The lateral move

[Autothrust Blue]

Making an employment decision based on anticipated upgrade time is, generally, a bad idea, as there is no guarantee that the "five month upgrade blah blah" will stay the same at that airline.

(Hell, this place is starting to thaw - not that it was ever as frozen as American Eagle envoy, of course, but that might change tomorrow, and I'm not making plans based on when I think I'll get my EM2 CA bid.)

 

[cmhumphr]

Here's the part that a lot of people leave off when considering distance education.

Your best time to finish the degree was "yesterday" and as you move forward, the opportunity and availability gets harder.

As you increase in seniority in the FO seat, your schedule will get better and then you start 'tickling' captain seniority. Once you hit captain, you're probably going to be back on reserve and no longer have the reliable off-day patterns to complete your distance learning program.

The regional airline system, may or may not last another five years as we know it. It could go on indefinitely, but if you look at the last few years of what has been going on with that level, it's anyone's guess and you may find yourself back on the job market sooner than anticipated.

Please, I beg you, don't spend an inordinate amount of time planning on a long-term career at the regionals in order to have time to get all your ducks in a row. Get your ducks in a row NOW.

Reserve was the best time for me to finish my degree. While everyone complained about being bored and scheduling not flying them enough, I was doing school work, and when it was time to leave, I had already completed a few days worth of school work in a day. I do agree it gets harder to complete the older you get though.