Can anyone provide the current minimums to get hired and percentage of non flow through civilians getting hired? Also is pilot credentials the only place to apply? Thanks for the help

 

Lowest TT I've heard of was approx 1600 for a fighter guy and 2500(?) for a civilian. Avg TT was 3,950 in 2016.

Mil 72%, 28% civilian. If the mil guys avg 3,000 TT the civilian guys would avg approx 7,000 TT.

 

When referring to total hours for military vs. civilian new hires do you gentlemen believe this applied to RW pilots or simply FW? I will leave the Corps with 1500 TT. 200 are FW.

I realize I am not competitive for a job with a Major Airline, however, I'm concerned if I go to a regional I'll get lost in the shuffle. Any advice? Would stating in the military another 2-4 years to acquire for C-12 time be beneficial or not worth the time I could be building time at a regional?

As a RW pilot, do the same TT hour rule of thumb apply as FW mil pilots or am I at square one with only 200hrs?

 

FW only.

From the handful of resumes posted on APC, or from talking with new hires and their classmates, I've yet to hear of a low time FW guy, but with plenty of RW experience, get hired at the Big 4. JB and Spirit(?) give credit for RW time.

I'd go regional. It's a tough call vs some recommendations/opinions for other candidates. Are you guaranteed C-12 time? How much? Would you have 2000hrs+? When? That might be the low end of your target range for a mil light turboprop guy to get calls from a Big 4 airline.

Make sure you qualify for the ATP. FW cross country is the common stumbling block. If you qualify you'll have multiple offers within days of applying. Guys mention getting called within 18 hrs of applying. The regionals are looking for pilots. In 3-4 yrs, if not sooner, you could be a regional CA with 'military trained' checked off on your resume. I'm assuming your 200 hrs FW is from the military? In four yrs you could be a regional CA with 3000 hrs TT. IMO that might generate traction with your military background. And there's a good chance you'll be hired by a LCC during those four years vs staying at a regional.

Write down the two career paths and generate resumes, on a yearly basis, as if you had selected each track. Estimate when you'd be competitive and see when each career track enters the zone and the highly competitive zone.

There's only one guarantee, if you're on AD no one can hire you. The question is when might someone hire you?

Free opinion. It's worth ever penny you spent on it. :-)

 

Also take a look at the Reserves. The Marines need reserve pilots, and there are some opportunities to transition to Navy or Guard. Adding C130, T44, C9, or C40 time to your resume will help a lot. Not to mention regular contact with other military aviators who have first hand knowledge of hiring process and lifestyle. PM me if you have questions about reserve flying.

 

I see you're looking at AA.

Go to one of AAs Wholly Owned regionals RTP program so you'll have a flow as a backup path to entry while you apply off the street at all the majors.

If you want to work for AA and are predominantly a RW pilot the flow may be your quickest path to get there.

 

I think they'll have to keep hiring outside of the flow or they'll literally not have any regional pilots in 3 years based on growth and retirements. I'd love to go to AA but I dont see going back to the right seat to log more SIC as the road to get me there. Do you?

 

looking at the contracted the flow rates, the AA WO regionals won't be out of pilots in the next 3 years... you'll probably see OTS hiring pickup when the demand signal for pilots increases while the flow rates remain at the contract minimums. I'm not sure how much AAs OTS ratio of military: civilian pilots would change in that short of term though.

I'm not sure what your specific background is but that post was in response to the guy being interested in AA and only having 200hrs FW hours thanks to his military RW background... in his case, in the time period needed to he'd gain enough civilian fixed wing hours to be competitive to be hired OTS, he may very well get on property via the flow first.

Giving up seniority as a CA to go to another regional just because they have a flow? That's all personal preference. If I was going to lateral to an AA WO from another regional I'd probably do it as a FO personally. As a CA, I'd probably rather take a job at a LCC while I apply to the legacies/cargos instead of another regional waiting for the flow.

 

aviatorusmc,

To up your FW time you might look at going to a local airport that does skydiving and get checked out to fly one of those planes. You can bang out about 8 hours a day on the weekend! Before I got out, guys at station were doing exactly that because they were battle frog pilots, CH46, and needed more fixed time.

You might also look into fractional ownership companies too. That is a great way to transition from the Suck to civy flying. I know it worked well for me.

Not sure where you are stationed, but look around to see what is available to you. Also, go take your military equivilancy (sp?) exam to get your commercial rating if you haven't already done that. The gouge is out there and will help you in getting one of these gigs.

Best of luck,

Semper Fi!

 

Otterbox - AA 2016 OTS data was 72% prior military.

Limited data seen but 2017 might have a greater military percentage.

DL in 2014/2015 was about 66% military.

AA, due to the flows(100% civilian?) has to drop the military percentage in about half(??) to get the total military percentage of the new hires.