Hello all,
I have a question for you. I’m looking at going to atp ( if I can convince the wife of it.) but my question is once you get to 1500tt will you pretty much be able to go to any regional carrier? And how hard is that transition from teacher to regional? Thanks in advance for any answers. I’ve wanted to do this for so many years and could never afford it. But now that financing is possible I hope to try that route. But I have a newborn and a wife that needs my help. But we have talked about it and she is on board with it just we skeptical of life and making money after I finish school.
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Also sorry I’m 33 years old. And have a current job of a Budweiser sales rep.
Hello Dustin and welcome,
My son is actually a Coors rep in NY but I’ll help you anyway 
While there are no guarantees the hiring environment at the Regionals is at a level we’ve never seen before in history. Due to the current pilot shortage (created by a “perfect storm” of retirements, expansions and the 1500Hr rule) the Regionals can’t find enough bodies to fill their classes. Starting salaries have literally DOUBLED, they’re offering hiring bonuses and/or Tuition Reimbursement and actually interviewing and guaranteeing slots for pilots with as little as 500hrs, this is previously unheard of. Let me put it this way, again no guarantees, but if you get your hours and ratings (and of course have no blemishes, DUI/DWI etc) and you can’t get hired then you might want to consult a professional as to why your personality is so offensive to others?
I’ll be honest, I found the transition from the twin to the jet extremely challenging. In prop airplanes power response is almost immediate, in turbine aircraft there’s a lag that must be anticipated. You need to be thinking way ahead of an airplane that is now traveling 3-4 times as fast as you’ve been used to. That said it’s something we all go through and fortunately the training I received at ATP prepared me for the pace of the training and ultimately I was successful, but it wasn’t always pretty!
Adam
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Dustin,
Like Adam said, if you meet the requirements you will get a job. If not at one regional, then at the other one. That is the situation now and should keep going for a few years, so if you are interested, you probably will not find a better time to do it.
For me, the transition to the jet wasn’t too bad. Of course I didn’t just jump in to the seat and say ‘Oh this is easy’, but the training programs at most of the regionals are built in a way that makes the transition a little bit more gradual and therefore easier to go through.
Yarden
Hey thanks for the response so quickly. I had dwi when I was 21 and now I’m 33 and I believe it was takin off my record. I drove a 18 wheeler with a commercial driver license and they never asked or said anything about it. Since I have nothing not even a speeding ticket.
And sweet my dream is fly for a living and travel the world and show my wife and kids something my parents could never see. And to get paid for it makes it even better. With that said. I will be trying in about six months after the wife and I get financials to where I can take off six months without a pay check.
And I live in Missouri so coors doesn’t do so well here lol. This is bud country!! But thanks for the help haha. 
Is there anyway possible to work a small part time job at all?
Do you mean during training? If so not really. If you’re not flying, in the sim or ground school you need to be studying. You’re talking about learning a great deal of information and acquiring many skills in a very compressed time frame.
Adam