Originally Posted by
Sniper
Since it seems many of you had questions directed specifically at me, I'll try to quickly respond.
This post (yours) is the reason for my post:
1) Spirit's minimum qualifications are determined by management, though mainly flight ops management. Spirit's CP is certainly a pilot, and I believe the COO is to.
2) At some point, everyone has to get their first hour of crew command time. Given that Spirit has plenty of applicants with this experience already, Spirit is not in the same position as the regionals, who must place pilots with no previous command time into flight positions because these regionals don't have the luxury to draw from a pool of pilots with previous crew command time.
Bonus question - That's a joke, right? Our military pilots are supremely qualified and experienced leaders and aviators. If you made it to 2000 hours in a Viper, you can certainly handle the radios in ORD.
I said "likely" for just this reason. Most pilot applicants at Spirit without turbine PIC are 'likely' regional FO's with no command time. A few are pilots with significant crew command time, just none of it in turbines - such as DC-3 drivers.
Yes. Recommendations count. When you recommend a guy with no previous command time, you endorse the idea that previous command experience isn't something an applicant should possess.
Exactly. Being a CA (civilian) or AC (military) is not about flying the plane, it's about responsibility, leadership and the decision making process. Until you've actually done it, nobody (including you, the guy who recommends you, or Spirit) will know if you're capable of doing it well.
I'm sorry for the thread hijack. I just think that those Spirit pilots who did get hired at Spirit without any previous crew command time should realize how lucky they are, not see themselves and their career prior to Spirit as the ideal and/or typical experience for an applicant for FO of an Airbus.
Returning to my previous comments: didn't Spirit have a recall class in early January, and then a new hire class in late January as well? Just trying to see how many folks were hired, and when, to read the tea leaves of Spirit's future.
The correct answers, only for you since most of us got them right (just pulling your leg here take it easy)
1. No. Spirit pilots (as far as line pilots, because that is what we all are) have ZERO pull on deciding hiring minimums. CP and COO are management pilots.
2. Decided by insurance and a combination of supply and demand. That is a fact and we (pilots) have nothing to do with it. There is a reason why every single company has a clause for street captains.
Bonus:
Depends. It depends on the CRJ guy. The CRJ guy will feel right at home but just because you have flown a CRJ into ORD does not mean you are good or able so the F16 guy will easily beat a weak CRJ guy within a few hundred hours. They were hiring everyone during 2006-2007 into the regionals and I saw that first hand. On the other hand it is pretty much given that the F16 or whatever former military will be sharp and pick up things fast. Simply because of the selection process and the huge amount of applicants I have never seen a stupid or hard to train former military aviator. So the correct answer is it depends.
But you are very biased toward military that is quite obvious.
Btw who are you working for? Are you just sniping around casually or do you actually have a purpose or point to make in this thread. Like we have said it before, we have nothing to do with minimums.