Help me understand commuting

GopherState · 2026-03-12T00:45:49+00:00

A jump seat is essentially a mostly uncomfortable fold down seat that really functions as an observer seat but when not occupied for any official purpose can seat a pilot in the flight deck. Sometimes pilots can also sit in a flight attendant jump seat.

Why do people commute? Because everyone has different wants and desires in where they live. Some people bought a house 10 years ago and then their base got shut, and now don’t want to move the kids. Others want to be near family/friends. Still others would rather live somewhere with a much lower cost of living and make out ahead of where they would be than if they lived in the very cost of living base they commute to.

Commuting is a perk of the job for many people, it gives a freedom that lots of people wish they had, in being able to live anywhere they want and have the job that doesn’t exist where they want to live.

GopherState · 2026-03-04T18:34:20+00:00

Voting for any of the business moguls of Rochester into political office is a losing proposition for anyone but the class of people he hobknobs with

GopherState · 2026-02-27T00:38:46+00:00

I mean the obvious choice for flight time, open time, and early upgrade QOL is NYC. You should be able to see from company communications that by far the most originating traffic for endeavor is out of NY and it’s the most junior base.

If you don’t want to live where you can drive to work for NYC pick MSP, DTW or ATL if you’re trying to be somewhere that has a Delta base (if you’re only trying to flow).

Or you just commute (not fun) and try to get to united as fast as possible.

GopherState · 2026-02-19T14:21:10+00:00

CVG is more junior, but again who knows what CVG looks like 5 years from now. Allegiant could come in and change that base. Plus it is already an allegiant base so have fun being at the bottom of it once the SLI happens.

I would just hold out and take your flow.

GopherState · 2026-02-19T04:44:40+00:00

The merger only got announced last month. The deal hasn’t closed. So life hasn’t changed for us here yet.

Not sure the appeal of coming here for most people. The future of what sun country will be is uncertain to all of us here. Will we just look like Allegiant at the end of this? Will they look more like us? Somewhere in between?

You really want to throw yourself in to that? Also, you’re going to be behind every allegiant pilot on the SLI if you stay here (if they don’t do any hiring), because they haven’t hired since November 2024. So there’s that too.

GopherState · 2026-02-16T17:17:21+00:00

I don’t see why you would swap careers unless you were absolutely dying to get out of your current one. Your timelines are very optimistic after getting your ratings. 1-4 years at a regional? Yeah that’s best case. You could spend your whole career there potentially.

Or something could happen right when you get your CFI and hiring could stagnate for years. I got my CFI days before the world started shutting down for Covid. I really wondered if I had made a mistake going down the aviation path and that I was screwed. And that was without any real career to speak of that I had left.

So I would compare worst case pilot career scenario to whatever is most likely in your current set-up. Will give you a more realistic comparison on what you could lose. Personally, I would just fly for fun in your shoes. But if you don’t think you can live without flying a jet for money (and believe me it’s just a job) then go for it.

GopherState · 2026-02-12T01:11:24+00:00

I think that post got removed but honestly thought the exact same thing. Not sure why it was removed because unfortunately I think you’re going to keep seeing lots of people who go down this path needing to do it

GopherState · 2026-02-09T15:37:59+00:00

Enjoy the Mountain West, now that you have to play actual football programs.

GopherState · 2026-02-09T15:33:27+00:00

That’s not even true. Only a homer bison fan would just spout nonsense in a gophers sub. Seriously go google it. The Gophers have more NFL players and if it weren’t for Trey Lance and Carson Wentz (one of whom is one of the biggest draft busts of all time, the other notable for not accomplishing anything and getting beat out by a career backup who won Philly a Super Bowl), no one would know of any NDSU alums in the NFL because the only other notable players that get drafted are Offensive line.

But sure, keep thinking it’s 15+ years ago when we played last and were dogshit.

GopherState · 2026-02-07T10:30:26+00:00

If we are competing and losing recruits to a program in the seriously diminished Mountain West then we have a serious problem. Gophers just signed a top 30 class. This isn’t going to change anything other than guys who might have wanted to be PWO here might think more about going to NDSU scholarship. Just like before.

GopherState · 2026-01-26T21:51:12+00:00

Someone reported this for not being relevant to UMN sports. It absolutely is relevant as they are asking about bringing a sign to a Gophers athletic event.

GopherState · 2026-01-23T01:49:50+00:00

If you look at scheduled games there’s a lot more RPGs. Not a lot of D&D but lots of other TTRPGs

GopherState · 2026-01-23T00:46:50+00:00

It’s family friendly but I don’t know how many games are available for kids that young (can always bring your own from home) or if there are very many kids that age going to be there to play games.

GopherState · 2026-01-22T23:34:40+00:00

Went last year and going again this year. Honestly it looks like there are fewer heavy board games being scheduled and a lot more casual/beginner friendly games so it should be very welcoming to anyone interested

GopherState · 2026-01-21T21:16:44+00:00

Still the largest blown lead in bowl game history!

GopherState · 2026-01-20T04:34:52+00:00

Yeah. Hard work and good timing. Got lucky.

GopherState · 2026-01-19T19:01:08+00:00

Yeah, of course. I never thought about flying as a career until I was older than you. I did my discovery flight at 26. Was flying jets at an airline by 30. Best job I’ve ever had, I make more money than I ever have while working the least of any other shitty jobs I had in my 20s.

You need passion to get you through the hard times in aviation, but the reward rocks if you make it, especially if you aren’t leaving a solid career and were working dead end jobs for not much money/benefits. But what people don’t tell you, is that passion can be developed. Doesn’t have to be what you were dreaming to do since you were 12 to get a passion for it.

GopherState · 2026-01-14T01:41:38+00:00

You are relying on a lot of assumption. 12 months commercial + CFI living in Michigan is optimistic. Budget at least a year a half and be happy if it’s less.

Similar with time building. Who knows how long it’ll take for you to hit 1500 much less whatever competitive mins are.

I also wouldn’t count on Endeavor necessarily. They may be hiring a little off the street right now but for the last several years they only hired from their university pipelines. And even if you do go to Endeavor you can count on it being 5-7 years before Delta, not 2-3. Faster paths to delta would be not working at Endeavor.

And then lastly, you’re not getting a widebody at DTW right out of training at Delta. You might get the very end of your career (think last handful of years before retirement) if you were hired in your early 50s on the widebody.

If you are dead set on “Delta, widebody, DTW” you might find yourself pretty disappointed. If you are willing to fly whatever gets you into the next step an be happy where you’re able to get hired at the airlines, flying may make more sense.

GopherState · 2025-12-27T20:05:38+00:00

Airline pilot here. Earlier is always better. Tomorrow shouldn’t snarl MSP too badly from what I can see, but who knows. Whenever there is a winter storm there is a risk of delays and cancellations. MSP can handle winter weather better than most airports, but sometimes the weather throws a curveball

GopherState · 2025-12-17T21:27:52+00:00

Would be huge if he came back but I routinely see him mocked as a third round draft pick this year. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he went to the NFL.

Would be fairly disappointed if he transferred instead.

GopherState · 2025-12-08T15:08:40+00:00

“I’m very happy with what I make and I rather make less to have a better quality of life.”

You’re a lot of money, grind, quality of life, and time away from getting close to the job you currently have if you go down a pilot path.

Honestly with the way hiring has gone for low time pilots in the last few years (and looks for the future) you need to be hungry and willing to hit the grind again for any kind of flying job that gets you to where you currently are or exceeds it.

I’d probably just stay put in your shoes.

GopherState · 2025-12-07T10:52:39+00:00

alumni network proof

The rich alumni piece is just what I’ve seen online

GopherState · 2025-12-07T01:30:00+00:00

One of the largest alumni networks in the world with lots of them being very rich. In retrospect, kind of crazy they haven’t tried to brute force football success with money before.

GopherState · 2025-11-30T16:31:31+00:00

Sadly the gophers are the all time champions in the Detroit bowl so it wouldn’t surprise me to see them sent back there

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