Originally Posted by
kansas
There's a great deal of old turboprop guys still on major hiring boards. Why would they cut off the guys that have truly taken the abuse that you speak of (turboprop life is harder than jet life, you know that), fly harder, handfly, fly shorter legs, etc., etc...
I won't believe there's a pilot shortage until it trickles upward to the majors.
Over the years HR at the majors is forced to increase minimums to avoid the wave of daily applications. Back when I started UAL only wanted 250 hours and a commercial licence to apply. Piston MEL was king. All a guy needed was 1000 Piston PIC and record of having sat in a Lear once or twice and you were a hot prospect.
Once they start handing out RJ's like candy to 24 year old captains the trend will have to move up again. There are captains on every hiring board who have ZERO PIC in anything before going to the majors because that was the norm 20 years ago. It still doesn't stop them from turning down highly qualified people when they have a waiting room full of RJ captains and military superstars.
Skyhigh