Thread: ANPRM: New 121 Pilot Certification Rqmts.
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Old 02-07-2010 | 01:36 PM
  #37  
CaptFuzz
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Originally Posted by Flaps50
FO 121 Airline Minimums = ATP with 1500 hours, previous professional experience as a pilot, and a 4 year degree is what I say. Wages will go up if this happens too. No more 6 month wonder kids. (oh yeah, read speak and understand English too ;-) Lets go a step further and make Captain mins for part 121, 2500 hours and 1000 turbine engine.
Originally Posted by Lighteningspeed
Well put. As I've said before, minimum for any part 121 carrier should be ATP, 1500 hours, prior professional flying experience including, CFI, Part 135, Freight etc, and College degree, fluent in the English language, preference to US Citizens.
I agree that increasing 121 FO mins to an ATP could have a significant effect of moderating the oversupply of airline pilots, therefore leading to better pilot compensation from the airlines. However, I'm not sure why the FAA would require a 4 year degree to be a pilot. Unless it's a requirement for some sort of aviation degree (and I'm sure ERAU would love to see that regulation) I don't see having a federal requirement for a 4 year degree really having any correlation to someone's ability to safely pilot an airplane.

And I see no justification to giving preference to US citizens (over, say, resident aliens) unless you're going to start requiring airline pilots to have security clearances (and there's no reason to do that).

As a side, I wonder what an ATP min for 121 FOs would do to compensation for other sectors of the pilot industry (135, CFIs, ect.). I could see it creating a glut of low time pilots, leaving a larger number of CFIs to compete for potentially less students, driving down CFI pay even further.

(for reference, I have a 4 year degree, a security clearance, and am currently applying to regional airlines with less than ATP mins)
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