Turboprop Captain or Jet FO
 

I'm a Canadian who has moved to the US and is currently in Green card limbo. I commute to Canada currently but the job I have now, FO on a Cargo Boeing is slow to build hours. I have the opportunity to either move to a Dash 8 Captain or move to an Airbus on a passenger fleet. I'm wondering what is weighted more on a resume down here when trying to get to a major or ULCC? Turboprop PIC, an Airbus type rating or Heavy time on a Boeing even though it probably means 300 hrs per year vs 700?

First off things are in flux right now, the recent hiring frenzy has abated so I'm trying to geusstimate how things will play out near-term...


When things are competitive (they are headed there now, probably already there) tubine PIC is going to be mandatory or very desirable (even if their official minimums don't say that out loud). Also a few airlines seem to be getting burned after having hired very low-time, very inexperienced pilots. They might be rethinking that, we shall see.

I would probably go ahead and knock out TPIC first while you are in a position to do so, 1000 hours has been the historical threshold (although it's been much lower recently).

Only caveat there is that ASEL TPIC often doesn't hold much weight (unless it's a tactical military jet) but a Dash-8 should be fine, especially if it's in airline operations.

Frequently with prop TPIC you might also have needed some jet time, but SIC is OK for that and you already have some. I'd think even a few hundred hours of airline jet SIC would punch the ticket... they know you can be trained at jet speeds (a few prop pilots can't manage to shift to high gear).

My swag would be that 500-1000 hours prop TPIC, along with 500-1000 hours jet airline SIC, and 3000-4000 total hours would get you on the radar.

By "heavy" do you mean 737? In industry parlance 737/A320 are not heavies, but rather narrowbodies. A heavy would be 767, 787, A330, etc. Not bad to have a narrowbody type rating and experience, but I'd still say TPIC is more important. Actual heavy (widebody) international experience is certainly nice resume diversity, but the only operators who really weight that a lot have been FDX and UPS.

Currently on the 757 and 767 dual typed about 200 hrs so far. Airbus gig could be Narrow Widebody depending on the offer. I have about 500 Turbine pic but its in a PC12. Dash 8 is the classics (not q400) but airline ops mix of pavememnt and gravel ops. Dash is probably the fastest time builder, the airbus in second place and cargo is only about 300 a year on avg.

Agree with above.

121 (or foreign equivalent) turbine PIC is the strongest type of time in your logbook

If it were me I'd go for the AMEL TPIC and fastest time building.

Kinda my leaning depending on if the schedule is still as good for a commuter. Big bump in pay, PIC, and in the town where we still own a house (though currently living down in Phoenix). Big thing is the backlog in the green card. we were hoping for this summer, but there's been no movement in processing for months now. It might jump forward, or it might take another year or more.

Hiring here looks slow this year and maybe next year as well.

It's true that hiring has slowed, but what you have to remember is that up here the majors hiring 400 a year is big. Delta has more pilots than the entirety of Canada. So many more options down here too. I've had prelim interviews at a couple but we're at "let us know as soon as your green card comes"

turbine powered PIC almost always is better than turbine powered SIC

PIC in a Cessna Caravan, versus SIC in a 747 will not apply in this case. But in most cases, PIC is better

Awesome. Very insightful.

Would you suggest to a low time CFI progressing through the ranks to first get their multi TPIC through any one of the 135 operators before moving on to a regional? Would scheduled cargo and unscheduled passanger transport be weighed equally?

Also does the aircraft type matter? Would multi TPIC in a BE99 be weighed about the same as in something larger like an EMB 120? I'm assuming the larger and more complex the aircraft the better.

Thank you, Rick.