[Rerouted]

Hello Counselor! I left a regional carrier named after a certain bird a couple of years ago after a few years of service. I enjoyed the work and had a spotless record, but couldn't afford to work for peanuts anymore and left seat pay wasn't coming fast enough to keep up with increases in my cost of living. I have managed to stay in the aviation field in a management position, but don't spend much time flying. Here's the deal: I can't afford regional pay anymore. I can't even come close to those numbers for any period of time again. I am reading about a potential bottle neck at the regionals since so many pilots there can't afford to move on (golden handcuff theory in action). Do you think this will cause the main line carriers (such as they are) to hire people in my situation? While their first year pay is pretty rough, it does come up a lot quicker in most cases than regional pay. Thoughts? Opinions? And no - slinging hash while working for a regional isn't in the cards. I like my current job...but the call of the wild is getting louder.

[Aviation Interview Prep]

First let me thank you for your great question. You have pointed out some concerns and problems faced by most of your peers. How does one enter, or in your case re-enter, this industry without going broke in the process? The aviation industry is much different than it was 20 years ago. The explosion of regional carriers has completely changed the way the system operates. And yes, the pay has changed dramatically as well. In the past, a majority of the airline pilot new hires came from the military. Today roughly 20% come from the military with 60% coming from smaller 121 carriers (regionals) and the other 20% from 135/91 operators. While I agree with your golden handcuff theory for the senior pilot group there will still be a significant group of mid-seniority applicants from the 121 and the 135 carriers who will be looking to make the next move. The junior group won’t have the PIC hours and the senior group will want to stay put. This is of course assuming that the airline career is still attractive given the current state of the industry.

In years past the major airlines used to have a minimum requirement of 5000TT and 1000PIC while the regionals had 1000TT 200Multi. This was a loose restriction as I knew several pilots who went from right seat at a regional directly to a right seat in the majors. In fact we did see at the tail end of the last hiring cycle that some of the regionals had lowered their minimums to 500 Hours. When will the hiring resume, and how they will hire is anyone’s guess. I do however believe that when they begin it will be extremely competitive. Most candidates such as yourself have been sitting out this downturn building up flight time and acquiring ratings. It would certainly be to your advantage to get hired in the first wave if possible. My suggestion to you would be to try to get a flying position that would enable you to pick up some PIC time. I agree that going back to the regionals would not be an option for you. Instead I would look perhaps for a corporate flying job. A new type rating would also help prove that you are trainable and can fly multiple aircraft.


I know it easier said than done in this market but you need to take some risks and you may need to accept a small pay decrease to get where you eventually want to be. You need to stay competitive and when the hiring manager calls, you want to emphasize your previous 121 experience. Please let me know how you make out. By the way what is a G73? Is that a Grumman Goose?