@LoadMasterC141
I career changed at 32 in 2005, leaving the military and had absolutely no clue (really clueless) about the aviation industry other than 5th year major FO (in 2003 terms) I would be back where I would be compensation-wise to what I made in the military, not knowing that people just didn't walk right in and get hired at those major airlines.
In hindsight (and although I am not a regional FO anymore), I would do it all over again. Although your career may not be heading where you want it to lead, being able to take away positives from what has happened along the way is key... Some of the career is timing and luck, and others is creating your own opportunities.
I was really lucky when I separated from the Navy and Mesa hired me right away. At the time I was really disappointed not getting assigned to a CRJ class and instead got assigned to a 1900 class, but in the end that was good luck - I ended up being the first one in my new hire class to upgrade and if I hadn't acquired the 1000 TPIC at Mesa before I lateral-moved from Mesa to Eagle, I don't think I'd be where I am today. I ended up being able to only hold AM or PM standby lines for my first 3 years at Eagle, but that was good luck too, because that meant I got to see my newborn kid every single day for the first 3 years of his life during my first 3 years at Eagle, only because I rarely flew as a DFW standby reserve at Eagle. It's just the way it worked out.
It is really unfortunate what is going on at Eagle and how it has spiraled downwards these past 3 years. With all the negative news that you get every week and worsening schedules, and impacts you feel as a result of Eagle's inefficient scheduling practices, it's really hard to maintain a positive attitude.
You have the benefit of perspective as you have an idea of what not working in an airline environment is like. The worst day at an airline is better that the best day at a non-airline job. There is absolutely no work responsibility when you're off the clock.
When I was doing interview prep, the prep person warned me about the "BRPS" Bitter Regional Pilot Syndrome - it comes out when interviewers ask questions like, "Tell me something you don't like about Eagle." It's really easy to dredge up all the stuff pilots complain about on EL, the internet message boards, etc. even when you're trying hard not to bash your own company. It just comes right out.
So although your career seemingly might not being heading where you want it at this moment in time, take stock in the positives that have happened so far and move on from there:
For me it was:
Mesa (05-07)- (work rules absolutely sucked) but the positives for me were - it was a small enough company that I got to know all the dispatchers/schedulers/maintenance/mechanics/station agents/station managers personally felt like a large extended family. Lot of flight time in a short amount of time. as PIC, I didn't know what I didn't know (until I went to Eagle) - I was fortunate that I didn't leave Mesa with a violation or accident - and I never really knew how close I was to one as several other pilots in my upgrade class weren't as lucky.
Eagle (07-13)- got to see my kid's first 3 years of daily life, when I finally held my first line in 2010, got out of the DFW-out and backs and ended up flying through the LAX/JFK/LGA/MIA/ORD systems seeing how things worked in airports in the rest of the country (that benefits me now as an Airbus FO) - worked with great crews pilots and flight attendants - my knowledge about how things work in the different airports I flew to with Eagle has come in handy at Spirit
Leading me to today, when I first started this career in 2004-5, I had wanted to end up working for Southwest. Am I there now, no.
From Eagle, I was again lucky I had a choice between US Airways and Spirit. I had seen a little about how Doug Parker treated regionals while working at Mesa during the Airways/America West merger, and I saw Eagle's last year prior to the AA/US merger, that led me to decide that I had no desire to work under Doug Parker at the combined AA/US even though it will probably cost me monetarily long term. You can see the pressure he is putting on the APA pilots now with their new JCBA. I liked the large extended family feeling at Mesa, so it became an easy decision between Airways and Spirit. If my only choice was US Airways, that was a no-brainer too, leave Eagle for US Airways in a heartbeat, I would have went. So for now, I am at Spirit, I bid reserve by choice because I live in base in DFW, and I choose not to fly if I don't have to. While shredding paperwork last week, I found my last LES before I separated, and I compared it to my 2nd year Spirit FO 72hr/month pay stub, just 100-200 dollars short of what I made before I left the military nothing that an OT trip can't cover- so it's taken me 11 years to make up compensation-wise as an airline pilot to what I had in the military. But nowadays I work a lot less for a little less pay I had in the military. It's definitely a lot more time at home compared to the military, maybe 1 or 2 1-day or 2-day trips a month for now. So it works for me.
So would I do this again? It's not the career path I had envisioned 11 years ago. But yes I would do it again, would I have changed anything? Nope probably not.
As much as I disliked about some things at Eagle, the things I miss about Eagle: (1) overnighting with the flight attendants (FAs have their own hotel at Spirit), (2) mobile CCI/mobile FOS - everything you wanted to know about the operation in the palm of your hand. At Spirit you know absolutely nothing other than your own schedule; and (3) the non-rev benefits - the non-rev benefits are almost non-existent at Spirit
