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-   -   Frustrated Regional Pilots (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/hiring-news/99859-frustrated-regional-pilots.html)

Autothrust 02-07-2017 06:23 AM

My opinion is that they are pulling their 30-40 year olds from the military. The people retiring from the big military hiring wave in the mid 90's are in their early 40's. So they pull 20 somethings from the regionals. Having watched the hiring since 2013 and talking to enough people, I really believe that if you are late 30's to mid 40's and civilian then the Legacies are not interested, generally. I know there are exceptions. Best to get happy where you are or grab a LCC slot now, just in case that call never comes.

galaxy flyer 02-07-2017 06:56 AM

I've watched from the sidelines of been in the hunt for every hiring boom since the late 60s, it has always been thus. I've seen guys with great resumes, never get a call, others that were unimpressive get hired and vice versa. It is not about resume quals, the legacies, in particular, have a profile they want to interview and won't be budged by a resume, to AUTOTHRUST's point. Six of us in my squadron were turned down by American back in the day, everyone hired at EAL, go figure.

GF

Packrat 02-07-2017 07:02 AM


Originally Posted by Wildcard90W (Post 2296532)
As far as checkride failures go, I have one.... CFI bust, back in 2004.

This November will mark my 10 year anniversary at my Regional. I have made that my go/no go with regards to pursuing some of the LCCs and ACMI cargo carriers..

Don't wait...do it now. Check your PMS.

wrxpilot 02-07-2017 07:12 AM


Originally Posted by galaxy flyer (Post 2296592)
I've watched from the sidelines of been in the hunt for every hiring boom since the late 60s, it has always been thus. I've seen guys with great resumes, never get a call, others that were unimpressive get hired and vice versa. It is not about resume quals, the legacies, in particular, have a profile they want to interview and won't be budged by a resume, to AUTOTHRUST's point. Six of us in my squadron were turned down by American back in the day, everyone hired at EAL, go figure.

GF

American is definitely a weird one. One of their recruiters at OBAP told me that I need to get hired at Frontier to "Learn how to fly big airplanes". I've been flying 70 seat RJs into Aspen and Eagle during the winter for three years, clearly I have no idea how to fly big airplanes...

Falcondrivr 02-07-2017 07:37 AM

I'm not a regional pilot, and have no 121 time at all. But here's a funny related story:
I was talking to a recruiter for Allegiant at a job fair in December.
He said; " You should go to a regional and get some 121 time. Then we'd hire you in a second." (I have 8000 tt, 5000PIC, 4 type ratings, good 4 year degree.)
Me;"Well, I'm in the pool at Atlas. Would 747 time count?"
Him; "Ummm, yes! A year in a 74 and you'd be ready for sure!"

PotatoChip 02-07-2017 08:44 AM

Join the club.
I update twice a week, have for the past two years.
I've been told I am "very qualified" by recruiters and prep companies. I've been told "you'll get a call by the end of the year". It's been two years.
It's frustrating.
All of my close friends are at legacies or SWA.
I have multiple internals at every airline.
I have the "primary sponsor" plus two additional at FDX.
I have a masters degree.
I have thousands of hours of heavy time and international time from two different carriers.
I have TONS of volunteer experience inside and outside of work.
I am under 40, and under 10,000 hours tt.

To date, I have received ZERO calls from any legacy, FedEx, UPS or JetBlue, not even a "fix it".
I have received a call from Sun Country and ATI.

Keep trying.

atpcliff 02-07-2017 09:06 AM

This may help:
Go to Allegiant, Frontier, Atlas, ABX, Kalitta, JetBlue, Spirit, Vision, or some other carrier with a larger and/or Boeing/Airbus aircraft. I think that this DOES help pilots go to the "Big 5". I am at Atlas, and have seen a lot of guys go from here to the "Big 5". We had one guy here who had 3 class dates: AA, UAL, DAL. Another guy, from here, finished INDOC at UAL, and two days later resigned for class at DAL. We have had a LOT of guys to to FedEx, and now a lot going to UPS...apparently 120 or so of our pilots in the UPS pool, minus the pilots who already left in Jan.

I am not saying that this is THE way to go, just offering a suggestion. Some years ago, I had all the requirements for a large PAX carrier, but they said I needed glass Boeing or Airbus time to be seriously considered.

Of course, the longer you wait, the worse the Pilot Shortage gets, and the easier it gets to go to the Big 5.

PS-Maybe Amazon will make it the Big 6...

FTFF 02-07-2017 09:37 AM

I know a whole bunch of guys in the same boat as you. I'm basically there myself; got all the stats and quals but only ever got called by UPS and I think that was just a lot of lucky timing (I did a lot more than 10 yrs at a regional too). Don't mistake the value of being young/moldable as being better at what we do. It's not. But for successfully integrating at a new company it apparently is. Nothing personal, just business. Dont give up, at least not yet.

Flatbiller 02-07-2017 09:46 AM


Originally Posted by Hacker15e (Post 2296488)
There isn't a pilot shortage at any of the majors -- they are still filling classes with no problems, although they're not able to cherry-pick only the most top tier candidates now like they have been for the last 5-10 years or so.

According to one of the Atlas threads, Cliff stated that FedEx had 11 no-shows for a recent newhire class.

BeechPilot33 02-07-2017 09:49 AM

Lot's of good suggestions. I would get that 1000 and click the box and in the meantime go to more job fairs and get the ball rolling at the places mentioned above. Lots of friends got another type and was off to the big 4 with less than a year at new company. You could also hedge your bet that getting 1000 will trigger more computer hits and a couple job fairs and more retirements will get you there without moving.


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