Originally Posted by
Cyio
I know it isn't a popular thing to say, but I still dont understand why a 10 year military guy gets picked over 10 year regional guys. Assuming both have clean records and a degree, the regional guy should go first.
I know I know, AF pilots are so talented and it shows commitment etc. Well so does sticking it out at a regional and passing recurrent/check rides every year. Not to mention the regional pilot will be far more familiar with the operations required for 121.
This isn't the 1970's anymore when you needed the military to train you to fly and/or needed to be an engineer to run these machines. It certainly doesn't take knowledge of dropping a bomb to fly an airbus and you cant tell me that experience is more relevant than that of a regional pilot who has probably had a dozen or more 121 emergencies, countless re-routes, fuel issues etc...I also agree that a military pilot can pick up all that very easily, this is rocket science by any means.
Again, I feel I need to throw out that I fully support our military men and women, but it does seem to be a bit unfair/biased in this hiring situation.
I would say that if the majors give a preference for military, some of that might stem from military pilots coming from one of three very structured training programs, whereas civilians can come from a plethora of training/experience backgrounds of varying quality. I'm not saying civilian training is bad, I'm just saying it could be an unknown quality to the hiring teams.
And military pilots also deal with emergencies, re-routes, fuel issues, etc. After all they're often flying planes that can be up to 5 decades old. They also have experience with international and over-water/ oceanic ops, etc. that are relevant to the majors, that most civilian pilots won't get until they're flying with the majors.
But don't take this as me saying military should be given preference just because they're military, but they're experience is generally broader than it seems you think it is. And I don't think 121 folks should get preference because they're 121, it's not rocket science after all.