How do you REALLY build time?
First off, I know this is in the wrong place, but I cannot access any other page. Everyone keeps talking about raising the hiring minimums for 121 carriers to prevent 250 hour pilots from being right seat in a CRJ. Not only will this increase safety, but apparently it would raise pay because someone with 1500 hours will be able to demand more pay than someone with only 250. I do not agree that would work. It does not matter that you have 1500 TT because that is still the minimum time so you will still get a low wage.
Enough of that, what I really want to talk about are these mythical time building jobs. First off, I want to say that I believe all 121 should have a minimum of 1000 hours and nothing less. The problem is that it is impossible to go from 250 to 1000. Many of you say, “Tow banners, patrol pipelines, traffic watch, and my favorite, sit right seat in a King Air.” I have looked for all of those, but there is a big problem. They either do not pay enough to live, or their minimums are higher than regionals. Towing banners pays about $8000 a year and will require me to move. I wanted to patrol pipelines, but their minimums where so high I they told me they would let me sit right seat in a 185 for free. Traffic watch does not exist anymore, and where it does, no news company is going to trust their expensive airplane with someone who has less than 1000 hours. I have found someone with a BE90 who would let me sit right seat, but I could not log the time because he does not have his MEI and I don’t think any future employer would like me to log dual given in turbine aircraft when I have zero turbine time. What I have noticed is that all 135 gigs have higher minimums than 121 because no 135 operator wants a VFR only pilot.
The only real way to build time is to flight instruct, and that is pretty hard for the location I am in, so I am looking for any place in the world to do it. I am not complaining because I don’t meet any minimums outside of low time regionals, I just want to bring attention to those who did their time building years ago that the jobs they did in the past are no longer available. So next time you talk about TT remember that building 1000 hours is not as simple as flying night cargo for a while. To do that job you need to have 1200 hours first, and with that time, why would you apply for a low paying job to fly boxes in a Barron when you could be getting paid the same to get some part 121 turbine time?