[GoldenRivet]

Under the crushing peer pressure and my own selfish desires, i have managed to successfully interview at a regional airline.

The pilot shortage which has been forecast for ages has either stricken with full force, or many of these airlines have been mismanaging their workforce for some time (could be both) because they are trying to lure experienced pilots back by offering - in some cases - as much as $45,000 sign on bonus to take the job.

to be clear, the offer is on the table, but i have not yet accepted it, though they will be calling me within a matter of days to discuss my decision, so i am having to make up my mind pretty quickly.

seems like a simple choice really... but it isnt.

the conundrum is simple. Legally speaking, in order to serve as an airline captain, one must have to have 1,000 hours as a first officer in an airline operation. These airlines have hired lots of people the past couple of years, but as captains move on to bigger and better things, thereby creating vacant captain seats, the airlines turn to their first officers to fill them only to find that the majority of their first officers are several months of flying shy of their coveted 1,000 hours airline time and are therefore not legally qualified to serve as captains - yet. So where does an airline get a couple hundred captains right now? they have planes to fly and they cant do it without crews... well...

because i am a former airline pilot with over 1,000 hours of airline flying in my logbooks, i qualify for an immediate captain position with the airline in question. and thats where the fast track to the captain seat and the bonus come into play

bad news is, (1) i will be based in either New York or Chicago for the next 12-18 months, where they are most hurting for captains and frankly... i do not want to be in either of those places for really any reason (2) even though i jump right into the captain seat, i will still be a new hire, which means that every single first officer hired before me, will be senior to me, and they will very soon become captains themselves.

thus, I will be stuck in a perpetual state of seniority limbo, constantly moving up 10 or 12 spaces one month, and, as more senior First Officers get their captain calls, ill be knocked back down 10-12 spaces next month. it will be a long time before i really get anywhere

in the airline business, seniority is everything. It determines what base you get, what airplane you train on, what days off & what vacation you get etc. i fear i will be locking myself into a bad position if i make the jump

2017 was brutal for me. I left home on January 7th, and did not return until April 24th. I spend one night at home before being redeployed for another assignment on April 25th. I was gone for a month before spending 4 nights at home and being redeployed for another assignment running June, July and August. during that three month stretch i returned home for 8 cumulative days. At the end of August i was redeployed to another city where i spent an additional two months before being released for the winter. all total, we are talking about 12 cumulative days home over a span of about 298 days.

Most of those days were spent driving house to house, 5-7 houses per day, inspection after inspection 6 days a week on average 98 work hours a week.

grueling

between fuel, hotel and rv park related costs i parted with about $19,000. throw in my federal income tax at around $30,000, and misc expenses. Traveling for work is not only exhausting, and taxing on the family life... but financially speaking it is a costly affair.

taking the job will cost me a substantial pay cut... but i wont be paying near as much tax, and all of my hotel costs would be covered and i will be home 2-3 nights per week which is important.

I'll basically be jumping in coach on an airliner at the start of every work week, leaving Dallas for Chicago or New York. Sitting standby at the airport for 4 or 5 days, board a plane and head back to Dallas for my "weekend". while that might be exciting at first, im sure the honeymoon period will wear off rather quickly. Especially after I have to use up 1/2 of a day off to travel to New York because i have to be at work at 4am on my "Monday". but while im there... i get to play with jets. which is cool. and perhaps most importantly, under the current contract, American Airlines draws approximately 50% of its new hire pilots from the airline i've got the offer from... which means in perhaps 7-10 years time i'll be - supposedly - guaranteed a call up to AA.

I'm at an absolute loss as to what i should do. I have a darned good gig right now. i'd hate to run back to my first love only to regret that before long, but you miss 100% of the shots you dont take.

choices choices