Originally Posted by SIERRA60
Okay,
Here's another set of questions on regional airline hiring from a new member to the forum. I'm currently a military helo pilot with about 3 years left on my initial contract and am working on building multi-time. I have the Rotary Commercial/Instrument tags with about 1000 hoursTT and some fixed wing time (about 80 hrs T-34 and 70 hrs 172). I've been reading the posts on this site and it seems to have a lot of good info as well as a variety of insights, but I have a few questions that I can't get straight answers on:
1) Does ANY multi-eng time count or does it have to be PIC?
2) Do regionals prefer formal "glass" training/certification or is my current platform, that is glass, sufficient.
3) a. Does being an instructor have any weight/impact on hiring? b. Does that instructor time have to be formal as in an instructor tour or does being an aircraft commander suffice since it is in an instructor capacity getting the co-pilots their quals?
4) Do I have to get my fixed wing SEL rating first, and then get a MEL rating or can I just get my fixed wing rating AND MEL rating all in a multi-eng aircraft? (Hope that made sense).
5) Which airline would be a good starting point given the above, and assuming I meet or exceed the multi-minimums at that point?
I am trying to get a better sense of the regional airline world since that's what I'd probably be qualified for initially once I get my multi-eng time. Any information you all may have would be very helpful in determining my next tour as well as gain insight to regional hiring preferences.
Thanks for your time and effort. Hope I can answer questions others may have in the future also.
1. At the regional level multi time is just multi time.
2. Regionals usually get pilots coming from "six-packs" if you have any glass experience they might like ya.
3. I wouldnt say so.
4. Yes you can get your MEL first but look up the regs and do the math. Im not sure but Im betting if you get SEL first it could be cheaper.
5. Your guess is as good as mine. One week its this airline the next week its another. If you have the time you might want to check out a level higher than the regionals.