Skywest or Eagle
 

Hi-

Given the choice what would you choose?

I'm a military reservist at Travis AFB with 2000 hrs (1200 turbine). I don't care about the pay, they both suck, but ultimately the commute is what I'm concerned with. I'm a 3 hour drive to FAT and 45 minutes to SFO / OAK / SMF. Moving is not an option.

With that being said… It looks like Eagle has an LAX base, which I suppose wouldn't be a bad option… although I don't know how hard it would be to get it.

Skywest has SFO and FAT which would be good, but again, not sure how hard those are.

Most of the Major pilots I work with say it's best to just get into a regional and use the AF reserve flying to supplement your income while you build time for the majors. But I don't want crazy commute hours and also have reserve flying to keep up with. Thoughts? Thanks!

Well, the Eagle LAX base just shut down, replaced by Skywest, so they're a pretty big presence there.

Skywest hands down. Next question

Well, I guess that pretty much sums it up.

Next question would be how hard will be to get those west coast bases SFO, FAT or LAX ??
2nd how long would be reserve in those bases??

FAT, SFO and PSP are the most junior bases on the Brasilia. You would be almost guaranteed to get one of those three right out of training if you got a class date on the Bro.

Eagle doesn't have an LAX base anymore, but even when they did it was really senior. The closest Eagle base to you is DFW, but you would likely end up in New York or Chicago.

FAT and SFO are two of the most junior bases on the Brasilia, but are both pretty senior on the RJ. If you don't want to move I would say that you should request the Brasilia. You'll get one of those bases out of training. After a few years when you can hold the base on the RJ you can transition over.

I was on reserve in FAT for about six months on the Brasilia. It's all dependent on movement though. I know people who were hired about a year ago who were never on reserve. They got a line in FAT right out of training. They weren't running transitions for a while after I was hired and I was on reserve for 6 months. I got a line as soon as the transitions started up. Someone hired in 2007 likely spent a few years on reserve. It's all timing and luck.

On the CRJ with a year seniority I wouldn't hold a line in any base, and wouldn't even be close to a line in FAT, SFO or LAX. If you want those bases your quality of life will be a lot better on the Brasilia.

SkyWest!

Good Luck!

Skywest or Eagle
 

FAT isn't that senior on the RJ, new hires this year have been given FAT as their base right out of class

Given your situation I would bypass the Regionals. But if I had to make a run at the Regionals (which I did in 2010) I would make SkyWest my first choice, but I would consider the following before making your decision (I'm not a SkyWest or Eagle guy, was hired in 2010 at SkyWest and bailed after ground school):

- SFO SkyWest Base is a Reserve base (at least back in 2010 it was), which means you won't be spending a lot of time in SFO and when you are there you will be sitting Reserve.

- FAT SkyWest is a base and goes junior (at least back in 2010). Seems to me you won't have a problem with this, but things always change.

- Not sure how much you know about Regionals, I didn't know that much (military guy like you) but I had to bail from SkyWest after looking at the schedule and pay. The company was very professional and made a positive impression on me, just not a good fit for my situation.

-Your protected under USERA, that will help your schedule situation (drill days/AT, etc.)

I'm sure lots of Eagle & SkyWest folks will chime in with very detailed info, but at the end of the day your QOL will not be that good, but you mentioned commute time is your primary concern as well as not moving, which leads me to believe you want to build time but not leave your area of residence. For that Combination, OO would probably be a better match. Worst Case, bypass the Regionals, continue flying (assuming C-17?) Reserve and go directly to majors. Good luck.