Originally Posted by
dcaldwe8
U.S. House Passes Airline Safety Bill
Does anyone know if this new bill only applies to regional airlines, and if not what all segments of the industry could this effect? I ask because it seems that current programs offered by schools like ATP Flight School want come close to providing enough airtime to acquire your ATP certificate. Anyone know any good alternatives (besides instructing) that under this new bill would allow a young pilot to build time to get to the regionals? Also I have heard some statements that the new time increase would make pilots in higher demand for the regionals and therefore higher pay, any opinions?
Majors have pretty much required an ATP or ATP minimums time for a long time. No change there.
ATP flight school will not come close to providing you the time. If you don't want to flight instruct you can try banner towing, pipeline flying, traffic watch etc. I would still suggest earning a CFI because you can use for things other than instructing. You can hang out at your local FBO and meet people that own planes and see if you can get them to take you up in the air. You can log that time as "instructing" even though you really aren't That said I would instruct because not only can you get a little money out of it and off-set costs but it is also a good experience.
Of course you can always buy time but I would suggest part or full ownership of a plane because it will be cheaper that way then renting planes from your FBO for hundreds of hours of training. You can also resale it down the road and get some money back.
Getting on at a Part 135 place is also another way to build time.
The military is a good choice too.
Keep your ears and eyes open and meet a ton of people because that is what will open doors for you.
Will wages come up? Who knows, as Spoilers says it isn't law yet and it can be changed even after it is made law. It might help cut down on some of the supply of pilots but realistically there are so many unemployed and qualified pilots out there that it will take a long time for the demand to catch up if ever. Also the universities are going to be exempt for some portion of the ATP requirements, I promise you right now ATP flight school is looking for similar exemption through their lobbyists.