Originally Posted by
RyanP
How hard was it for you to get hired at Air Wisconsin (according to your posts)? Did you really earn that one? Apparantly you're just another regional pilot from a different brand, so what makes you any less pathetic?
Personally, I felt pretty competitive and qualified when I "flowed" to AA over some unknown quantity street hire. Nobody gave me anything I didn't earn just as much as anyone else off the street. 5 type ratings, Check Airman, zero failures, volunteer time, years of 121 CA experience flying AA owned equipment and systems. Was hired initially as a lowly regional pilot with around 1500TT, 600 Multi, CFI,II,MEI, ATP. 3.9ish GPA. Have been a Captain on 3 different fleets. What more do you have to do to "earn" it?
I agree the standards of hiring now are lower but nobody is flowing without making it though many years of check rides and 121 experience building. Flows in the future very shortly here won't be able to flow with any letters in their file, attendance/disciplinary issues etc which is a good thing. It's like a 6-10 year job interview you have to get through before you get here vs random off the street unknowns that AA has no inside knowledge of their history.
Military fighter guys with zero 121 experience, that have never even done this kind of flying are scooped up by AA with virtually no questions asked as fast as they can get them. Are they better suited for the job, did they earn it more? Or a 10+yr regional pilot who does this same job for years? Both put in the effort to get here in their own ways. It is what it is.
Settle down. My regional is no better than anyone else's, nor am I claiming to be better than anyone else. It's incredibly easy to get hired anywhere right now. A regional interview is incredibly easier than an actual AA interview.
I'm sure you're really sharp, but I really do believe that you should have to interview to advance to the next phase of the career. Not just be in the right place at the right time and throw an app in at a regional with the quickest flow. There are check airman at regionals with no flow who would be junior (if they are ever hired) to kids who entered the career way after them. By your own logic that experience alone is sufficient, these people who have been in the career longer deserve it more than some of the flows.
We're all regional pilots who have to take checkrides every year and try to stay out of trouble. That is literally the one thing that everyone has in common, it doesn't set you apart. Claiming that working for a regional is a 10 year interview is simply preposterous.