Originally Posted by
Coolbrz
Have a question for the community...
Current Army Guard O4 UH60 IP who is flying for a regional right now. I may have an opportunity to get a C-12 qual if I convert to warrant officer. Otherwise would continue on with promotion in a non flying assignment.
Will this qual make me appreciably more marketable for a major/legacy airline? Or does the promotion to O5 look better? Lot of factors to consider of course and just trying to get a handle on this particular aspect.
My ultimate goal is to transition to a full civilian career in the next 5 years or so. I'm over 20 years already so this would be a way to remain fulfilled in my military career but not the sole consideration.
If it matters I'm at ~2500 TT, 800 FW, 450 121.
Appreciate anyone's thoughts.
If it were me I would take the promotion to O-5 and take the non-flying assignment. It would show airline HR teams that you can be more than a monkey flipping switches. Going back to the school-house to get a 350 type rating will only take up valuable time...time you could be using to get 1000 121 hours and then upgrade to Captain. Somebody else here is correct when they say only PIC time in a multi-engine military aircraft counts towards your 121 upgrade. Also, how many trips are you going to have to cancel in order to fulfill you Guard annual minimums? Canceling 121 flight time for SIC guard time doesn't seem worth it to me unless you are flying C17s or C5s for the Air Force. I am assuming the non-flying position will require less time on your part than a flying billet. You have to think that airline flying is going to pay the bills once you retire, and you all ready have 20 years. Probably the quickest way to get to the major you seek is to commit fully to airline flying to make up for all the rotor time that you probably have and try like mad to check all the boxes you can (check airman, SOE/IOE captain, etc
. Of course, if you want to fly King Airs than by all means, do it. Good luck.
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