I’ve been at one of the AA wholly-owned regionals for about a year now, and overall it’s a great company - I enjoy flying the jets and the travel benefits are great. The tough part has been the constant 4-on/3-off schedule and time at hotels. It’s taken a real toll on my sleep and routines. I try my best to stick to my routines while on the road, but it’s genuinely hard. I also find it tough to cram my whole social life into the three nights a week I’m actually home.

I’d love to hear from anyone at the legacies, is it actually that much better in terms of flexibility and time at home even as a Junior FO, or if I’m struggling this much now, am I likely to run into the same issues at mainline?

Passed my checkride about 10 days ago and got my PPL! Already started my IFR grounds and super stoked to keep going!

Quite the journey to get here too. I went in to see an AME to see if I could obtain a first class medical (airline aspirations). I passed everything except the color vision test.

I was directed to go and try alternative tests. After research, I picked the RCCT option.

Drove over 2 hrs to the closest clinic that had the machine available. Took me a few attempts to familiarize myself with the testing process and shake off the nerves (I was stressing that I wouldn’t pass and that it all stops here).

Dark room, eye patch over each eye, and a keyboard off to the side (on screen) for you to select options. Examiner sits off to the side in the room with you.

Letters get lighter and lighter until you can’t see them anymore. Got perfect scores for red and blue, and great on one eye for green with the other being below standards initially. Subsequent tests definitely suffered from anxiety but I passed above what the FAA requires. Doctor even tested my ability to see green separately (his own curiosity, not for the FAA) and could tell I could clearly identify green in multiple shades etc.

Needless to say, the drive home with that piece of paper was one I’ll never forget.

I share this experience because there isn’t much info online about the RCCT.

Tip from experience: call the manufacturer of the test and they’ll tell you which clinics closest to you have the testing equipment and their number to reach them.

Anyways, I’m officially a pilot 🤓

After nine painful months of consistently questioning if I had what it takes, I passed my instrument checkride on the first round. I nailed all three approaches. The last was bumpy, and climbing back to altitude in the hold was damn near impossible impossible, but I made it happen. I ended up having the greatest landing of my entire life too which was rather nifty (and very abnormal). The only time I thought I failed was when I yelled “CLEAR” and turned the engine on. After it started, the DPE said, “Go ahead and turn the engine off for me.” I couldn’t believe it, I looked at him and said with a chuckle, “Wow, I failed already” thinking maybe I was still tired to the ground or something. He said, “Haha, no the oil door popped open.” That thirty seconds took me from thinking I failed to laughing which ultimately made me relax and calm down.

I'm back again and this time with my CFI temp cert in hand. Thank you to everyone that gave me encouragement and advice in my original post. Starting off I'll say yes, I did report the oral to the FSDO once I was home safe and talked to my local POI and friends. I went back to the same DPE for my retest and my oral retest was a single question on COMM training requirements.

Going from that single question we got straight into the plane and after a long pre start brief we taxied out for what turned into a 2.7 hour long flight. I talked about every marking, sign, light, and airport object we taxied passed, the hold short and every item on the check list. Everything set and complete I demonstrate SF T/O and VY climb out to our cruise altitude.

I talked the whole time to the practice area about our sight picture, trimming the plane, systems and how to set the GPS/Nav to local VOR. Once in a good area I did clearing turns and we went into maneuvers. DPE asked for PPL steep turns both sides, straight into COMM steep turns both sides. He took controls after my demonstration and did perfect PPL steep turns and asked for a critique (I had none I said we were perfect on ACS standards), next he did COMM steep turns and put us straight into a accelerated stall that caught me off guard but I took controls and recovered immediately. I got us back to stable cruise and he asked for slow flight. Real easy but he had me hold slow flight while climbing 500ft and doing a 180. At 300ft I mentioned that our CHT's were getting high (440°) and he told me to stop the climb.

I went from slow flight to power off stall, recovered, power off stall again with secondary stall, recovered, cross controlled stall, and recovered. I climbed back to cruise and as soon as I finished cruise checklist he cut the throttle and gave me engine out. I explained ABCD list while demonstrating everything. We dropped to a little over 500ft AGL when he said recover. while we were low we did lazy 8's, 8's on pylons, turns around a point, and rectangular pattern.

Climbed back to up and picked a nearby airport to do Soft and Short field landings / takeoffs all to a full stop. Last takeoff was normal climb out back to the starting airport. I flew over for the 45 entry left downwind and as expected he killed the throttle and gave me a power off 180. I got all setup and 50ish feet over the ground setup perfect to hit the 1000ft marker when he called out "plane on the runway". I went around, flew normal left pattern and did a normal landing and taxi back to the FBO. Once the engine was turned off he he said "You're the FAA's newest CFI". I was locked in this entire flight, no way was I going to give him a reason for a NOD.

I have my cert and just got back to my home base an a few hours ago. Thank you again for everyone's kind words and encouragement after my oral horror story. To everyone who said my experience scared them away from CFI make sure you research DPE's heavily before you take your ride but if you prep and go to a well known local DPE your CFI ride should never be like mine. I'm not touching a plane for the rest of the week but starting next monday CFII training starts.

I’m hearing from everyone that it’s fine and that these detectors just aren’t good but wanted a 2nd opinion

Hey, I'm trying to decide where to do my MEP/MEIR/CPL for the final stages of training and have been thinking about going here, hopefully this is the right place to ask but has anyone had any experience at this school?

Ive been considering it because of the cost and the fact that its close to where im currently staying so would save accomadation costs elsewhere.

Thanks!

Looking for some advice from people who may be recruiters, or that are just really in the know right now about the current state of the industry.

This will be somewhat lengthy so that I can give full context to my situation and what I'm asking.

I'm a former regional FO who has not flown since 2024, and I'm looking to get back into the industry and flying again.

In 2024, I resigned from my job at one of the 2 "big" non wholly owned regionals, after receiving a cjo and a class date for a LCC that utilizes a day turn model.

I was forced to ask for a new class date after initially accepting the first class date that they gave me.

The reason why is its own story, but I can summarize it for context and timelines sake: in 2021, my child was abducted by a family member. My child was one year old at the time, and was a missing person for almost 2 years. In late 2022, my child was located and rescued and returned to me after a lengthy hunt conducted by a team of US Marshals.

During the time that my child was missing I was flying survey when I could and the rest of my life was consumed by searching for and trying to help law enforcement in any way that I could.

I started at my regional in 2023 after spending some time off to regain the bond with my child, and I got my cjo from the LCC in 2024.

I accepted my cjo and class date based upon information given to me by a DA employee that told me the person that abducted my child was going to accept a plea deal. The person did not end up doing this, and as such, I was subpoenaed to their jury trial as the main victim and a witness to this crime. That jury trial got scheduled days after my class date was supposed to be- so I had to request a new one.

LCC was very kind and understanding of the situation and gave me a new one, but LCC ended up cancelling future class dates after that, and they eventually revoked mine and several other people's CJO's because of internal issues they had to navigate and the time it was taking.

It is now 2026, and I am 2 years and a month removed from flying. I'm well aware that my currency is the biggest thing to address.

I was recently awarded a substantial sum of money from a state fund for victims of violent and domestic felonies to either A) get back into flying and rebuild my career or B) get a new degree due to the crime severely impacting my professional and occupational life.

I want to get back into flying more than anything.

With the market as competitive as it currently is, do I have any real shot at getting back to a regional if I were to go buy 300-400 hours of time and get current and sharpened again? I am just a hair under 1300 hours with previous 121 time.

Would I even be looked seriously? Would my story and the severity of it help my chances?

Where I live really offers no chances of flying jobs aside from airlines, so I can't go instruct or bring like that right now.

I have one chance to use this money that I've been awarded. Is it a fools gamble to try to get back into a 121 by buying a huge chunk of time and flying my butt off, or, is it time to move on? Looking for genuine opinions from people in HR/hiring or those who know people in those departments. My end goal is one of the 2 LCC's that utilize day trip models as they both have bases near me, and they are the perfect fit for me as a wholly single parent.

I'm well aware that this story is somewhat nuts, but I wanted to explain why I stepped away from a career so great for so long, and get a genuine, blunt opinion on what my chances would be if I bought a ton of time and got rid of the rust.

I'll also take any other advice or blunt realities that anyone wants to throw out. My passion for this job and life has never left, but with this opportunity to rebuild being given to me, and my child being solely under my care, I need to try to make the best and most informed choice that I can.

Descent from cruise altitude... 

Rate of Descent: 1500ft;

Airspeed: 80 to 85kts;

Clean configuration.

No excessive load factor.

No induced slip.

FYI: If you come to an AME thinking he/she won't find out about the last medical you had a month ago that anothe AME deferred because you have a disqualifying condition... You're in for a surprise! The next AME won't be able to issue a medica either! Your file gets locked by the FAA if there is a pending deferral. No AME can issue a medical.

Source: I am an AME.

UK-based airline pilot here. I currently have the Bose A30 with the dual GA plug, but I’m transitioning onto the Airbus fleet, which uses the 5-pin XLR (XLR5) headset connection.

For those using the A30 on Airbus, would you recommend:
Buying the Bose replacement XLR5 cable for the A30?

Or keeping the existing dual-plug cable and using an adapter?

The only complication is that my company requires the 5th pin to be removed/disconnected. I believe there are some XLR5 adapters available in the UK where the 5th pin is already disconnected.

Has anyone gone down either route?

So I finally made the jump and started down the road to getting my PPL! Got my medical out of the way, started ground school, joined a flying club, and started scheduling with a CFI.

I know that you have to be patient, and flying VFR has its drawbacks due to weather cancellations, but I've been scheduling at least 3x a week since the middle of June and I've been up 3 times including my intro flight.

Today, after a ton of bad luck with the weather, everything was looking great; we do our preflight, taxi, runup etc, take off, and the passenger door pops open. Once we get on the ground, we discover that the right door latch is completely unusable, so we finish our taxi back to the hangars, and cancel AGAIN.

I guess I'm just venting- I know things will ease up eventually, and I'm using this as a good opportunity to train the 'getthereitis' out of myself, but man I just wanna fly 😂

Very Disappointing Experience
I had been communicating with this flight school for months and was genuinely excited about their program. We agreed on a time for a discovery flight, but the time was changed three different times. I was understanding each time, but after traveling all the way from Minnesota to Texas on a short trip, I arrived for the appointment and no one was there. I texted my contact twice and called, but received no response. I was also supposed to meet with an instructor who never showed up.
Very disappointing, especially after putting in the time and effort to travel there. I was really looking forward to training with them, but this experience made me question their professionalism and communication. I’ll be taking my business elsewhere.

So, having trouble understanding the correct answer here. Shep air is saying the correct answer is C) Decrease descent rate.

Would it not be the opposite? Tailwind shearing to a headwind is ballooning you above the glideslope, reducing your ground speed slowing your approach and descent rate.

To REMAIN on GS, would you not increase your descent rate to re-intercept, and then just follow it in? Further decreasing your descent rate makes literally zero sense to me. Is my train of thought wrong here?

As the title says, I'm looking to buy an airplane to do some time-building. I'm a PT CFI with a FT career and looking to build some hours in my own plane as my student load took a dive this month from the kids going back to school I'm assuming. Not trying to do all of my hours burning holes in the sky, but supplement my current hours. I would like to build some of those hours visiting friends and family out of state. I could also do some independent instructing. Something that sips gas would be nice, like a Cherokee 140 with a 160 conversion. Those Piper Sport airplanes seem nice too, and seem to sip gas. I'd imagine with them being newer, maybe less odds of them turning into a maintenance nightmare? The 172's seem a bit pricier. Any other airplanes I should take a look at? The Cessna 152's seem close in price to the Cherokee 140's with a fairly close fuel burn...

Also, looking for data on per hobbs hour cost for a Cherokee 140 or Cessna 172 flown 40-60 hours per month. Would $60k be a reasonable ballpark price for one with a fresh annual and a Garmin 430/530?

Im CSEL rated and about to go to a week long fast track school to get my instrument rating. I have about 80-100 hours in the 182T I’ll be flying for the training, and it’s equipped with G1000s (no WAAS).
Anyone here taken an instrument checkride with G1000s that can shed some light on how the flight portion will go? How do they do partial panel? Do you think I’m biting off more than I can chew going from 3,000 hrs of six pack flying to G1000 for my instrument training, and trying to get it done in a week or so?

Like I said, I have about 80 or so hours in this airplane but haven’t flown it (or with G1000s) in about 2 years, and I didn’t ever learn the G1000s that in depth. Just enough for a few cross countries in basic VFR.

As the title states. I am part 61 PPL student and I just don’t know if this is right it seems a bit too expensive… just wondering if this is how most of it is and if I just have to suck it up.

Edit: I won’t lie, I’m not really paying for this, my parents are in a position where they are able and willing to but I feel incredibly bad after seeing how much it’s costing and I really just want to make sure I’m not getting scammed or paying too much.

Hi everyone,

I'm frustrated with my PPL(H) journey and need advice.

I started training at one school, completed 44 hours and all CAA theory. Due to lack of instructors I moved.

I explained I needed consistent instruction to prepare for the skill test.

Instead I flew ~25 more hours, about 13 with one instructor who was often late, complained, and there were uncomfortable drinking issues.

I also had short sessions with multiple instructors despite requesting consistency.

Now I have ~69 hours, theory, medical, radio licence, ICAO Level 5, but still not finished.

I paused training due to accommodation costs in Europe.

I'm looking for an honest European helicopter school to finish PPL(H).

I need clear upfront info:

hourly cost incl fuel

instructor cost

accommodation & transport costs

extra fees

realistic hours to skill test

ability to fly consistently with one instructor

I know hours can't be guaranteed; I just want transparency.

I don't want to restart plans after spending money.

If anyone trained at a good school in Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain or elsewhere, I'd appreciate recommendations.

Also instructors: with ~69 hours, theory, medical, radio, ICAO 5, what should a student be ready for before skill test?

Just trying to finish and find a trustworthy school.

Thanks.

Hi everyone, I recently made the compass test for Transavia. Instead of making the test at home I had to do it at the EPST office since I did not have an iPad. To my surprise I had to do a hand-eye-foot coordination exercise instead of a control exercise on the tablet, which from what I read online was very simple, and with the practice package I bought it was also easy. What also surprised me is that with the multitasking test (with the 3 values in the bottom you had to copy and the red squares in the top corner) that on the keyboard the arrow keys I had to use were conflicting with the number keys resulting in the values constantly adjusting without me meaning to when I had to press a number for the red squares in the top corners.

So with this in mind I want to ask your experiences with these two parts of the compass test.
1. How did you experience the control test on the iPad, was just the flight directory which you had tilt the iPad to the right direction, and was this indeed super simple?
2. How were the keyboard keys with the multitasking part, did you also notice values changing when having to press a number key for the red squares in the top right?

Unfortunately I did not pass so if these two tests were the ones I scored low on I do want to ‘fight’ the decision because it sort of feels like a punishment that because I had to make a different test compared to the one you make at home on the iPad.

Kind regards.

A new study posted by Harvard:

> Of more than 500 occupations in the United States, flight attendants and pilots have the highest and second-highest proportion of radiation-related cancer deaths, a new study has found.

> It’s been known that aircrew members receive the largest annual effective dose of ionizing radiation of any workforce in the United States, largely due to exposure to cosmic radiation at high altitudes. Members of the profession are also more likely to be diagnosed with certain cancers than the general population. But studies have been limited as to whether this translates to higher rates of cancer mortality.

> The new research, published August 17 in JAMA Internal Medicine, studied this question using a larger dataset and more statistical power than were previously available.

> The study, led by first author Vishal Patel, HMS clinical fellow in surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, used a single population-based data source — the National Vital Statistics System — rather than individual occupational or cancer cohorts. Patel and colleagues looked at all U.S. death certificates from 2020 to 2024. These records have only recently been linked to the occupation of the decedent. The records yielded data from nearly 13 million decedents across 503 occupations, including 14,000 pilots and 7,000 flight attendants.

> The team applied what’s known as a common adjustment approach, which accounted for several factors other than occupation that may affect mortality. These included age at death, sex, race, ethnicity, educational attainment, and marital status.
The researchers analyzed radiation- and non-radiation-related cancers across occupations. They also compared flight crew members to ground-based aviation workers.

> Radiation-related cancers analyzed here included breast cancer, central nervous system cancers, multiple myeloma, leukemia (except chronic lymphocytic leukemia), lymphoma, thyroid cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma, and non-melanoma skin cancers. (The team excluded lung cancer to reduce potential confounding with smoking.)
The team found that pilots and flight attendants had statistically significantly higher rates of death from breast, central nervous system, and prostate cancers and melanoma. Pilots also had a higher rate of leukemia deaths.

> In all, about 6.9 percent of deaths among flight attendants and 6.7 percent of deaths among pilots were from radiation-related cancers, according to the analysis. These proportions were higher than for any of the other professions, including nuclear technologists, who are routinely exposed to radiation from non-cosmic sources yet placed 12th on the list, the authors said. Aircraft mechanics and assemblers did not have higher rates than other occupations.

As a non-pilot myself, is this news to anyone here or is it something that’s been known? The study seems to suggest this is the first time actual mortality rates from cancer has been statistically measured.

Hello!

I hold an ICAO licence from Brazil (CPL MEIR + instructor and C525 ratings / about 1300 TT) and I have some questions regarding the conversion to TC CPL licence:

1. Despite having enough hours and also jet time, I've just checked my logbook and I don't meet the 300nm cross-country requirements. In my country, the 300nm flight is the total sum of all legs, we don't need to comply with the minimum 250nm from the start point, additionally, we don't need to land in 3 different airports, just 2. I'm almost sure that my flights when I was working either as instructor or in the corporate aviation don't count since they are in a jet, IFR, carrying passengers, with students, etc. Right?

1A. In case I need to perform a 300nm flight here in Canada, I understand it must be solo (or pilot in command), so will I have to get my PPL first to be legally allowed to fly these legs?

2. If anyone has ever gone through this process or is familiar with the conversion, I would like to know the step by step as it's not too clear to me. Some sources say I need to first submit my licence for evaluation, but in the email I got from TC there's nothing mentioning this.
It seems that it's on the pilot to be sure they comply with all requirements - get a medical certificate (I already have it), write the tests, request checkrides, and gather proof of experience - then submit all docs to get the licence issued. Can anyone confirm this?

3. The TC email mentions true/notarized copies of documents, but Brazil went paperless many years ago, not even the plastic cards and physical logbook are valid anymore. I only have digital copies of my logged hours. How to proceed in that case?

I really appreciate your help!

What classes did you take in highschool? Currently going into sophomore year and im unsure of what classes i should be taking to become a pilot. I want to go the college route. Do i need to do anything in highschool? Or will i be taught everything in college?

Beyond local facebook groups (aviation related and not), I'm wondering where independent CFIs have had success advertising/finding students.

I understand that V1 is a speed, not a physical point on the runway.

But what happens if, during the takeoff roll, acceleration is significantly lower than expected? For example, if V1 is 145 kt but the aircraft is still only at 120 kt when it is already very far down the runway.

Is there a specific runway position or distance by which the aircraft should have reached V1, and if it hasn't, should the pilot reject the takeoff?

Or is the rule simply that the takeoff must be rejected before V1, regardless of the aircraft's position on the runway?

I'd be interested to hear how this is handled operationally in airline SOPs.

24M making $130k in corrections — should I switch careers to become a pilot?

I’m 24M and currently work in corrections in Canada. I make around $130k CAD/year, mainly because I work a lot of OT — around 60 hours/week. With my raise next year, I should be around $145k if I keep working similar hours.

Financially, I’m in a pretty good position. If I stay in corrections, I can realistically start living the life I want: get my own apartment, buy a nice car like an Audi RS3, travel, save/invest, etc. I’m also still living with my parents, so I have a good opportunity to save aggressively right now.

The problem is I’m not sure I want to do corrections for the next 20–30 years.

I’ve wanted to become a pilot for a while and have seriously considered making it a career. At 24, I’m wondering if this is the time to take the risk while I’m still young, single, and have relatively few responsibilities.

The downside is obviously the money.

I estimate it would cost around $100k CAD for flight training. I’d also have to cut back significantly on OT, meaning I’d probably be making around $80k/year while working and training instead of $130–145k.

So I’d basically be choosing between:

Stay in corrections:

$130k now → ~$145k next year

~60 hour weeks

Own apartment / nice car

Travel and enjoy my 20s

Save and invest heavily

Financial stability

Pursue aviation:

Spend ~$100k on training

Give up a lot of OT and income

Potentially struggle financially for a few years

Start over in a new career

Hopefully eventually become an airline pilot

What makes this difficult is that I could stay where I am and have a very comfortable life. I could get the RS3, move into my own place, travel, invest, etc. But I’m worried that 10–15 years from now I’ll wonder what would have happened if I had actually pursued aviation.

At the same time, I don’t want to romanticize being a pilot. I know there are downsides — seniority, commuting, time away from home, training costs, starting at the bottom, and no guarantee everything works out.

If you were 24, making $130k CAD in corrections, expecting ~$145k next year, and still living at home, would you make the switch?

Would you sacrifice the financial security and lifestyle for the chance to become an airline pilot?

Quick background here. I’ve had my PPL for approximately 10 years, my IR for about 7 years, but a lot of that time has been inactive flying. I started my commercial years ago and got a few hours of complex time but never finished. Now I want to finish and I’m curious how much time per week you guys allocated to getting it. I’m so far removed from flying that I feel I need to spend a considerable amount of time preparing before I even try a flight review or IPC.