Nrice

I'm a private pilot almost done with my ir but ive been thinking with all of the furlouged pilots out there with a substantial amount of flight time and PIC will there even be room for the new people coming up through the ranks who will be looking to apply to the regionals?

my ultimate goal is to work overseas in asia but i know that though asian airlines are expanding they arent likely to hire an expat F/O since they can fill that seat themselves. recently i spoke with a CFI at my school who just got hired at American Eagle i asked how many years did he spend instructing and he told that he spent a year doing it, i expect to at least spend a good 4-5 years doing that.

I do a lot of flying at school and ill be doing more flying over the summer and ill have a pretty good number hours within the next 4years but even with 1100hrs it just doesnt compare to the people who have 3000+ hours and PIC with a type rating.

It seems like the people who are saying that there're going to be jobs are the ones who have the hours for them but my question is will there be room for the new people like myself who are moving up through the ranks?

Walkeraviator

There will always be work for you. The question is can you feed yoruself and put a roof over your head at the amount those jobs pay? I am you in a few years. I have 1400 total time and almost 1000 multi, but now that I am being laid off I am job hunting again. Check hauling is almost always an option. Regionals are an option. But I have a wife and a kid and a mortgage. I was making $40k a year, so to go back to $20k will most certainly make my house go away, and being gone that much will put a real strain on me as I will miss my family.

My suggestion is to find a good busy flight school and get to 1500 and take your ATP ride as soon as possible. Then go the regionals. The key... buy a truck and a small RV and try to own them outright (no debt)... then stay single. The key is to be mobile and live cheap.

I do believe that there will be jobs. I dont think we will ever have the proverbial pilot shortage, but there will always be fluctuations. Im seing it now a little... for teh last few years nobody wanted to learn to fly because there was no job oppurtunity in the business. Now that the hiring has started and everyone is moving up,. it leaves holes in teh bottom (CFI jobs)... problem is there arent as many CFIs left who havent moved on to soemthing else. You check climbto350 and you will see a lot of places looking for instructors if you are willing to move to their location.

IN short, yes there will be jobs...BUT... you will have to make huge sacrifices to get to where you want to go.

Flying Ninja

You'll have more than enough total time and experience to compete for a job at the regional airlines. You didn't mention multi-engine time, which is huge. Many airlines will like to see at least 100 hours of ME time.

Walkeraviator is correct in asking if you can afford to work for the regional airlines. Staying single and mobile is key to success. Many pilots enter the regional career and they are out within 5 years for good. Some as short as three months because they discover that the life style isn't for them or is too big of a leap from high society to hobo pies.

If you really want to do this, make sure you go into it with as little debt as possible. Ideally, no debt and a healthy bank account is the way to enter the career (ironic isn't it?). Good luck!

TonyWilliams

Sounds like the kind of career that will attract nothing but the best and brightest !!!

Or those who will work for almost nothing....

My former airline is now two months behind on salaries, yet pilots keep flying to "build that log book". WORKING FOR FREE. They would probably pay, if they had some money to do so !!!!

dogismycopilot

It's not necessarily what you know or how many hours you have, it's who you know and how hard you work to make the connections that will get you in somewhere.

Also, some regionals really don't want 3000+ hour folks with prior 121 experience. They see such a person as a "short timer" who will bail to the next level once the majors pick up hiring. This means another training cycle, another training cost, another vacant seat until the replacement gets trained.

They might rather have someone like you who they know will stick around for a few years.

Good luck, and I really don't think you'll be instructing for 3-5 years.

-Dog

Nrice

Im fortunate in a lot of ways the two biggest reasons why is that i actually started flying in the civil air patrol for 78 bucks an hour and my father is paying for my flying lessons at school and tuition i was fortunate to find some enough scholarships to cover my tuition. a lot of the instructors at my school are getting hired by the regionals and were running short on cfi's and ii's but the mei's im not so sure whats happening with them i was talking to an instructor who got hired by american eagle after a year of instructing. i have hard time believing that one though because it almost seems impossible but hey im at a university so instructors are pretty much promised to have students and my university likes to hire graduates.

Flying Ninja

There was a time (2004-2006) when regional airlines were hiring people with 250 total time and 50 multi engine with NO flight instructor certificates.

If you really want to be an airline pilot, just keep building your flight time and experience and start applying now. A friend of mine just got hired by a regional without a CFI certificate with the same amount of time you have now. So if you have ME time, you're good to go today.

Nrice

I highly doubt we'll see those times again even if i had 250hrs i wouldnt feel ready to handle the right seat of a crj or erj let alone the emb 120. a good friend of my family works at united and i guess its at the training center, im not sure what the proper term for it is but he was telling me that ME time is what airlines like to see.

how many hours does a regional pilot work per month on average? and is a regional pilot guarenteed an X number of hours per month?

Flying Ninja

This depends on the regional airline, your seniority, your base, and how the fairy god mother feels about you in life. Ultimately, it is limited by union contract, but will not exceed 100 hours per calendar month, or 1000 hours per calendar year.

Each regional airline offers a "guarantee" that they will pay regardless of whether you actually fly those hours. Obviously, if you fly past guarantee, you will make more money.

rickair7777

The 1000 hours/year part might be changing, I don't believe there's any mention of that in the new rest/duty regs. Hope everyone has that in their contract...