kb8018

I was wondering if some of the experienced guys around here might have advice regarding good combos of Regional jobs and SELRES VR squadrons that allow the ability to live close to both jobs. I'll be getting out of my Navy flying gig in November and have some offers for interviews with a handful of regional jobs once I get within my 6 month window in June, but in a perfect world I would love to have a reasonable commute to both, so I was hoping that a few people that are flying with airlines and doing the VR thing might be able to offer some practical advice. Thanks for the help.

hindsight2020

Guard/airline double commute? Eh, no. Commute to a Regional? Eh, double no.

My plan of action, if I was in your shoes? I'd do SELRES only, max volunteer [bum/trough] on that end and wait to get hired at mainline. If money through that avenue is not good enough for your accustomed standard of living, I'd do a pedestrian job for the money and stay current via SELRES, and wait to get hired at mainline. I'd still vote for troughing though.

All the dudes I know who did what you're about to do have quit the regional anywhere between 6 months and 7 years. The 6-month guy commuted to RSV lines at ASA; ended up costing him money to go to work. Alas, he ran out of money and temperance in 6 short months, decided to save his marriage and family. Ended up getting an ART job. He's applying to the majors on this wave last I heard, 10 years later. The 7-year guy actually had the seniority to upgrade to Captain for years and purposely never did, citing QOL reasons {aka junior CA schedule at a regional}. He simply made more money troughing than as a regional FO, and had he upgraded to regional CA he would have had worse QOL for the same money than troughing in the SELRES. In the same timeframe he acquired all the TPIC he needed to apply at majors so as to forego the regional, so he straight up quit.

That should tell you enough. 121 SIC is chaff, especially at 30 bucks a pop.It's your life though. Good luck.

rickair7777

Look at the "Airline Profiles" link at the top of every APC page. That will list bases for each regional (large regionals, ie Skywest are under the Major-National-LCC category). Then google VR squadron locations.

There are a variety of east-coast regionals which probably have junior bases within train-range of Mcquire. I'm pretty sure one has an ORF base.

Skywest has several bases in SOCAL within driving distance of NASNI and Mugu.

Mesa has several bases on HI, and I think those may be junior as mainlanders typically don't want to go to the islands on Mesa pay. Not sure I'd recommend mesa for any reason though.

You'd have to ask on the regional forums which specific bases are junior.

x2.



All true, but you have to ask yourself how bad do you want a major airline job? The applicant screening systems are mostly going to computer-based grading where you get points for checking boxes. The more boxes, the more points and those with the most points get an interview. How many boxes can you check?

If you're not dying for an airline job, you could reasonably wait out a couple years as a bum and then hopefully things will pick up a bit more. But if you go for the major job early and aggressively you could find yourself at the front of the wave with QOL, equipment transitions, and upgrade coming fast and furious.

Also troughing may or may not be a viable long-term option depending on federal budget shenanagins, although VR probably isn't going anywhere soon...they'd have to reel in forward deployed forces before they can cut the log tail.

You can always take a regional job, get a few hundred hours online and then drop a lot of mil leave until you have some seniority.

Also do have turbojet time? If not, you may want to focus on C-40 if possible (or look for an RJ, vice turboprop regional job).

DCA A321 FO

Was in VR squadron at JRB Fort Worth TX. Eagle hated the fact that I flew 10 days a month in reserves but **** them.

Commuting to either would suck.

e6bpilot

DFW would be the prime place to do this for Navy SELRES for many reasons, chief among them the relative low cost of living in the area vs the quality of life there.
If you can get selected to one of the C-40 units there, you will be on easy street as long as you can get based out of DFW in fairly short order in your regional of choice. In the meantime, network network network and apply apply apply to the majors.
Agree also with the above advice about either bumming or getting a pedestrian job while you are staying current and waiting. Shoot, you could also weekend CFI if you absolutely needed to. I know there are a few schools in the area that are hiring.
If you need a point of contact down there (he is a FTS dude), shoot me a PM.

kb8018

Thank you guys for all the good insight so far. I guess when I mentioned reasonable commute, I was definitely meaning less than an hour to each, or else it would be way too much trouble than it's worth.

With that in mind, a few of the places I was thinking were DFW/VR-59, LAX/VR-55 or 57, IAD/VR-53, EWR/VR-64 to name a few.

Certainly bumming SELRES only would pay more, get me some more TPIC time quicker, and probably have a QoL advantage, but I was thinking that supplementing with a regional would help get some 121 time as well as getting some turbojet time in case I land at a C-130 SELRES instead of a C-40 (which would be ideal).

Other than Eagle, is there anyone else with a junior base in DFW? ExpressJet maybe? I think DFW or the DC area would be ideal, but I would be flexible on location in order to not close any doors.