Originally Posted by
01WJ
...
Regarding how I got 800TT w/o instructing, to be honest w/ you I'm not completely sure. I have been flying since I was about 10 years old (taking dual w/ an instructor until I got my student license), so a few hours added up there, but I think the majority of it has been recently working on ratings (Instrument - CFI, CFII, MEI, etc...) and taking trips out to California, Oregon, Minnesota, etc...
You better be sure before you show up for a job interview. One of the reasons you might be having trouble getting job offers is because the amount of time you have smells fishy to some folks. Better make sure you can explain it or the airlines will show you the door faster than the flight schools.
PS
I was in the same boat and always had more time than my peers because I had gotten my private 2 years before going to UND and then spent about 100 hours tooling around with friends and family. So when most guys were starting with 0 time or 40 hours and a PPL, I showed up with about 175 hours. Raised some eyebrows when I came around looking for a CFI job but since it was properly logged and I could talk about it in detail there was never a problem.