Originally Posted by
Pilatus801
I would like to get some experienced feedback on the 1,500 hour number. It seems to me that it is a significant barrier that has likely wiped out a lot of professional pilot dreams. I see CFIs struggling to log the time to get to the airlines.
I am not here to argue the need or reason behind the rule. But i would like to hear from some of you that know of pilots that simply gave up trying to get to 1,500 hours. It can be a very long, multi year, low-wage process to get those hours. I am currently running into CFIs that are building hours so slowly, they are willing to split time and pay for hours.
It makes you wonder if the Feds will ever look at this figure again and decide to amend it. Is the 1,500 too high? I know some think it is and others think it isn't. Still, it seems like it is a significant hurdle in the career path and it is contributing to the shrinking pool of qualified pilot candidates.
No sympathy from the old-school civilians. They had to have 2,500 with probably 1,000 multi turbine to get a job at a regional flying a turboprop like a metro-liner. I got hired with 1500, which was the easy part. The hard part was getting the several hundred multi hours that all regionals required even 15 years ago.
Trust me, that 1500 hours is good for you. The price of gas is irrelevant if you get a CFI job.