Originally Posted by
ChinookDriver47
Thank you for the response. I was thinking of going to Cargo 360 here in Seattle since they fly older 747's.
As far as the turbine is concerned, will it count the same if it is obtained in the Chinook?
First off, keeping your day job while teaching is usually a good thing so you're on the right track there. With the instructor ratings and 1000 hours (or even less) you should have your pick of the better regionals.
Unless you get lucky with a personal connection, you will probably need to go to the regionals to get some turbine time. Even a low-tier ACMI is not going to hire a CFI to fly 747's.
Helo time is not counted by most airlines, a few will give you partial credit. The ones that do will state it explicitly on their web sites. If they require "1000 Hours Fixed Wing Turbine"...that means EXACTLY what it says: no credit for helo time.
Skywest (and a one or two other regionals I think) gives some credit for helo time. Also you will make $50K as a second year RJ FO at SKW and several other regionals (Horizon, XJet, AWAC, maybe others).
This is the historical career progression for civilian pilots...ending with the most desireable jobs (FDX/UPS). This worst case, when hiring is slow and at times you can skip some steps (like right now). But you can't skip a whole bunch of steps...as a CFI you can get a turboprop or jet regional job, but not a national airline job.
1) CFI/MEI
2) Night Freight in light ASEL/AMEL (AmFlight)
3) Turboprop Commuter (Colgan, Great Lakes)
4) Jet Regional (Eagle, Republic)
5) National Airline/ACMI (Jetblue, World)
6) Major Airline (UAL, DAL, SWA)
7) Major cargo (FDX, UPS)