Talk me out of it

I held a similar position as you are talking about and it was a lot of talk. All brokers want to start selling bigger and bigger airplanes to make more commissions. They rarely end up doing so. As a ferry pilot you fly a lot of crappy airplanes as well. Just take that into consideration. Unless he is only selling Cirrus.
 
When I left my job at the regionals, when i decided to DOR from OCS, what it eventually came down to was "where do I want to be in 10 years?" sure my life was miserable as a regional Capt, or in training in the Marines. But I don't have a problem with temporary pain that leads to ultimate happiness. I knew that if I stuck with the regionals there was a good chance my dad who's a very senior SWA pilot could probably get me a job in the next few years, but I decided I didn't want it, so I decided to immediately end my misery.

So we decided to shift our focus. I became a stay at home dad toy son, we had another child. Then my wife decided to quit her cushy job to start her own consulting company. Something she would never be able to do if I was still on the road. We're back in a miserable position now of long hours and a salary not quite where we want it, but things are looking good. She's quickly becoming one of the top people in an emerging field and bigger contracts are starting to float in. Life will be good, and it will be the life we want. Not just one defined by a decent salary and a cool sounding job, that I disliked.

Follow the road that will lead you to where you want to be.
 
Thanks for all of the helpful input, everyone.

I'm definitely going for it. No longer torn at all.

I'll be staying at my current operation until November. When I was first hired, I signed an agreement stating I'd stay with the company for 12 months following my company/ATP checkride. For me, this means November. I've always intended to honor the agreement virtually no matter what. In November, it'll be 14 months total with this company, as far as my resume is concerned.

I've already talked to our chief pilot and will either be going part time or taking a leave of absence as soon as I reach the 12 month mark. He's said to plan on taking an LOA, but PT is a possibility...it all depends on their staffing needs at the time I leave in November. Part time work basically means I'd give Crew Scheduling a minimum of one week/month when I'm available to work for them and they'd schedule me in, kinda like a reserve pilot.

I'd love to go part time. I've always been aware that using CASS as a business advantage for ferrying aircraft is a big no-no, and my desire to do part time work has nothing to do with remaining in CASS. I'd just really enjoy flying here one week/month, while retaining seniority and always having the option to come back full time. I want to leave because I'm not interested in living in any of our bases long term and flying the same route day after day, but otherwise this company is pretty cool. Doing the job in shorter intervals would be ideal.

Even with an LOA, the way it works is that I'll continue to accrue seniority for up to 12 months. So if I return to full time flying within 12 months, it'll be as though I never left, as far as seniority and pay is concerned. After 12 months, I'd lose my seniority, but would still have preferential hiring if I ever wanted to come back on the bottom of the list.

I don't know how it'll go with the broker, but there's only one way to find out. No matter what happens, it'll be a fun, exciting year. I must say, I have a high level of trust in him. He owns the flight school I managed for three years, so I've worked with him extensively before. In fact, I did a fair amount of ferrying for him in the past, but at the time he just wasn't busy enough to need a full time pilot such as myself. He deals predominantly with Cessnas/Cirri that are less than 10 years old, or fairly nice, well-maintained older aircraft (Mooneys, Bonanzas, etc.). I've never felt even remotely pushed to fly something I didn't think was safe. He can't make any money on ratty old 152s, therefore he doesn't deal with them.

I still don't know what my end goals are with flying. However, it seems like this job will give me more control over my destiny than staying with the airlines. Airlines are all about trying to pick a good company, which really ends up being a total crapshoot, doing time on a seniority list, and hoping for the best. As has been pointed out, this position will give me a lot of control over networking and building skills for jobs both in and out of flying.

Within a year, I should have a very good idea of if this job is worth sticking with or not. If so, fantastic, but if not, I can bounce back to the airline as a third year captain, making decent money, having a decent schedule, and be reasonably attractive to other airlines I assume. Also, a year can bring about significant changes in the industry...hopefully it'll be more clear what impact the age 65 rule, 1500 hour requirement, gas prices, etc. are having on both regional and mainline jobs.

I'm still open to hearing advice if anyone has it. But for now, the next year of my life is planned out.
 
When I left my job at the regionals, when i decided to DOR from OCS, what it eventually came down to was "where do I want to be in 10 years?" sure my life was miserable as a regional Capt, or in training in the Marines. But I don't have a problem with temporary pain that leads to ultimate happiness. I knew that if I stuck with the regionals there was a good chance my dad who's a very senior SWA pilot could probably get me a job in the next few years, but I decided I didn't want it, so I decided to immediately end my misery.

So we decided to shift our focus. I became a stay at home dad toy son, we had another child. Then my wife decided to quit her cushy job to start her own consulting company. Something she would never be able to do if I was still on the road. We're back in a miserable position now of long hours and a salary not quite where we want it, but things are looking good. She's quickly becoming one of the top people in an emerging field and bigger contracts are starting to float in. Life will be good, and it will be the life we want. Not just one defined by a decent salary and a cool sounding job, that I disliked.

Follow the road that will lead you to where you want to be.

It literally sounds like you are changing career paths just long enough to stay miserable until you die.
 
It literally sounds like you are changing career paths just long enough to stay miserable until you die.

Far from it, I did a lot of things in my 20s to try to figure out what I might like (and to shake the stink of my abusive childhood). Now I've had the same career for 3.5 years and I'll continue along with this particular job for the next 5 years at least (my daughter is one, so I'll be home with her until she goes to school). In the meantime I'm the VP of a corporation that nets a solid legacy FO salary, I'm doing exactly what I want, and what I'll still be proud of in 30 years and I'm only 32. I figure I still have enough time for 3 or more career transformations.

Read The Four Hour Work Week, you have to seperate the wheat from the chaff but once you do there's some great philosophy in there that really changes the way you view work and your life.
 
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