Bottom line up front: my main goal is to fly for the 'Big 6' first and foremost, however, I am concerned that pursuing Air Force UPT may set me back in pursuit of my civilian career goals.
I just left the Army as a helicopter instructor pilot with approximately 8 years of active duty service in order to pursue an airline career. The fastest way to get the time to be competitive for a major carrier is more than likely though flying 70-85 hours a month through my regional carrier, but I would love to continue military flying through the AFR/ANG -- especially given the recent policy change allowing training up to age 33 (I'm about to turn 30). As much as I'm enjoying the airline gig, I am going to miss the camaraderie and mission-oriented flying in the military.
In the time it'd take me to get through UPT, aircraft qualification, and any unit full-time 'seasoning' orders, I likely would have been able to upgrade at my regional and knock out 1,000+ airplane TPIC. While I know military fixed-wing flying is a huge plus on a résumé, I doubt I'd accumulate enough to really make the trade-off in the short term worthwhile if my main goal is to secure a major carrier seniority number.
Is UPT worth pursuing at this point, or would I ultimately be prolonging my timeline to obtain a seniority number at a major airline?
I just left the Army as a helicopter instructor pilot with approximately 8 years of active duty service in order to pursue an airline career. The fastest way to get the time to be competitive for a major carrier is more than likely though flying 70-85 hours a month through my regional carrier, but I would love to continue military flying through the AFR/ANG -- especially given the recent policy change allowing training up to age 33 (I'm about to turn 30). As much as I'm enjoying the airline gig, I am going to miss the camaraderie and mission-oriented flying in the military.
In the time it'd take me to get through UPT, aircraft qualification, and any unit full-time 'seasoning' orders, I likely would have been able to upgrade at my regional and knock out 1,000+ airplane TPIC. While I know military fixed-wing flying is a huge plus on a résumé, I doubt I'd accumulate enough to really make the trade-off in the short term worthwhile if my main goal is to secure a major carrier seniority number.
Is UPT worth pursuing at this point, or would I ultimately be prolonging my timeline to obtain a seniority number at a major airline?