Originally Posted by
N6724G
What do hours have to do with experience? I constantly here about how 1000hr plus pilots are better sutied for airline jobs than pilots with less than 1000 hrs. I was just curious who set the number at 1000? I mean do you mean to say that the pilot that has 998 hours is a lesser skilled pilot than the one tha thas 1000 hours? Is the pilot who flew straight and level in VFR for 1000 hours to the same location or the CFI who sat in the right seat and "wathced" someone else fly for 1000 hours is a better pilot than the guy who flew 500 hours in hard IMC in multi engine airplanes daily?
I constantly hear "get your time up, get your time up" Just because you have 2000 hours doesnt make you a better pilot than a guy that has 500. I think it depends on the kind of flying you do.
If you even have to ask the question, you need some more hours...
It is well known by anyone in aviation that there is a great deal to be learned in the first 1000 hours. This is commonly known by anyone who's been around a bit, it is well known by the insurance companies, and can be demonstrated statistically (check out AOPA if you want deets).
Obviously that's not a precise number that fits every case, but a 300 hour pilot has accumulated essentially all of his experience under adult supervision...kind of like a teenager with a learner's permit. There are many, many things to be learned between 300 and 1000 hours...
- Get your Complacency bubble popped. This might even take longer.
- Learn about mother nature's fickleness.
- Deal with an emergency or two.
- Acquire better comms skills.
- Hopefulyy acquire some IMC...this is a biggy.
- Learn how to balance regulatory, safety, employer, and customer demands. Esay to do as a student when you ARE the customer...not so easy when the boss (and your credit card) really wants to bill some hours.
- As a CFI, learn some leadership and command skills.
IIRC, the statistics show a big statistical risk reduction between PPL and 1000, then a gradual improvement up to around 5000 or so. After that it's pretty level. This does not account for different aircraft types. Also ATP's are statistically much safer than PPL or COMM pilots...the COMM and ATP checkrides are pretty similar, I wonder if it has anything to do with the 1500 hours?
Bottom line, insurance requirements don't lie. They are not in business to turn away every possible customer...on the contrary, they want to sign up as many customers as they can, but without undue risk. They know what they are doing.
And the problem with low-time regionals FO's is that 121 is VERY safe and mostly free of excitement. You are not likely to ever get scared in the right seat of an RJ because not much happens and you have a babysitter if it does. But eventually you will upgrade...If something hits the fan I would prefer that the captain already knows how to deal with scary situations.