David,
Trying to predict your financial future is very difficult because there are so many factors. But just for your knowledge (take this for what it is… a ROUGH ESTIMATE)
After 9 months as a student, best case scenario you get a CFI position with ATP. Flying about 70 hours a month on average you can make about $20k-$25k per year. The regional pay is posted online so you can add that up since that’s not my area of expertise.
For your age, and what you’re looking to do I highly recommend looking at going the Part 135 route. I’ve noticed entry pay is typically much higher than regionals. Over the longevity of your career, you have the potential to make much much more at a major. However you have less time to get there and if you’re looking to make more sooner, 135 could be your best bet. My first year FO pay right now is $70k. Upgrade time is looking at about a year. First year captain pay is more than $100k. Just something to think about.
What’s your perspective on moving from 135 to the majors? Do you anticipate jumping through additional hoops or taking potentially longer than someone at a regional? How about accumulating enough flight time vs an RJ pilot? Sounds like you might start accumulating PIC turbine time earlier than RJ pilots with a 1 year upgrade?
Alex,
All good questions. To be honest, I don’t know. At the time COVID made options very limited. Now that regionals are opening back up I’m trying to figure out that same thing as Skywest will eventually offer me a class date. In theory, the majors want 1000 hrs of turbine PIC time. After my upcoming upgrade, I could accrue that time in about a 1-1.5 years (flying about 60-75 hours a month). So in total, about 2.5 years to have that requirement met, much faster than regionals. However, and this is a big however, I’ve still not received a clear answer if the majors will be concerned with my 1000 pic turbine time being all part 135 and not any 121 experience. If it’s a box needing to be checked, I will have to eventually switch back. If it’s subjective, I believe I will interview well with it. We do all our own flight planning, weight and balance and performance calculations as well as risk assessments.
Think about this, the majors are airlines, it makes sense that they hire people with prior airline experience. I can tell you that I fly with plenty of new hire pilots and I can only think of two that came from the corporate side of aviation.
I’m with Chris on this one. While I do know pilots with 135 experience flying for Majors the number is relatively small. Some had to spend some time at a Regional before they got the nod. That’s said both UPS and FedEx have some pathways that will get you there directly if that’s something you’re interested in.
Thank you Hannah, I can appreciate that COVID has thrown everyone for a loop. And according to the other guys’s replies, Regionals seem to be a necessary step toward the majors even if you are at 135 now, at least for what appears to be the majority of pilots.
Thanks Chris, it makes sense. If I ran a burger joint I would rather have someone who has flipped burgers over someone who made pizzas, though technically it’s all food service.
Agreed with all above. At SWA and from what I have heard from friends in classes at other majors, I’d say 90% of the 135 folks getting hired have at least 2 decades of flying experience. It seems to take SIGNIFICANTLY longer to get in from that side. 121 much preferred.
