Originally Posted by
cruiseclimb
I hate to say it, but this is the beginning of the end. I can see some kid sitting there with 600 hours in the cockpit sharing his "there I was" stories.... Wait, they do that now. Never mind..
I agree Rick, an ATP is priceless.. When I started this back in the 80s, the mins to apply to a commuter was 1,500 with 500 ME.
How many of you would take a 727 FO job with less than 400 hrs TT and less than 100 hrs ME? Starting pay 45K year. That was me. So how does flying banners or skydivers in a cessna help you in a 727? You're not shooting approaches, holding, etc. etc. So what's the point of building that sort of flight time? I had a crap load of 727 sim time about 2yrs from Purdue, knew all the systems, procedures etc, so the real thing wasn't that hard. Remember how old some of the WWII pilots were? 19-21 yrs old flying P-51s and B-17s. Scary stuff.
I think quality experience does count but my sim time doesn't count as TT but it was very good training.