Originally Posted by
z06stinger
Professionals, thanks for the dialogue. I am a Marine helo pilot in a similar position: currently a planner on a Corps-level staff, but up for orders and want to run my plan by the experience/expertise on these forums. O5 currently at 20, but taking orders for 2-3 more for top 3 and GI Bill transfer for my daughter.
Basic data:
-~2450 hours total but no ME FW
-CPL FW & RW SEL, INST
-No flight time in 4 years, before that 14 years straight
-500x UH-1Y time
-1700x UH-1N time
-600x NVG time (~300 LLL)
-900x Instrument time
-Unknown amount of sim time (mostly helo except Primary flight training)
-20x AH-1W time
-15x Mi-24 time
-100x TH-57B/C
-90x T-34C time (SE FW)
-20x C-152 time
-NATOPS, INST, Division Lead, Flight Lead, Flight leadership instructor and evaluator
-half of RW time is instructional time
-I haven't converted any of this to CFI yet, but plan to before my exit plan.
Exit plan:
Goal - skip the regionals and fly for UAL (goal but won't be picky)
Base plan: take orders to fly UC-35 or C-12 to get FW ME time - options below
Option 1) CONUS flying - likely less flight time overall, but no moves & out in 2-3 years with ~600 hours of FW ME
Option 2) OCONUS flying - (Japan/Phil/Western Pacific) more opportunity for overall flight time, but two moves and retire in 2-3+ years after orders obligation and retirement move back to CONUS
Questions:
1) Is my goal plausible, or only with close to 1000 FW ME hours? What role does FW ME PIC time play in this equation? Is jet time (UC-35) a better choice than C-12 if I have an option?
2) Will international flight time flying around the Pacific translate into anything more than flight hours and excellent experience for my application?
3) Is it smarter to get out sooner with less hours or stay in for a couple hundred more hours? Does it matter what aircraft I am flying?
4) Does my UH-1N/Y time count as turbine time? multi? (UH-1N = twin T-400) (UH-1Y = twin T-700s) or does RW make that low quality time?
5) Does my aircraft commander time qualify as PIC time?
Thanks in advance for the insights.
Your helo time won’t count for much with majors with the exception of JetBlue. Sure the helo turbine PIC is good experience, and I argue until I’m blue in the face that the judgment/SA/hands on/stick/rudder flying is worth a lot more hour per hour than being on autopilot for all but 10 minutes of a 3-5 hour sortie. Helo time is helo time, SE or ME. Sure it’s turbine, but again no one really counts it except here at JB. For anything, except maybe TMAAT stories. That said, even most regionals didn’t count helo time when I made the switch. Now with as desperate as they are, they all count it. But majors still don’t.
Don’t discount the regionals. Your quest to go straight to a legacy with 1k hours (or less) of ME FW turb (1k FW turb is UAL/DAL’s mins) is a long shot. If it was F18 time that’s one thing. King Air time meh...some guys go straight from king airs to big 4, but probably with more than 1k hours. UC35 time is a little better. Another thing, you still need an ATP/CTP, which a regional would pay for. If you are transferring your GI Bill, you’ll have to come out of pocket to pay for that ($5k-$10k?). Also, regionals pay decently now, $60k or so first year, so with an O5 retirement it’s not bad. Also, 500 hours PIC multicrew multiengine mil time is creditable towards the 1,000 hours of required 121 SIC time for upgrade. So theoretically you could upgrade at a regional at 500 hours and check the 121 captain box.
The longer you stay in, the more seniority/longevity you give up. Your major airline job will pay more than any additional time in. Sounds obvious, but whatever decision you make, it should be with the goal in mind of getting a seniority number at a major as soon as you can. A mix of mil FW (esp PIC) and regional 121 time should make your app competitive. I just think if you plan to get on with big 4 with 1k or less FW (esp king Air) time, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Not impossible, but not likely. Staying in for a year or two extra to get a few hundred hours of king Air time...you’re better off at a regional.