Hi
I’m 30 and currently a full time helicopter pilot and have a pretty good job. Debating on switching over to the airlines for travel perks, a better schedule, long term it will be better pay, benefits ext. I am dual rated and just need to do a multi add on which I can get done quick if I decide to make the transition. Currently I have ±3000 hours in a variety of aircraft mostly helicopters. 1.What’s the current outlook on moving up in the regionals and into the majors. 2. How long is a realistic time I’d spend on reserves? 3.How bad is reserves? (I payed my dues in my current industry and not sure if it’s worth going through it again) 4. Are they still hiring like crazy? I know it just depends and ever situation is different but I don’t know much about the airline industry. Just curious on if I should consider the move or stay where I’m at . I would be taking a pay cut at the beginning but I’d be better off long term pay wise
HR,
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Times have come back considerably. Right now the average transition seems to be from 2-5yrs. Could take longer and of course there are no guarantees you ever will.
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That can depend greatly with the airline, equipment and base. Keep in mind with every upgrade (unless you wait, ie, FO to Capt, Regional to Major, bigger airplane) you could find yourself back on Reserve. Could be a month, could be a year.
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Reserve isn’t necessarily bad at all. Again depends on if you commute and how well staffed the airline is. I know many senior pilots who live in base and bid Reserve because they rarely fly. That said if your airline is lean on pilots and you commute it could be a nightmare.
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They are right now. Tomorrow?
Btw, as a new Regional pilot you will most definitely be paying MORE dues. While Reserve might not be bad, a line of bad trips, min days off and no control over your schedule could be worse.
Obviously it’s your choice but I have a few friends who fly helicopters and none of them are making $450k a year nor have travel benefits soooo…
Adam
Thanks for the response! It’s a tough decision I’ll sleep on it and keep doing my research. The few pilots I know at the airlines have never tried to talk me out of it. There usually asking me why I haven’t made the switch yet lol. Also did regional pay double in the last year 2-3 years? I went do a interview a few years back and I sware they were paying around 45 per hour. Now it looks like it’s up to 90+
HR,
Yes it did. It started with the AA wholly owned regionals moving starting pay to the mid $90s/hr for FO’s. It wasn’t long before most of the other regionals followed suit.
Hannah
Thats great. One more question so when your scheduling your flights is it possible to take off when you want like a month and not book any work if you want to go on a month long vacation or do they expect you to work X amount of hours each month
Everything that you could imagine in the airline industry is based on seniority. Getting the schedule you want, aircraft type, base, falls through seniority. I can’t speak on the other airlines, but here at Piedmont our August-December vacation bidding period of 48 hours just opened up. You can put in the bid for vacation when the time comes up… granted nothing is guaranteed until you get the final award and receive the period off. Also, I don’t see a month long vacation happening in the airlines. Most I know will bid reserve and hope they don’t get called.
Not to brag, Piedmont Airlines was the first regional airline to increase the pay to $90/hr… everyone else followed suit to stay competitive. 
Brady
HR,
You see you can’t really have your cake and eat it too. You asked in your original post “Are they still hiring like crazy?”. They are you know why? Because they’re short on pilots. With that in mind no, you’re not getting a month off anytime soon. If they had the staffing to do that there wouldn’t be the demand. Make sense?
Adam
Cool yep. Like i said i dont know anything about the airline industry. I dont plan on taking a month off. I was just curious in general if its more of work when you want or you can pick your schedule (based off seniority) but we expect you to fill it with flights or reserves. That answers it thanks