Best Schedules for a Regional Pilot

Counselor

Well-Known Member
Can some of the senior regional CA's and FO's give examples of your schedules these days? Days off, good overnights, absence of reduced-rests, etc? What's the best schedule one can aspire to at a regional when you get seniority as a CA or FO? Thanks.
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It depends on what you're looking for. I'm approximately number 175 out of 600 FOs in base. I can hold, or trade for, what I like: Two-leg day trips, no shows before 1000, worth at least five hours (although I sometimes have to settle for slightly less).
 
I would like to hear more about this too. We always hear about how bad it is compared to how it used to be at a major.


What is the schedule like for a senior pilot at a regional, living in base? 14 days a month with days trips?
 
At Dulles for a Colgan senior CA/FO I personally think the best schedule is the 4 day trip beginning on Monday and ending on a Thursday and it goes over guarantee.

But everyone looks for something different.

At our outstations we have some schedules that are Mon - Fri that begin at 6am and end at 11am everyday. PQI for example has these, and they go over guarantee.
 
I bid in the top 20% of FO's in my domicile of 200+ crews, and the schedules I get vary a little depending on exactly what trips are available. Generally, I go to work Monday either in the morning (for 4 days starting that day) or evening (for 3-days starting Tues) and get home Thursday night. I average about 16-17 days off a month with about 80hrs of credit.
 
I wonder what it would be like to be number one on the seniority list.

Our most senior FO seems to sit around on his butt month after month flying 2 hours a month. I constantly see him on our reserve list; and I know that he could hold a line -- but as the motto in our company goes for Senior guys: "Why work when you can bid reserve?" I can tell you that being junior in a senior base on RSV is not a good time....
 
The number one guy here is getting 13 days off for next month. I think the line credits 80 hours and has something like 280 hours TAFB. The difference between the most senior guy and junior guy? 3 days and 19 years.
 
At my company, if you live in base, the best schedules for most people are day trips.

You usually work 4 days per week, usually start sometime between 7 and 10 AM and end between 4 and 7 PM and are home every night. Each day trip is worth between 4 and 7 hours. You get 14-15 days off and credit about 85 hours. A select few even have 17 or 18 days off but you usually get closer to 75 hours with those.

There are not many lines like this, out of 400 lines in my base maybe 15-20 exist in any given month. The vast majority are 4 day trip lines with 12 to 14 days off and 80-90 hours credit.

Personally I'll probably be a reserve slave for at least the next 2 years (already spent 2 years on it). I'm glad to have a job in this environment though.
 
And just to make sure it's not all about the senior guys, I am junior, on reserve, live in domicile and I am on today 9-9. I spent all day snowboarding. Now if I can just avoid the F word!
 
Why are you asking us what the best schedule is? That's an entirely subjective question that only you can answer. For myself, the "best" schedule would be working three days a week; Tues, Weds, Thurs, all one-day trips flying about 4 legs a day for about 6-7 hours. Figure about a 10AM show and about a 7PM release.
 
I'm not very senior but I live in base and got almost all day trips greater than 4.5 hours with a two day and a three day in there. 14 days off. However no weekends off. I could have gotten weekends if I wouldn't have bid around the really early 5:00am shows. Only 3 nights in a hotel all month and doing mostly LGA and JFK turns will equal $$$ due to going over block and there is always the possibility of one or two of them canceling and turning into a day off.

But like some people said, if you commute then it is probably a better deal doing high time 4 days that start on Monday afternoon and end on Thursday morning.

The most senior guys here live in base and take up all the 7.8 hour day trips. However after having flown some of these I think I like the two leggers better. At the end of 7.8 hours going into BOS, DCA, and LGA you feel like you are gonna drop dead. Ill sacrafice the extra couple of days off to enjoy the flying I am actually doing.

So it varies, but moral of the story is the more senior the more days off you get.
 
Why are you asking us what the best schedule is? That's an entirely subjective question that only you can answer. For myself, the "best" schedule would be working three days a week; Tues, Weds, Thurs, all one-day trips flying about 4 legs a day for about 6-7 hours. Figure about a 10AM show and about a 7PM release.

I think the question is less "what schedules do you like?" and more "what is attainable?" Understanding that everyone has their own particular preferences, the obvious desire is probably high-hour weekday schedules with maximum days off. I am interested to hear how close senior CA's and FO's can come to this ideal.
 
My schedule is what I consider to be decent but to each is own.

For the first two weeks I show in the morning on Saturday and then overnight in MHT and go home. I then drive back to MHT in the morning and fly 3 legs ending in EWR. The next day I fly 3 legs and overnight somewhere else. The last day I work 3 legs and am done by 1 in the afternoon and go home for 3 days off.

The rest of the month I leave my house on Saturday morning and show early in EWR. I then overnight in PWM and go home getting home around 6pm. I go back to PWM in the morning and overnight somewhere else. I fly 3 legs the next morning and get done at 1 in the afternoon and go home. I then have 4 days off.

To each is own though because for those who want weekends off they would be miserable with my line because I work every weekend this month, I personally could care less about weekends. I bid number 16 I think out of 70 or so.
 
My schedule is what I consider to be decent but to each is own.

For the first two weeks I show in the morning on Saturday and then overnight in MHT and go home. I then drive back to MHT in the morning and fly 3 legs ending in EWR. The next day I fly 3 legs and overnight somewhere else. The last day I work 3 legs and am done by 1 in the afternoon and go home for 3 days off.

The rest of the month I leave my house on Saturday morning and show early in EWR. I then overnight in PWM and go home getting home around 6pm. I go back to PWM in the morning and overnight somewhere else. I fly 3 legs the next morning and get done at 1 in the afternoon and go home. I then have 4 days off.

To each is own though because for those who want weekends off they would be miserable with my line because I work every weekend this month, I personally could care less about weekends. I bid number 16 I think out of 70 or so.


...and as an added bonus, you get to fly with me on one of those trips! :D :p ;)

I didn't realize you wouldn't be overnighting in PWM with the rest of the crew, though. We'll miss you--but will all be together in PIT! :)
 
Actually I may end up there one of those nights. Sometimes the wife drives up and stays at the hotel with me. Its a free date night and mixes it up a bit from the usual night at home. If we do that then its a dinner date so you can meet my better half.
 
Oh, I finally get to meet Mrs. USMC-SSGT! :)

That sounds like fun! See you soon....:hiya:
 
I think the question is less "what schedules do you like?" and more "what is attainable?" Understanding that everyone has their own particular preferences, the obvious desire is probably high-hour weekday schedules with maximum days off. I am interested to hear how close senior CA's and FO's can come to this ideal.

You can get it. I don't know what to say but if you only wanna work Monday, Wednesday, Thursday you can do it almost every month if you are #1 or #2 in base. We have a PBS system so technically if you are #1 you could just bid the trips you want every day and you would get them.
 
17 days off, three day trips, 85ish credit hours a month. Overnights in places like Monterey and Santa Barbara.
 
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