Currently stuck at an SIC role at a 135...not getting the hours I need. Thoughts on part time opportunities?

I'm in your same boat and share your exact same feelings. The advice I can give is mental: don't obsess about it. If I get too worked up into it, every day I'm sitting at home is unbearable since the only thing on my mind is that I should be flying instead. The outlook is positive, the planes are showing up on the ramp when they said they would, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that things will even out in a few months. I know they say it's a race, but at the end we're in it for the long haul. Think about it this way, if you got in with around 500 hours, by the time you're at ATP mins you will have 1,000 turbojet in a transport category aircraft. Not many people have the fortune of being in that position. Say you then stick around and upgrade, and get your 1,000 turbine PIC in just over a year at the rate our captains are flying. Now you're at 2,500 hours; 2,000 turbojet, 1,000 turbine PIC. That's right around the hiring minimums for SWA. That will be 3 years from now. The 700hr CFI/survey pilot/whatever that starts rushing today to ATP mins flying 100h/mo and goes to a regional will probably require around 3 years too to get those times (with more TT of course) assuming short upgrade times, so in the big scheme of things you're not too far behind. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
To actually answer your question, I was lucky that I was able to make a few connections in the contracting world and got SIC typed in a couple of corporate jets before coming here. They still like to use me from time to time if their trips line up with my days off. I try to do at least one trip a month, and while it might not be many additional hours, the extra money and connections all help in the long run. Now that we get to play with the Honeywell box, it might be a good time to look into Legacy 600/650 contracting once we get proficient in it. The lower TT makes it harder without a connection, but a few hundred hours in type balances it out.

/r/flying Thread