Originally Posted by
iahflyr
The problem now is that regional airlines are lowering their hiring standards to literally hire anyone who has 1500 hours, where they could be more picky in who they hired in the past.
Checkride failures? No problem
121 training failed? Don’t care
Bomb the technical interview? No worries
DUI? Welcome aboard
I would much rather hire someone with 750 hours and a spotless record versus someone at 1500 hours but any of the issues I mentioned above. I would argue that the 1500 hour rule has now made airlines LESS SAFE as they are hiring pilots who normally would not have made the cut.
Lower ATP hour requirements to a reasonable amount (250 is too low but 1500 is too high). Also please get rid of the special interest carve outs for the aviation universities!
First I would like to say that I was a long time LCA with a regional before I came to United. I watched the decline from the left seat as I trained these folks. I have seen 5000hr pilots that were weak and 500hr pilots that did well. There is always a bell curve, and like all bell curves the majority fall in the middle
This is not the problem "now".. this has been a building problem for a long time.
Back in the 80's you needed north if 1500 hours to even get a call back from Bar Harbor or PBA to fly BE 99's or C-402"s.
In the 90's, even as the regionals got bigger, you still needed 1500-2000 to even get looked at.
I went to my first job fair in 1999 at the begining of the regional wave with 1300tt and 900 multi and was basically told I needed more time.
Shortly after that (early 2000) i got hired with basically ATP Mins. I was the 3rd lowest time guy in the class of 30.
In the coming years the hiring standards came down. 1500tt 500me became 1000tt 200me, then 500tt and an ME rating, and so on. Even the majors have lowered bar over the last 10 years.
My point is that the pilot supply has been slowly dwindling for decades. we can argue about why later. As it did, the hiring standards lowered.
To your comment above. Yes, they are hiring anyone with 1500 and a pulse. DUI, checkride fails, etc. What you are missing is the fact that were already doing that at 500hrs before the ATP rule. The only real qualification the regionals cared about was your willingness to do the job for 25k-30k a year. Nothing else mattered.
One of the interview folks at my former airline made the comment that they reached the bottom of the barrel then lifted it and started digging. That was about 6 years ago.
There are lots of great pilots out there, but they don't want the job any more. That is the real problem.