Question...

I am looking to transition from the military to mainline carrier. I will have to go to a regional to build time in order to be competitive.

How much weight do the mainline carriers put on where your 121 time came from? When it comes to hiring, does it matter if you fly RJs or Props during your regional time?

 

PIC turboprop (Brasilia, Saab 340) is better than SIC jet

 

Need a little more info.

Mil time is ALWAYS sought after. But for RIGHT HERE, and RIGHT NOW, what kind of mil time? Meaning, do you have AC time? If so, how much? IP/NATOPS/STANDEVAL/EP time?

If none of those boxes are checked, within your peer group (IE; other mil pilots), you would be a little low on the competitive side.

However, circling BACK to square one, mil time is ALWAYS sought after. Meaning, whether it's props or jets won't matter for a mil trained pilot like it would for a pure civ pilot. Although, believe it or not, legacies used to take pure TP pilots with NO glass and NO AP and put them into planes like the Airbus THE HORROR!!!!!!!! Cargo/ACMI (FedEx/UPS/Atlas/Polar/Kalitta/Southern/Gemini used to take TP pilot with NO glass, NO AP, NO crossings and throw them into MD11's and 744's THE HORROR!!!!!!!!

(that's called sarcasm and facetious humor for those not so inclined)

Sigh......and now sadly, an epic thread drift will ensue, debating "who's a better pilot? A prop pilot or a jet pilot?", that's NOT the point, although in APC fashion, it WILL happen. Just wait and see. But AGAIN, it's a RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW/11000+ applications in the stack type of thing for ordinary off the street not very well connected/networked/not part of a special interest group, etc.

 

They'll never tell you this, but it does matter. You need jet time. They want to see that you can handle the speed. So you can screw something up faster.

Get the jet time.

 

It didn't used to, but now you need jet time if coming from the civilian side. Possible exceptions at second-tier or SWA, but you'll still be better off with jet time.

DAL is hiring RJ FO's and passing on prop CA's. I'm very reluctant to say that jet time might be more important than PIC, but I'm starting to wonder.

 

Same here. One of the biggest differences I've seen in this hiring cycle compared to the previous 2 I've witnessed.

 

Quick background...

I did one fleet tour (Navy P-3) and two non-flying tours, so my hours look like this: ~1350TT, ~1250ME Turbo Prop, ~450PIC (400+ Turbo Prop).

Pretty sure I'm not going to a mainline with those numbers, so I am assuming I have to spend time at the regionals to top off my hours.

My question is that with my background will it matter if I get my 121 experience in a RJ or a Prop.

 

Network network network!!!!!!!!!

JMHO, NO.

Come on, spill it. How FAST is an Akula, really?

 

Perhaps not as much as it would for a civilian. But to be on the safe side, I'd go for a jet unless it would result in significant hardship due to domicile location, etc.

 

Haha... Akulas... 30-35 knots. Unless you mean the literal translation (shark) then its more like 25-30 MPH (However, sharks are notoriously hard to get a RADAR gun on...)

OK, so Jets 'probably' help... Next question is the million dollar one that will probably cause the thread to get locked if the regional threads are any indication...

For family reasons (domicile, etc) PSA and PDT are the best options for me. My wife is thinking of getting her PhD from UT, she got her masters from VA Tech (so ROA/CHO are great). We would love to stay in the mid-Atlantic region (VA/NC/TN).

BUT... seems like everyone and their brother (and a couple of neighbors too) are extremely negative towards PSA for a vote that happened a while ago and appears that PDT will be in the same boat in a couple of days.

What are 'good' RJ regionals? I define 'good' by having a decent QOL and a quick upgrade so that I can fill out my resume and hopefully move on to a mainline carrier (fairly expeditiously). Compass is out (barring the ability to get hired somewhere else) due to domiciles.

Thoughts?