Originally Posted by
Learflyer
Seems like higher education (MBA, JD, etc) and things
outside of aviation nowadays seems to trump ambassadorship to the profession such as due paying, CP, Check Airman, PIC time and longevity.
The people from my company that left and went to DAL/UAL/AK etc and had me scratching my head about what the above airlines were thinking all had one thing in common: Lots of outside degrees and just barely enough aviation experience. Just saying.
The degrees, volunteering, community service etc seems to be more valuable than actual aviation experience.
At some point the airplane still needs to be flown. Safely.
I hear what you're saying, but I disagree. The airlines view is that there is no difference between a 4,000 hour pilot and an 8,000 hour pilot. Therefore, they must figure out another way to screen applicants. What I do see as a hiring trend is that those of us with higher times are having a vey difficult time getting hired since the profession used to be about flight experience exclusively when we started.
I am guessing most of us have not done the "extras" to warrant the selection. Having said that, I have put in the work to get those extras and still have nothing to show for the effort. I think once we have over 10k hours, they become less interested in us because they think we are an old dog that cannot learn new tricks.
The game has changed, we must adapt or die. Yeah, it sucks.