Regional Vs. Neight Freight & time away from home

Flies2Much · November 19th, 2007, 16:06

Hello all,

I am new to jet careers and forums in general. I have been flight instructing for about a year and have a little over 700TT and 100 Multi. I also just married a wonderful woman about three months ago and am concerned about my "next step" in the aviation world. I am at the crossroads of going to a regional (PSA) or a night cargo company (Airnet). PSA has descent domiciles, relatively good pay, pretty quick upgrade time, and good travel perks for my wife and I. Airnet has the allure of being home "most days" and not flying "most weekends." It is also salaried and has descent benefits. I am wondering mainly if there are any married night cargo pilots out there who wouldn't mind sharing how the job is with a husband or wife that works a normal 9-5. Also any pilots that have any two cents to put in for either side regional or cargo are welcome. I am hoping to get on somewhere by th first of the year, so please let me know.
-Phil

Lee D · November 19th, 2007, 19:16

Can't speak much for the cargo pilots. Though some of the cargo gigs involve leaving early AM/ getting home late PM and spending all day at their destination. To me that would stink.

Of course all regionals are going to give you time away from home. How much completely depends on how much movement is going on when you get hired and beyond. For example at SkyWest it took me about 5 months to hold a line as an F/O. I had 13 to 14 days off a month. By eight months or so I could hold schedules that had me working 4 days a week but only gone two nights a week. My wife did not mind that type of schedule at all. With a few more months I could have done day trips and been home every night. (Then I upgraded and started from scratch again. ) Being on reserve, away from home, or commuting to do 4 day trips sucked and it put some stress on us.

Much will depend on how supportive and independent she is, not to mention how well you communicate while on the road and how you spend time when you are together. Good luck with your choice.

mikecweb · November 19th, 2007, 19:36

Good questions and welcome to the forum. We have a ton of married pilots at Airnet. Three of them currently frequent this forum and will probably chime in here in a bit. Don't forget also that most of our pilots have holidays off. If you happen not to have off you would have to work the night after the holiday so even so it's not that big of a deal.

ljg · November 19th, 2007, 20:01

I agree that Airnet is a great place to work if you want to avoid overnights. Keep in mind that there are the initial prop assignment, and then a lateral to a LearJet SIC, and LearJet PIC, will likely all involve a move. Something to discuss carefully with the wifey.

Kristie · November 19th, 2007, 23:01

what is "neight"? do you mean "night"? just wanted to clarify....

flyboy04 · November 19th, 2007, 23:05

I never worked for airnet, but i was at simular company, flight express. I was able to get a run that left at like 0530 and got back aroudn 1830, it was a long day but i was home every single night , every holiday and every single holiday off. But make no mistake about it, its a challenging job, and you should be ready for it, single pilot IFR is alot at first, and heck itd be alot for me now.

I now work for expressjet, very senior on reserve and will have a line next month. I have only flown 6 hours this month, and my reserve schedule is just Mon-thurs so im off every weekend. Im not married, but i think if i had a wife shed be sick of seeing me all the time lol.

Personally i think that the airline life maybe hard at first, but it offers a better lifestyle in the end than being a check hauler. If you want to keep a base, then dont bid captain until you can hold it, same with holding a line. Also, ive flown with several captains whose wife came along with them on a trip, one even rode in the jumpseat on a ferry flight once. Just my .02 cents, hope it helps!

Flies2Much · November 20th, 2007, 13:06

Thanks for all of the insight everyone. I think that everyone has made good points, and yes Kristie I did not spell night correctly. I am a product of the spell check generation and I must say I thought I proof-read everything and I did... except the title box haha. Well, I think I am going to apply to both companies and try to research more and talk it over with my wife more. I never thought this dream of mine would be so hard to navigate through. Oh well, that's life and it is all part of the journey.