QOL Good or Bad?

Your hand flying skills may atrophy a bit, but only as much as you let them. Click the autopilot off and fly the plane a bit. Bottom line is that you'll be a better rounded pilot after 2-3 years of 121 flying.

This. My hand flying may not be quite as sharp as it was when I was hand flying 3+ hours every night, but I hand fly as much as I want to, and I still feel like my autopilot is a tool rather than a crutch.
 
The following is for 121 day trips only...


I'm doing a lot of day trips recently. It's nice to be in my own bed every night. For the GDL turns, by the time I get home (830pm) the son is already asleep and the daughter is in bed, so far I catch her awake and read a quick story and good night/tuck in. In the morning, I can see both kids before they head to school but I don't have time to drop them off. For other day trips that check in later, I could drop them at school. There's one day trip that is early (6am) that gets done about 130pm which would allow to pick kids up from school and spend the rest of the day with them.


I see the point about day trips and not quality time at home, but it all depends on how far from the airport you are (I'm pretty close) and what sort of hours the day trips are.






Biggest advantage to day trip lines is that they typically DO represent the highest day off lines. At our shop, if you have 19 or 20 day off lines, they are almost always exclusively day trip lines (highly productive day trips).

So you still get a lot of quality, true days off at home. And home every night to boot when you are at work.

Lets put it this way, when you do a multi-day trip, you are guaranteed 100% to be away from home. With day trips, I'm still home a portion. Either I can see them in the morning, the evening, or both. It all depends on the kind of day trip it is. With a 4-day trip, I see them on day 1 before leaving (if the hours are good) and day 4 after coming back (if the hours work out good). Day 2 and 3 are guaranteed to be away from home, and day 1 and 4 you may or may not see the kids.



The last time I did a 4-day trip was December! This lifestyle now is so much better. I do have a 4-day coming in June, not looking forward to it LOL.



@criticalaoa " The alternative option is to fly light twins for a small, but growing 135 operator. Home every night, although work days are long(especially in the summer), and only one day off a week. Single pilot, New England weather, so lots of low altitude IMC. I almost feel like it’s a right of passage, and a really cool "


6 days on and 1 day off? And in single pilot hard IMC? No way. Go to 121 flying. You'll have FAR more time at home and much more comfortable flying. Your wife and kids deserve better than 1 day off and some single pilot 135 outfit - especially in this market. Go 121 and don't even look back.
I’ll agree with this. I’ve got nothing inherently against day trips. My problem with them is I live about 2.5 hours from the airport. I want to minimize that drive.
 
I’ll agree with this. I’ve got nothing inherently against day trips. My problem with them is I live about 2.5 hours from the airport. I want to minimize that drive.

Yes. That is untenable. I know guys who drive from San Diego or Temecula, same thing, 2.5 hr drive and they hate day trips. They prefer 4 days and no more than 4 drives/month.
 
Yes. That is untenable. I know guys who drive from San Diego or Temecula, same thing, 2.5 hr drive and they hate day trips. They prefer 4 days and no more than 4 drives/month.
I had a 2.5 to 3 hour drive to EWR. Finally punched bases to commute to IAD. Omg, game changer. This might be one of rare cases where commuting totally trumps driving to work. My commuting airport is 20 minutes away, it’s an hour flight, and it’s not like there are tons of commuters competing for seats where I’m at.
 
I had a 2.5 to 3 hour drive to EWR. Finally punched bases to commute to IAD. Omg, game changer. This might be one of rare cases where commuting totally trumps driving to work. My commuting airport is 20 minutes away, it’s an hour flight, and it’s not like there are tons of commuters competing for seats where I’m at.

I still think I’d rather drive 2.5-3 hrs than drive 20 minutes to the local airport, get there 1 hr prior to flight, and try commuting a 1 hr flight. In your car you’ll always get there.

Though with gas prices being what they are now, I can see taking a flight instead :)
 
I still think I’d rather drive 2.5-3 hrs than drive 20 minutes to the local airport, get there 1 hr prior to flight, and try commuting a 1 hr flight. In your car you’ll always get there.

Though with gas prices being what they are now, I can see taking a flight instead :)
I’ve been driving to either JFK, LGA, or EWR for 5 years. I thought the same for a bit. But after trying this out it’s the bomb. And if it ends up sucking, getting back to EWR won’t be hard to do.;)
 
Sounds like this is pretty much a settled question at this point, but as someone who has worked 91, 121, 135, 142, and a few numbers I don't remember:

121 time is a known factor. There is no quicker way to open as many professional doors as possible in the current industry environment than 121. Entry-level 121 jobs are currently offering the best terms and conditions we have seen in most of our lifetimes.

The single greatest obstacle to a happy career in this industry may well be an unsupportive or otherwise disgruntled home front. Your wife is supportive of the short-term difficulties of job-swapping. Failure to make the best of that fact in the current market would verge on professional misconduct.

Do the thing please.
 
Yes. That is untenable. I know guys who drive from San Diego or Temecula, same thing, 2.5 hr drive and they hate day trips. They prefer 4 days and no more than 4 drives/month.

San Diego proper to LAX? Barf. That might be the most unpredictable commute other than maybe NY. Maybe John Wayne and NoCo SD would be ok.
 
San Diego proper to LAX? Barf. That might be the most unpredictable commute other than maybe NY. Maybe John Wayne and NoCo SD would be ok.
I've spent way too many hours of my life running up and down that piece of road, a car could be parked on the shoulder with a flat tire and it would grind to a halt. I was always willing to pay the toll on the 73.
 
Agree with everyone- your wife is smart and you should listen to her. Sleeping at home every night is meaningless if you aren’t there to be a part of your families lives during the day, too. I when I flew the “RJ” at my job I held 60 hour weekend layovers 45 mins from home. There were times I was so beat from flying leading up to that trip my wife would tell me to just stay at the hotel and come back when rested. It’s no fun to come home if you’re tired/grouchy. Choose the job that will give you lots of rest on the road and also lots of solid time off at home.
 
I’ve flown 135 on demand in a Citation with a 15 min drive to the plane. I’ve flown mostly 121 for my career and even being back on reserve now with a legacy (finally) is better than 135 on demand. To me, once the seniority kicks in where you can hold a line (even a hybrid)or drop/add trips once off reserve, the 121 life offers much, much more in QOL.
 
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