I don’t really know how to word this question without sounding dumb, but I live in central CT, about a half hour south of Bradley international airport. And am considering a career change. But we would not be moving from where we live. I can’t find online anywhere about Bradley being a base I could work from. But I imagine, since it’s an international airport and so many routes leave from there, that many airlines would hire pilots from the area to start their routes there? I have looked up the big airlines that fly from there and none of them list BDL as a base. This isn’t a now problem but I feel like I need to have an idea if I could even do this job living where I do before pursuing the career change. I see JFK, LGA and EWR as bases for many. But EWR is over 2hrs away, JFK is just under 2hrs and LGA Is about an hour 45 and that’s all without traffic. What do people from areas like me do when it comes to hiring? We also have a small airport in new haven that does some domestic flights. Avelo is one airline that’s there. But I don’t ever see new haven listed as a base either.
Emily,
What people do is “commute”. It is often said the best thing about being a pilot is you can literally live anywhere in the World AND the worst thing is that you can live anywhere in the World.
The airlines don’t care where you live and being closer or farther from an airport won’t make you more desirable a candidate. The only thing they care about is that you get to work on time and well rested. How you do that is up to you. It can be by far l car, train or air. As a point of fact, when I was EWR based I knew many pilots who lived in CT and yes they drove 2hrs to get to work. I also know pilots who commute from the West Coast, Europe, Asia and Australia. As I said you can live wherever you like and as a bonus as a pilot you can “jumpseat” (free) on virtually every airline in the country. Which airline, when and where is entirely up to you and YOUR responsibility.
To my knowledge there are no airlines with a BDL base but that’s the case for many pilots. Those who don’t want to our can’t move become commuters. Most complain but it’s their choice.
Adam
Hi Adam, thank you! I feel like this is another dumb question, but how can an airport not have pilots based for it? Since someone has to fly the flights out of there. How does that work?
Emily,
No stupid questions. Browse some of the FAQ and latest threads here, but if you have specific questions we can help with, that’s what we’re here for.
As Adam mentioned, lots of pilots commute. It’s not ideal but it’s a choice we make not to move. Thank goodness this job accommodates that. In many other fields, you must move to where the office is. I’ll say living within 2 hours of three big pilot bases in pretty good.
There are many big airports that don’t have pilot bases for any airline. They have air service from many airlines but virtually all start or finish in other bases.
To illustrate the point: you show up for your BDL-ORD flight. Your crew either
A). Had a layover in BDL or
B). had an out and back there.
So their schedule would show Airport X-BDL the night before then BDL-ORD (your hypothetical flight). Or for an “out and back” Airport X-BDL, then BDL-ORD.
Does that make sense?
Hannah
Emily,
BDL might seem like a big airport, but it really is not. The airlines base people in the hubs, generally not at smaller outstations. There are many “International” airports that do not have pilot bases, ORF, SBN, GRR, CRW, the list goes on and on. The good news is that you do not live terribly far from New York or Boston and there are plenty of opportunities to be based in those two areas.
Chris
Emily,
There are hundreds of airports across the country (large and small) that don’t have pilot bases. How it works is most airlines operate on what’s know as a “hub and spoke” system. The hubs (bases) act as a centralized point that most passengers pass through at some point on their way to somewhere else. If you look at the flight info out of BDL you’ll see virtually every flight takes you to that airlines hub and that’s the case across the country. If you’ve ever wanted to fly to Paris or even LA you probably saw you needed at least 2 flights, one to the hub (EWR, JFK, LGA) and then on. That because there’s simply not enough people traveling to those destinations to justify a hub or base.
All the flights you see originating from your airport, those crews simply stayed in hotels the night before. Make sense?
Adam
Hannah, Adam and Chris,
Thank you all so so much for all the input. It is clarified now! I forgot I also love probably about as close to Boston as I do to the three nyc area airports so there’s another option. Just trying to gather all the info I can I work it all out in my brain to figure out the right path for me. There’s certainly a lot of pros and cons, and the cons are things I am not used to since I have a pretty cooshy schedule right now, but the pros are a dream to me.
There’s a lot to think about and I like feeling like understand everything before making such a big decision as a career change, which is what I’m considering right now. Thinking far ahead, since I haven’t even started the pilot journey yet, but I’m only 31 and have learned from all my researching that that’s still pretty young for this field. I feel much less behind now that I realize so many people make this a second career…. But anyway, here is my other most glaring thought process right now: for my unique situation, what at the point of working for a regional to build hours for the major airlines, which From how I’m feeling right now would be my ultimate end goal, since I’m doing this to be able to travel to as many new places as possible… would it be a better idea to suck it up and commute from CT (hoping I get a base in one of the 3 nyc airports or maybe Boston- all about 2hrs from me without traffic) to work for a regional affiliated with a major airline to make it easier to work with them one day, OR work for a regional like breeze that is establishing a new base in Hartford (30ish mins from me) and looking at providence RI I saw online, (1.5hrs away without traffic ) or Avelo which I think has a base in new haven now (seeing conflicting info on this so I’m not totally sure) which is only about 20mins away from where I live.
My other conflicting factor is I don’t know if we will ever move closer to a place where a major airline is based. We bought our house less than a year ago and we love living here and can see this as our home for a long long time. Bought the house before I was ever even remotely considering a career change. I was super happy with my job at the time. I feel like my dream of working for a major airline one day is a bit crushed since the closest bases would potentially mean us figuring out a way to acquire a second property one day, or me commuting forever. I had a super short commute for the longest time, and now commuting back and forth 45mins five days a week has me designating nearly 11hrs of my waking hours to work everyday and there just isn’t time for life except in weekends but then I’m drained and feel like life is just a huge monotony of working for the weekend or my next vacation. But then that always comes and goes so quick and it’s on the the next. And then before I know it years have gone by and I don’t feel any better. I may physically work 40hrs that I get paid for but I designate about 15hrs of unpaid time to work every week too. And I’m just not content. I’m trying to find a way to be able to travel more, which is my biggest passion, but still make money to support the rest of my life.
I also hear a lot about junior and senior bases and people flying from one airport to another just to get to their bases. I’m not sure doing that would help my quality of life issue right now. How likely from your guys knowledge would it be that I’d be able to base out of the four hubs closest to my house anyway?
I hope that all makes sense! I’m just looking for opinions and thoughts on this scenario. To talk it out with someone. I don’t know any pilots at all and have been looking around the internet for people with experience that I can talk to and this message board seems so great for that!
My ultimate dream honestly is to live in Hawaii one day, and I know Hawaiian airlines base is in Honolulu. My dream to do that was from years ago also before I considered a career change and honestly this career may actually make that dream a lot more attainable too. It’s just a big move and being northeast based with family and my entire life…Scary. And i wonder if I ever could mentally do it with that in mind. But that’s a majorly far off problem. My brain is everywhere.
But I am just in a point in life where I don’t feel happy or content with how I spend the majority of my days. For a year I’ve been feeling have an, “is this it? Is this my life for the rest of my life?” Type of feeling. And I’m the type that doesn’t want to waste time being unhappy. But Until pretty recently I hadn’t ever had an idea about what I could do to maybe feel more fulfilled in life. To be able to do what makes me happiest- travel and explore the world. But still make money and be supported in life. When being a pilot finally hit me as the answer I was literally overcome with emotion for the rest of the day. I finally felt a little better about life even just having the idea of a way I could potentially change my life projectile one day. Since I am not someone content to always wonder “what if” I have been heavily researching how to acquire that dream. But I know it’s a long bumpy road and I’ve read a lot of really discouraging things about the process. The time and money it takes. But my husband made it seem like he was all for me finding a way to pursue this if it’s what makes me happy.
So! If you made it all the way through this seriously thank you so much. I haven’t really found anywhere to turn yet and you guys have been so great to me and others on this forum that I felt comfortable unloading all that here. And hoping someone will be willing to talk it all out with me.
Thanks again!
Emily,
I’ve read through your posts and there’s something blaring at me. You don’t mention any flight experience and no, sitting in the back of an Airbus going on vacation doesn’t count. If the answer is yes I STRONGLY suggest you take a step back and schedule an intro flight or lesson. While I understand you want to gain as much info as you can, you’re asking about flying for a Major (which is the pinnacle of our industry). That’s kind of like watching a baseball game on TV and calling up the Yankees asking about their benefit package.
The fact is not everyone can or should be a pilot. It requires a certain level of intelligence (which I’m sure you have) but there’s also a physical component which not everyone is comfortable with. You need to fly. Chances are you’ll like it but you might not. If you do THEN you can decide to pursue your training. IF you’re successful THEN you’ll need to build your time. If you were to start today you wouldn’t be ready for over 2 yrs. In that time Avelo could fold, Delta could open a BDL base, you could have too many checkride busts and no Major will hire you, etc etc etc
Again it’s good to be proactive but you can’t predict the future not nor make decisions based on what’s happening today.
FYI, when I started taking flying lessons 20+yrs ago in NJ if someone would’ve told me Id be a Hawaiian Airlines Capt living in Honolulu I would’ve said I have a better chance being the POTUS. You need to go fly.
Adam
Oh yeah for sure. That’s the first step and I will definitely do that, asap. Just trying to learn what I can before spending the money and time I’d have to spend after that. Don’t want to do all that and then potentially realize it’s not possible for me to do it regardless of how much I want to. If that makes sense.
Emily,
Chicken or egg? But at its core if you decide to be a pilot everything else can be worked out but if you don’t like flying the entire conversation is moot.
Adam
Very true. Thank you for your time
Emily,
From your post, I can tell you have a lot of enthusiasm and a million what ifs. Honestly, don’t think about any of that yet and go take an intro flight. If you love it and decide to pursue flight training, the next step is to figure out how to get your flight training done. Either a local school or an accelerated program like ATP. Both will take huge financial commitments and approval on a loan (which can be difficult for many) plus quitting any current jobs you have.
Once you’ve successfully completed flight training and are building time, this is the time to research the next step. See what your priorities are at that stage in your life. Maybe by then you are willing to move to base. Maybe not, and you want to go with whatever airline can keep you closest to home. Whatever your priority may be, there will be an airline that will fit that choice.
Hannah
Hannah,
Thank you! I’m just a planning type. Even if it’s not something I can create solidly right now, I just like to have an idea of what the path would be. And the people who’s be helping me along the way definitely want to know if it’s worth supporting me even beginning to try haha. But yes i have found several options for places to do an intro flight nearby, just need to choose which and book! I’m definitely an enthusiastic and determined person once I get a thought in my head so I’m excited (but nervous) for this first step.
But side note: I love that there’s a female mentor in here because one of the things I’ve been searching out online is the perspective of women in a mainly male dominated field. Currently, I’m a veterinary nurse, which is primarily women so it would definitely be a big switch for me!
Emily,
Absolutely, I totally understand. Reading your post I could relate as a fellow planner type myself. It’s totally okay to let your brain run free thinking of a potential path and what your future could look like… but unfortunately the aviation industry is known for being wildly unpredictable! I had trouble giving up control over “my plan” initially but now 3 years in, I’ve learned to: know my goals, work toward them but stay flexible and in the moment.
Don’t worry, with each day there are more woman deciding to pursue this amazing career. There is a huge supportive community and maybe one day you’ll be doing this yourself, helping the next round of future female airline pilots!
Hannah
The thought of this new possibility on the own is super exciting to me and I haven’t even gone up yet. Guess we’ll see where my life goes now. But nothing better than shaking things up and keeping life interesting. Thank you so much again you’ll probably hear from me more 
Emily,
If you were to enroll now, it will be at least 18-24 months before you would be eligible for a regional or an LCC. At that point, the goal would be to get hired by one of those airlines. If you are still not willing to move to wherever you end up getting based then the reality is that you will be a commuter. But if you have a change of heart in the next couple of years then I would encourage you to move near base if you can. If not, then it will be up to you to get yourself to work on time. As a commuter you may also want to consider renting a crash pad near base so that you have a place to sleep before or after a trip depending on your start or end time. Whether or not commuting is worth it is entirely subjective. If you are opposed to moving, give commuting a try first and then decide.
We are looking forward to hearing about your intro flight experience. Please come back and share your experience with us! Try not to overthink the intro flight. Be a sponge and enjoy it. The flight is a non jeopardy event. No one expects you to be an Ace so don’t put any pressure on yourself to perform.
Tory
Tory,
Thank you! I am excited and nervous to do it myself. About 8yrs ago I went up with my now husband when he did an intro flight I’d gotten him as a gift so I have a general idea of how it goes. But still crazy to think about doing myself. I’ll definitely come back and let you guys know how it goes! Hopefully in september 
since this summer is insane and a lot of fall is insane with stuff going on.
Hi everyone! Just wanted to come back on and say that I did my discovery flight on the 10th and loved it. I left it wanting to ask five million questions to learn more. So essentially do what I’d be doing in an actual lesson. I was amazed by how normal it felt being up there. I thought I’d have so much anxiety and nervousness but that was not the case. Pleasant surprise
Since having the idea of pursuing this career I’ve disliked my job more and more, spending so much time thinking about how there’s better out there for me. So my intentions now are to work on saving some money so I don’t need to add a massive student loan on top of what I have from my bachelor’s degree and hopefully within the next couple years start at ATP! In the mean time I’m going to try to take lessons when I can do I can fulfill this itch and learn whatever I can. I figure it’s better than nothing!
Emily,
I am glad that you enjoyed the intro flight. Have you spoken to admin about your loan situation yet? I understand your desire to have as little debt as possible, but with airline captains early making $300k or more per year, you could be giving up significant earnings potential.
Furthermore, “taking lessons when you can” will do absolutely nothing to accomplish your goal of becoming a pilot. Flight training works best when there is consistency in the flying, that is why the airlines, military and ATP all train nearly everyday. I would save your money and wait until you can really commit to flight training.
Chris