgrade, or changing equipment.

If you can live in base at an airline, I would stay the course of the majors. I live in a small town. I hate commuting, begging for a ride, and the stress of full flights. NJA is a great fit for me. I got a call from Alaska while I was still an FO but turned it down. It's not for me. In all fairness, upgrades were happening regularly at NJA. I believe you will see an age limit for NJA or 135. NJA has an 80 year old pilot. The company is openly and actively trying to get an age limit. The DO has briefed the pilots and the union of their intentions. When that happens, upgrades will be back to a normal timeline. Unfortunately, an age limit could be announced tomorrow or in 5 years.

Good luck. It's not an easy choice.

No one knows the answer to your first question.

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So assuming a hypothetical mandatory retirement age of 70 introduced 2 years from now and all other things being the same, what would upgrade time look like then?

you'd still be looking at 10 years probably

I personally don't think the company would use 70. Age 65 is easier to defend in court because they'd be matching 121. It's anyone's guess NJA is successful in lobbying Congress.

I'd guess upgrades not less than 5 years, could be 10. That's an interesting question. The union or company published the number of people in each 5 year age brackets. Someone might be able to make an educated guess off that info.