The Count

Fellow aviators,

First off, thank you in advance for the assistance/advice. I've combed the forums on this site and I've found a lot of military guys in similar positions: flew military for about 15 years, but will be retiring from a non-flying gig. In other words, a good amount of experience, but won't have recency when retiring. Another commonality with these pilots is that they don't have their ATP. I haven't found, however, a lot of discussion regarding military pilots who are retiring from a non-flying job that have their ATP already. In that vein...

...I'm a fighter guy that knocked out the ATP before the rules change, but will retire after serving 3 years non-flying (2100 TT, of which 1500 are F-16 hours). So, the question for the forum, what is the temperature of the water out there with the majors (or cargo) regarding mil pilots with their ATP, but that don't have recency?

Thanks!
-Count

lava

Got a well-placed buddy whjo does training and hiring in the airline you want to go? Then you might be set... Otherwise recency is a big deal. The regional I'm at has a handful of folks, retired fighter types, in the junior FO ranks. Most recent guy got first major at 6 months after date of hire and that has been pretty close to the norm for the past couple years.

It's a big pay cut. The reserve schedules stink and you're worked like a dog. On the plus side it's good hands on training in a multi-crew cockpit with an FMS and a flight director. You're getting paid solely to fly airplanes and you work with people who worked hard to get where they're at flying airplanes.

So, start your interview prep, put your apps out 6-9 months prior to retirement, hold your breath until you can't stand it, then call a regional with a base near you.

Sliceback

Non current guys have gotten called. Pk unknown.

Improve your odds - get a 121 regional FO job. Type rating, 121 experience, larger a/c experience, FMC/LNAV/VNAV/RNAV/RNAV(RNP) exposure, flight currency, etc. All good points.

Separating mil guy I know did exactly that - got hired by a regional and put that down on his on line app... and SW called. Got his type rating/IOE/LOE sign off and AA called. Started flying the line and DL called. Super competitive guy regardless but we'll never know if going 121 FO accelerated the process.

Sliceback

Lead turn applying to the regionals. Some class dates are six months out if you got hired today. Starting the process 6+ months early means you might retire on Friday and start training on Monday(true story).

This applies to both regional and major jobs. The mil guy I mentioned in the previous post talked about going casual status for the summer after his April retirement. Every recruiter at the job fair told him to keep his foot on the gas and go straight to his next job. DOS to DOH was about 9 months, including 6(?) at a regional.

Otterbox

It's possible, but isn't common AFAIk. I believe most places want to see 100hrs in the last 12 months, with outliers like SWA accepting 2 of the last 5 years flying...

Plan on sucking it up at the regionals for 6-18 months depending on how quickly you build whatever the majors decide they want for currency. Figure out where you want to live and then start zeroing in on the regionals with bases close by.

Hacker15e

I retired in 2015 from a USAF desk job, but GA current/recent and with an ATP in my wallet.

Did 12 months at a regional, then off to the majors. Interview invites at the majors started about the 6-months-at-the-regionals mark for me (that was finishing training and getting about 100-200 hours of flying).