Any suggestions?
 

My hours are in a kinda weird spot. I don’t want to get tied down in a long contract anywhere but need more hours to qualify for regionals. 1650 Total Flight Hours
1570 Pilot in Command
115 Multi-Engine
1200 Point-to-Point XC
395 Cross Country
70 Night
70 Simulated Instrument
8 Actual Instrument
Any job suggestions?

Why do you need more hours to qualify for regionals?

Wierd spot? Hardly! Your current flight time qualifies you for most (if not all) Regional airlines in the US. What specifically are you concerned about regarding your flight experience?

You are short 30 night hours, but:


So rent a Cessna 152 for five hours and go on a stop and go marathon for a few nights. It'll cost you less than a thousand bucks. Then you can apply to any regional you want in less than a week.

Go to The 135 world in Alaska. Get some real single pilot experience before you loose the opportunity all together. Once you hit the 121 world, you'll never get that kind of boot camp again. Think about it.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Why practice bleeding if you aren't a local who, granted, has it as part of his/her culture and loves it?

Short on night hours but don’t really have the money to go buy them. I’m still interested in flying at another company before I go regional but I don’t want to be tied down with a long contract. I guess I’m looking for a good company that fits that mold.

I like the idea of Alaska flying and have applied to grant but haven’t heard anything back. I like them because they have no contracts and I don’t wanna be tied down too long since I’m only short a few hours. Did you have any specific places in mind?

Seriously? You don't have enough money to rent a Cessna 152 for five hours?

I didn't just MAKE UP the :

(b) A person who has performed at least 20 night takeoffs and landings to a full stop may substitute each additional night takeoff and landing to a full stop for 1 hour of night flight time to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (a)(2) of this section; however, not more than 25 hours of night flight time may be credited in this manner.

That's straight out of CFR › Title 14 › Chapter I › Subchapter D › Part 61 › Subpart G › Section 61.159

Rent the cheapest aircraft you can rent for five hours and do as many takeoffs and landings to a full stop as necessary in that five hours to get yourself up to a total of 45 night takeoffs and landings to a full stop. Then log the five hours and then log the additional 25 hours for each extra takeoff and landing. At night at some not terribly busy airport you'll likely have the pattern to yourself and can get easily get six landings and takeoffs an hour, especially if the field is long enough to do stop and goes.

Don't get me wrong, if you want to go haring off to Alaska to have fun, that's great and I hope you have fun, but just getting there and back is likely to cost you more than 5 hours of Cessna 152 time, and a few months delay at a large regional could easily put you behind another 60-90 guys in seniority.

Your choice.

That sounds like a catastrophic idea. You're seriously considering going through 135 training, having a few jeopardy events, another employer reporting to your PRIA, because you can't afford $500 to rent a 152 for a 5 hours?

I think this is an extreme case of "penny wise, pound foolish".

Let's say Grant calls you and gives you a job in Alaska. You wash out of training. Suddenly you can only work for places like Mesa because of your fresh training failure. Only to save $500.
If you don't have $500. Open a new credit card, pay it off with the signing bonus from your regional.

Man stop tripping and go rent a 152 and do Stop n God for 5 hours and then go get on a seniority list somewhere. Stop trying to mess around with finding a company to work for.

Like someone suggested earlier, open up a credit card or put the 5 hours on a credit card and pay off the card with your bonus money.


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If that 5 hours of night time stops you from being hired somewhere... you probably dont want to fly there anyway.... just my thoughts.

I posted this earlier tonight on another thread, but thought it might apply. Forgive the cut/paste.

The older I get, the better the time I had at Grant... but besides that, there’s not a week go by that I’m not answering questions from a young pilot about their first Part 135 job. It usually includes a suggestion to go to Grant, once they have time enough for a PIC position, and don’t leave until you get 500 or more hours of multi engine PIC time. PIC TIME.

If you leave an operation like Grant or Ravn before getting 500 or 1000 hrs of left seat, single pilot/ME/IFR time, you may not get the chance to build any for quite some time. And if those greener pastures you left for aren’t what they advertise to be, you ARE STUCK, not having the PIC time you need to go somewhere else. Slow down, get your bases (hours)covered, then exercise the options that open to you.

SIC spots make no sense to me, even if you’re talking about a 1900 or a CASA. Not unless you already have the above mentioned PIC time that shows you know your stuff. Even going to a 121 mainline OR regional before that 500 or 1000 hours of PIC/single pilot/ME/IFR time can be short sighted.

The pilot types that seem to go the distance are the ones that slug it out in the CFI trenches or flying patrol or VFR sight seeing ops, then hiring on as a PIC under 135, first as a single engine driver, then multi engine driver. Hold that spot unto you get that 1000 hour PIC benchmark, move on from there. What you learn there will help you become a better Captain in the future. I’ve seen how it sets those pilots apart.

Mind you, I’ve only been doing this since the 80s. On several continents, across many borders. I’ll put my family on any plane driven by an AK pilot that’s put in their dues, over any of the regional or mainline guys that have come up too quickly. But what do I know? I’m practically ancient. Consider the source.