“That would be excellent, because then it would take about three months to build enough time to become an AirNet captain and we think that’s optimal,” he says.
Inevitably, when AirNet’s SIC program is discussed, some pilots become confused about how to log the time. Washka recognizes the issue and says AirNet received so many questions on the logging of flight time “that we actually went back and sat down with the FAA in Washington to get interpretations and make sure we’re doing everything right.
“In a nutshell, what they said was not only can pilots log time in the right seat of our aircraft, but they can log it as SIC time because we require an SIC to be there,” he explains. “It used to be that we had them logging only their PIC time and the other time was just added to total time. Well, the FAA came back and said, ‘Look, even though the aircraft does not require a second crew member; because of the rules you operate under and your operations specs, you can assign a pilot to a plane and they can log their time as SIC time.’
“When a time builder is on board, as long as he’s trained and checked in the plane, he can log the time he’s actually flying the plane as PIC. If he’s not flying the plane, but acting as a crew member, he can log it as SIC time,” Washka states. “It’s totally legal and it’s important to understand. There’s no gray area in the logging of flight time as far as AirNet and the FAA are concerned.”
Washka also emphasizes that when AirNet hires a low-time pilot, he or she is immediately added to the company’s full-time pilot seniority list upon successfully completing initial training.
“It used to be they had to build up enough time to become a captain before they moved up to the full-time seniority list, so this change is a great perq for a pilot,” he says. “Their seniority is only determined by the day they pass their initial checkride, so if they hustle and do a good job, it can really pay off later when they’re higher on the list.”
As far as I know, SICs are put in the Baron.