JohnGardner

I got hired at eagle in 97 with 4000TT, 1500MEL, 135 time. I was the lowest time guy in the room and I was sure it was a practice interview for when I had more competitive hours. there were three corporate guys in there who had jet time and over 10,000 hours each. First thing they did was kick them out of the room. they were looking for people who were going to be at Eagle for a while.

The OP is FOS.

own nav

There's planes parked out front, the name of the FBO is aviation related, there's plenty of clues. BTW, I usually call it "general aviation" and they still don't think anything outside of the terminal is the "airport."

Kprc1

Your personal story and opinion is irrelevant. Thanks for sharing.

Utah

Actually it was.

Frankly, this is about the easiest time ever to get a regional job if you meet the minimums. Yes 5-6 years ago you could get hired with lower time, but I think the interviews were more selective.

Kprc1

I have been associated with a flight school since 1996. I've seen the CFI's over the years leave the job for regionals and other 135 ops. I know first hand what their quals and times were when they left. Yes, some had to pay for sic time and type with companies at some point. 2004 was the first hiring boom for Regionals where their standards were the lowest.
Interviews and hiring practices are easier for the simple fact the pilots come with an ATP written and more flight time. This justifies less scrutiny for the interview.
You are trying to compare apples to oranges. Everything has changed in this industry and yet there are still some similarities. Take your side if you want and I'll take mine. In my opinion today's new hire comes with more experience. That does not always mean a better product"pilot"! Not every pilot is an airline pilot. Now go buy some bowling shoes.

trip

My first airline interview was COEX, after the astronaut written they asked me how I was going to pay for the training. I didn't have a good answer I guess. TBNT. No-sir, thank-you.

OnCenterline

Relative to what? When? When I was working on my private and IFR in the early '90s, you needed to have 5,000TT/500ME just to be considered for an interview with a commuter (the word "regional" had not entered the lexicon yet). I got hired at Comair in '96 with 1200/200, and the 200ME was a hard number. I was actually below that for the interview, and had to log it to show up. Oh, and I had to write a check for $10,000 for training, and cover my own hotel and food, which was north of $2000 then. You were buying seniority, and websites like this one didn't exist, so everything you knew was truly word of mouth.

We didn't drop pay-for-training until '99-'00.

As for the experience of pilots coming in to us, until 2003 or so, our new-hires either came from the Comair Academy, where they received excellent training and teaching experience, or they came from a varied background of flying (like me). We had military, crop dusters, 135 pilots, fire bombers, charter pilots, check runners, pilots that delivered GA planes around the world, aerial mapping and environmental sampling (and you might have all of this represented within one class). We were the most open-minded about hiring high-helo time guys as well. And all of us--all of us--spent some time teaching.

Once the availability of experienced pilots began to hit, time requirements dropped, training failures went up, training costs went up (IOE time more than doubled). The year was 2004 or so.

So, I disagree with your assertion that today's pilots are more experienced. I've said it before on here, and I'll say it again: pilots today will get their time by teaching, just like we used to do. An aggressive, savvy CFI will get that time in 2 years, 3 tops. And he'll get hired with virtually no ME time, no time spent on charters or really carrying passengers...the 135 world and contract-for-carriage no longer exists like it did. "Back then" every other airport had a piston twin you could charter. No more. I would venture to say that most people on here don't even know what "contract for carriage" is without looking it up.

So, will today's pilots have "more experience?" They'll have more than the 250 hour new hires that permeated for 3-4 years in the Aught decade. But on the whole....no, they won't have more experience. That window was a blip. And the experience they do have (through no fault of their own) will not be nearly as thorough.