dash3t

Hi All,

I'm looking for advice on where best to apply my efforts (and funds) to make an attempt an airline career at 42.
I have recently returned to aviation after a 7.5 yr hiatus. I left flying in 08 to pursue an IT career and while the pay has improved the work life balance hasn't been much better than what it was when I was flying and the view sucks.

Most of my experience is Single Engine scheduled 135, and that mostly floats with several seasons in Alaska, however I did do an 18 month stint flying Single Pilot IFR 135 freight. I'm Currently flying part time for a 135 Float plane operation in the pacific northwest, while still full time IT.
Long story short, I am pretty much done with IT and ready to get back to flying full time and considering making a go at the airlines. My exp current sits about:

6500 TT
2500 Floats
443 Turbine PIC (all single engine)
4771 XCntry
370 Night
378 Inst
34 ME

I plan to invest in some time to get IFR current and proficient and then on some additional flying\training as well. I'm wondering if it's worth while to invest in a CTP course, or would it be better to put the money toward Multi time building (maybe with CFII\MEI addon) and try and get a 135 multi job with AMF or something to build some multi PIC for a bit and then try for the nationals, or (heaven forbid) try for the Regionals now without spending any money other than on currency, and get the 121 time\ATP that way?

Seems to be a mixed bag so far of Regionals offering to pay for the CTP but it also seems like that is the way things are headed for most of them. I think if I can skip the Regionals and go straight to the Nationals that would be preferred but that will most likely require having to pay for the ATP myself to go that route?

Thanks in advance!

rickair7777

What's the end goal? Legacy or will any major do?

I doubt any major will hire you as-is...probably not enough recency, especially ME/IFR. You're going to need AT LEAST 1000 Turbine ME...

A stint at a regional will quickly punch your jet/glass/121/ME tickets. Also first-year pay is rapidly headed to $40/hour (with bonuses in some cases).

AMF/135 is not a great path to legacies, although with your experience you could probably get to a national.

dash3t

Thanks for the reply rickair777.

End goal, I think I would be happy with any Major/National early enough to make captain before mandatory retirement ,while maintaining a reasonable income through the transition.

I'm currently doing about 25hrs a month(at least through the summer season), almost exclusively turbine ( although still only SES) so recency will get there but the multi time is my concern as well. Thats why i was thinking somewhere like AMF first to get the ME and IFR proficiency/currency back.

I "think" with my time i could go staight to the 1900/metro which i think the pay scale may still be better than the 40/hr you mention but not entirely sure.

I was mainly wondering, if i did that, and paid for my CTP/ATP written, what the odds would be of going straight to a major/national from there was, or if in the current climate, paying for the CTP was just a waste of money and i should just bite the bullet and try the Regionals.

I think either way i need to invest in some recurrent training as i'm not sure i could get through a sim ride today for either route. Just trying to figure out where i can get the most bang for the buck.

Again, appreciate the insights!


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