Originally Posted by
kimba
Steam gauges makes a good pilot and i agree.
Problem is that if you want to go somewhere else the worl flys glass and the good companies also want you to have experience on GLASS, ACAR, FMS etc... that unfortunatelly you don't have at AMF.
Another problem you may encounter is that if you spend more than a year at a single pilot job, you'll get used you to fly by yourself so much that the day you want to do another job and you'll be in a cockpit with another pilot (which by the way are the most of the jobs out there) wou may not be used to crew coordination anymore and you'll have a problem during training.
That's what happend in the regional where i work right now.
Completely and respectfully disagree. American flies steam gauge MD-80s. Delta flies steam gauge MD-80s. Northwest flew steam gauge DC-9s. If you are fortunate enough to get hired at Delta or American you will probably fly the MD-80 and from what I've seen, the CRJ/ERJ "glass" guys have the most trouble.
Ameriflight was the best career building move I made. I came with 1,300 hours. Stayed 3 years. Left with over 3,000 hours Total Time, 1,300 Turbine PIC, an ATP, two type ratings in the Metro and Brasilia.
I flew all single pilot until the Brasilia and the transition to two crew was nothing spectacular. Going from single pilot to two crew was way easier.
FMS? Never used one until my current job. It was easy to use and is very user friendly and mostly self explanitory.
Currently I am an MD-80 Captain. I have flown with First Officers who have mostly single pilot time and enjoyed every minute of it. I have flown with First Officers with a gazillion hours at XYZ Regional in the CRJ that make me want to pound my head into a wall. Likewise I have flown with awful single pilot guys and excellent CRJ guys. It all depends and going to one or the other does not "make you".
I know pilots personally from Ameriflight that left to go to Southwest. Virgin. Cathay. UPS. Continental. Allegiant. Northwest. Etc. It was and still is a small pilot group and not everyone is going to be moving on to those places. That's just plain numbers.
Point is, it all boils down to natural ability, attitude and personality. Getting hired boils down to who you know and how well you interview. Flying a jet with glass is not hard. Flying a jet with steam gauges is not hard. Flying anything with an FMS is not hard.
I would prefer to fly with a single pilot freight guy with a good personality over a regional "glass guy" any day.