CX500T

If you can land that pig on the boat you know how to fly.

rickair7777

I always felt that one of the sketchiest things I ever did in the Navy was trapping and launching in the back of that thing. And I did some sketch stuff over the years.

CX500T

Im the only person I know with a 100% career boarding rate that flew that pig. (not all good, just all stopped, no cut passes though)

E-2 Tactics as a pilot are nothing hard. But flying that pig it can be a handful, especially single engine with a prop that wouldn't fully feather. Flaps 1/3 or flaps up approaches also can get sporty.

I have 16 single engine traps in that thing. Granted more than a couple were driven by FCF shutdowns that wouldn't air start.

largealpha

Thanks for the encouragement and the direction to apply straight to the majors - I haven't flown consistently since 2007, so it's been a while; but I'm jumping in now and working on instrument and TA/Garmin time to get acquainted with newer systems. The stick/rudder skills are there, but it's getting the headwork back in play. As mentioned, I'm in Dallas and would like to apply to American, but also Skywest, United, and Delta to have some options or to check my expectations. Any other guidance on refresher training? I'm going to sign-up for the Shepperd training course and get acquainted my Foreflight software for the time between flights.

Thank you all...

largealpha

Thanks again, guys - when you say "current" do you mean getting instrument currency (via IPC or whatever) or just get some time in the plane and familiarity with the glass cockpits? I've started flying, but not sure exactly what to focus on outside of learning the Garmin/glass systems, etc. Thanks so much.

tnkrdrvr

Garmin is not the same as flying an FMS equipped airliner. It’s great technology for flying small jets and bug smashers around. From a flying point of view, can you brief an ILS or RNAV approach off of Jeppesen plates and fly it confidently down to mins? All 121 airlines will teach you how to use the FMS in the plane you will fly. They vary by brand. Getting an IPC may help you accomplish the above, but it’s probably not necessary. Contact an interview prep company Spifire, Emerald Coast, Cage Consulting, etc and pay for them to tell you what to do so you can go VFR direct to a major. Don’t waste time, the best pilot job market in living memory won’t last forever

Brickfire

Get instrument current flying whatever is practical

TallFlyer

Unless your goal is a business jet with Garmin avionics I wouldn't spend too much time learning the particulars of the G1000 or ForeFlight. Just about all the airlines use different software (JeppFD), and all the Boeings and Airbuses of the world don't use Garmin. Flying a PFD with a Dual Cue FD would be helpful, to be sure, but I wouldn't spend a lot of time learning the particulars of the Garmin box.

Any school with a Redbird sim should be able to get you started in the right direction, but the key is finding the right instructor who can identify the holes in your knowledge and help you start to relearn.

https://locator.redbirdflight.com/

I do agree that a company like Emarald Coast would be helpful, as well as applying to all your target airlines now and keeping your profile updated as you start to rebuild currency / recency.

BStill

Ditto this. I had about 2500 total hours in the AV-8, followed by a year of corporate ME time, and a year with NWA in 2001 as FE on the B727 panel. But when I got laid off after 9/11, I spent about 5 years back in uniform (with a few months of C-12 flying thrown in) and then declined recall to fly a desk for a DoD civilian career (alongside USMCR). Just retired from that in September and made the dream career change back to flying (got picked up by an LCC, about to finish training).

I did the GA SE piston (TAA) thing for several months to confirm that some stick-and-rudder skill and scan was still there, and the recruiters seemed to appreciate that, but the best thing I did to get my head back into the airline world was a subscription to an interview prep service (Spitfire for me) and pounding those academics and HR prep. On the GA side, I had intended to follow up the flight review with an IPC, but by then I got busy with interview invites and got a class date.

Other than the GA flying this past year, my last flight (C-12) was 2004. Similar situation.