Regional Pilots - Would you do it again?

[LoadMasterC141]

The senior JC peeps on here (Derg Groupies..heh), would remember some posts from a wet behind the ears career changer from 2006-2008.
I made all the normal posts,
"Am I too old?"
"What does it pay?"
"What is upgrade time?"
"Where should I train?"

4 years after I started looking into it, I made it to a regional airline. It was 4 years of hard sacrifice and a job as a CFI that near made me hate being a pilot. Getting to a regional was the pinnacle.....or so I thought.

The first year or two was tough. As a mid 30s guy at the time, I had a family, kids, and debt responsibilities. Luckily, I had a side job running some flight schools to help make ends meet. Working two jobs was grueling, but I was generally happy, for a while.

5 years later, I am still an FO at my airline. I got canned from my side job because because a rival airline, known for "undercutting" came to recruit at my school and apparently I was not nice.
There appears to be no future at my airline; it has been 5 years of shrinking size and constant threats from management. Our flying is being given away to other regionals. People I taught to fly are becoming Captains before me. The other day I heard from a student I had at one of my schools just a little over 3 years ago who is now a Captain. For me, the future is bleak.
The job itself is no longer the excitement it once was. In fact, the luster wore off pretty quick. Truth be told the act of flying the airplane was more fun when it was a small plane with no autopilot. The hours spent at altitude have become insanely boring. I mastered landings 2000 hours ago and now even that brings little excitement.
So here I am, a 40 year old guy, making less than I made in the Air Force 20 years ago, with 5 years invested in an airline that is being killed off by the next lowest bidder. I live in a city I hate because it is in base and cheap. We rent a crappy little house in a questionable neighborhood.
My cohorts in my previous career are enjoying six figure jobs as directors and VPs now, riding corporate jets, enjoying a month of vacation, great benefits, and working for a company that cares(appears to anyway).
Would I do it again? I have given this a lot of thought and my ego doesn't want to admit it, but I just don't think I would.
Would you? Am I just in a low point of my career and need to bounce back?

 

[poser765]

That's all pretty rough, man. I can feel ya, though. I was walking through Terminal C in EWR and out of the corner of my eye I spot a United FO. Didn't think anything of it until he called my name. I look again and it's a guy I shared a dorm suite with in college. We started at the exact same time and now he is at mainline and I am a regional FO. I've made some poor choices in my career and am now pretty far behind. It's frustrating, for sure.

But would I do it again? yes. Once you boil away all the poo I really do love what I do, and can't imagine doing something else. I even work for one of the regionals often referred to as "bottom feeder" and I like my job. I don't feel it's as bad as others make it out to be and I am still happy going to work.

I am frustrated I am not making as much money as I hoped I would be at this point in my life...but we are still comfortable.

 

[Screaming_Emu]

Probably, but all things considered I've been pretty lucky.

I'm not where I want to be, but overall it's been a good ride.

 

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

I bailed recently, and that was even with me being at a mainline carrier. The job just didn't appeal to me anymore with the prospect of commuting or living in a place I didn't want to live. My suggestion to you is to find a way out. If you're feeling this way now, it won't change. The nature of the job is the nature of the job, and it loses its luster for a lot of people. Better to get out before you get even more unhappy.

 

[z987k]

You might consider looking at some part 135 and 91 opportunities. Turboprops are so so so so so much more fun to fly than jets. We go to unimproved runways and I hand fly quite a bit with my average leg length just over an hour. There's not money in it like there is at a legacy, but I do ok, certainly better than almost anyone at a regional regardless of seat and get a good bit of time off each month. That said, SCREW pure charter. That has got to be the worst qol in aviation.

 

[PhilosopherPilot]

I would do it again, but I can't imagine doing anything else (again). I really think that you have to be able to say that to be happy in this career. Good luck.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I have no other marketable skills.

 

[killbilly]

EDIT - I'm not a regional pilot, but let me offer you some perspective anyway because of the next paragraph...


You and I came here at roughly the same time and through roughly the same channels, we're about the same age and were looking at this career for the same reasons. Hell, I remember meeting you and the wife with my at-the-time girlfriend at some restaurant in Grapevine - @Stone Cold and Bob (can't remember his screen name - he hasn't been 'round in a while) were there.

We chose different paths. I chose not to go, instead doing GA flying and plodding along. I got my PPL in 2008 and I am sitting about 170TT right now and half-way through my IR.

Would I make the same choices again - the opposite of the ones you made?

Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on how much wisdom I'd be allowed to carry back with me.

Look - you can't undo anything you did. You have the luxury of options that few people have, though: you've got corporate and management experience plus an MBA - you could be working from a hell of a lot less-advantageous position if you hadn't made all the GOOD decisions that you have. If you're tired of airline life, you've got the requisite tools to change the situation. Airline flying will be there, and you could always come back to it later.

The best luxury in life is having options. You actually have those. Bail if you're unhappy and find another way to be so. Come back later if it feels right.

 

[propsync]

Your best bet is to stop looking at this life as a destination, its a journey. Make it a fun journey.

 

[Hacker15e]

I think you just need to keep the long game in focus...if you do, indeed, have a long game.

I don't say that sarcastically, I say that knowing there are a lot of folks who whom the short game is the long game (referencing, again, the extremely important concept that life is about the journey and not about the destination -- if you hate the journey, you're not going to find some magic at the destination that suddenly makes it all better or all worth it). You might be one of those guys, I don't know.

We all know that working for the regionals sucks in terms of lots of work, low pay, and the numbing of the fun of flying. Those are all well-known aspects of the game that we (should) know before even choosing to play the game. Those of us who are older, with families, and even who've all ready had previous careers have a lot more to lose by flying for the regionals, since that low pay and long hours away can take a huge toll on the things we love.

That being said, for someone playing the long game -- in this industry, that means with our eye on a more financially lucrative job at a major or corporate operator that also affords us more time off -- you just have to bear through the bad to get through the good.

It is a concept that I've had to practice several times throughout my military career, which by the way started with me in a non-flying profession, thanks to my lackluster ability to balance work, play, and education as a college student. I have had numerous phases of life (lasting 3 or 4 years at a pop each) where I wasn't where I wanted to be professionally and had to bear through to get on to the better times. I had to understand that the short-term pain was worth the long-term benefit, and pretty much every time my patience and work toward the goal paid off eventually.

Life isn't fair. All of the things OP has mentioned that suck (especially the ones that insult your ego, like former students who have professionally surpassed you) I've experienced, too, and it is just something you have to find a way to not let bother you. These things happen, and it isn't because there's some grand plan or scheme, it is just because life is random and things don't always break your way. Over the last several months, I've watched former students of mine get hired at Delta and United, all the while I'm out hunting FO jobs at regionals since my recency doesn't make me qualify for those calls to DL and UA interviews. It would be easy for me to be bitter about that, but instead I'm happy for their success, and like to think I had a part in helping them become the aviator they are now.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is, you've made the choices you've made and there's no taking that back. IMHO, you should keep the long view in mind, strive and struggle to get to it, but don't forget to try and smell the flowers along the way.

 

[Kingairer]

This is not a jab at the OP, but it seems a lot of career changers end up changing out of the airline game. Just something I've noticed, and I'm sure "life" factors play it into it.

 

[AA34]

This is not a jab at the OP, but it seems a lot of career changers end up changing out of the airline game. Just something I've noticed, and I'm sure "life" factors play it into it.

Interesting. I wonder if it comes down to being accustomed to being home everynight, or dealing with reduced income for a number of years. Probably both.

I'm 28 and at the same spot in training as Killbilly is. I would be a career changer. Right now I bring home six figures and part of me thinks it's awesome for flight training because I can pay as I go and still save a ton. The other part of me thinks "how the hell could you give this up and make 1/6 what you currently do!?".

 

[Gonzo]

That being said, for someone playing the long game -- in this industry, that means with our eye on a more financially lucrative job at a major or corporate operator that also affords us more time off -- you just have to bear through the bad to get through the good.

But how long can most people take the bad before they say F-it. @SurferLucas has been busting his ass and is a great guy, yet here he is 8 years after getting hired, still an RJ FO. @Screaming_Emu, @falconvalley, @CRJDriver to name three more 7+ year RJ FOs. I get the long/short game but it is getting crazy.

 

[LoadMasterC141]

But how long can most people take the bad before they say F-it. @SurferLucas has been busting his ass and is a great guy, yet here he is 8 years after getting hired, still an RJ FO. @Screaming_Emu, @falconvalley, @CRJDriver to name three more 7+ year RJ FOs. I get the long/short game but it is getting crazy.

Exactly. All of us bad stories and then the icing on the cake is watching someone upgrade to CA at a whipsaw regional that didn't even know how to fly when we started at our regional!

Contrary to the rosy picture flight schools and airlines want to paint, it just isn't that rosy for most. They like to get behind the success stories but there are more of these types of stories in reality. They like to spend money on websites like Boldmethod.com, that constantly throw up videos of glorious flight, instead of actually discussing the REAL picture.

I'm probably just at a moment of weakness. In truth, I DO like this job better than the last, but the vegas odds on career progression, incorporated into making so little money at 40 years old, is making me a little "not my self" lately. I'll buck up.

 

[uncreative]

As a possible career changer myself, I think usually the impetus to change careers is based on being unhappy. There is potentially the idea that, hey if I was doing something I love (flying airplanes) I'll be happy. Then you get the job, and guess what, still not happy. Add on the less than ideal life of a regional FO, being surrounded by people younger than yourself, and knowing that you're forever behind the curve, and I can see how it happens.

 

[CRJDriver]

It'll be 8 yrs. for me next month flying 121, still as regional FO. I will never upgrade at my regional! I refuse to chase the upgrade and start over at another regional for a 3rd time. I have bills to pay and want to live my life now. If the majors think I am not "qualified" to fly their airplanes with the same type of operation, the same passengers, same airports, in the same airspace, then so be it. I will not w#ore myself out and start over again in "hopes" of a quick upgrade.

 

[surreal1221]

But how long can most people take the bad before they say F-it. @SurferLucas has been busting his ass and is a great guy, yet here he is 8 years after getting hired, still an RJ FO. @Screaming_Emu, @falconvalley, @CRJDriver to name three more 7+ year RJ FOs. I get the long/short game but it is getting crazy.

I'm hurt you didnt include me. #FirstWorldProblems.

 

[falconvalley]

But how long can most people take the bad before they say F-it. @SurferLucas has been busting his ass and is a great guy, yet here he is 8 years after getting hired, still an RJ FO. @Screaming_Emu, @falconvalley, @CRJDriver to name three more 7+ year RJ FOs. I get the long/short game but it is getting crazy.

I'm into the numbers aspect. People have to retire. Barring a massive economic disaster (again), we will have opportunity. And that's all I want. That said, I realize that I could, in fact, get stuck here. As pilots above me vacate, I know that I should upgrade and I'm giving myself a PIC at RAH "limit". If I have not obtained a better job at that point, I will expand my search. Perhaps RAH could reevaluate their vision and the result would be me as FO for the foreseeable future. Then, I would have to take a long, hard look at my goals. I actually already have and have accelerated the process of getting Mrs Falconvalley opportunity to pursue HER goals and that means removing a little career flexibility on my side. My point? Some of the things that can and have happened to me, could happen to anyone. One of the things that makes our situation somewhat unique is the seniority reset scenario. I take a measured risk in that regard. Has it been long enough? Absolutely. That's why, I told my wife to execute our Order 66 (the destruction being some of my flexibility). I'm not in the camp that will outright quit. I will have to be squeegeed outa this game. But, I set up my life that way. The money isn't my number one priority, but it sure as heck would open many door for us. I think if money is number one, than one should understand the huge risk they take in limiting their flexibility.

 

[Nark]

I wouldn't change a thing.
I would be an RJ captain a few times over had I gone elsewhere, but that isn't the point.
I work at a poopy company with awesome people.

Make your own bed, be responsible for your own choices, and don't lust, or be envious other others who have gone before you.

 

[propsync]

Interesting. I wonder if it comes down to being accustomed to being home everynight, or dealing with reduced income for a number of years. Probably both.

I'm 28 and at the same spot in training as Killbilly is. I would be a career changer. Right now I bring home six figures and part of me thinks it's awesome for flight training because I can pay as I go and still save a ton. The other part of me thinks "how the hell could you give this up and make 1/6 what you currently do!?".

You need to find a way to bring that income (or at least some of it) into the airline world, it would be foolish not to.