For whats its worth, I've flown only 200 hours this year..I'll be lucky to hit 500 hours by the end of December.

At my rate I'd have 22 years experience...

Ab-initio guys get hired at the regionals and the low cost carriers. Getting hired at the majors is a different story!

Ab initio is a very demanding and proven track but it's rare these days.

I doubt AF was his first gig!



Al

From what I can gather, he was at Air Inter prior to Air France. (Not his first gig at all)

I don't know how this thread drifted to this topic but this is not entirely true. Lufthansa and British Airways have had Ab Initio programs for years and have hired new pilots with very little time to fly their mainline jets.

Not that it's important, but someone made a comparison and the subject was raised.

Ba has run Ab initio programs for years but most of their pilots come from other carriers. Ab initio classes are rare and the numbers are very limited.

Either way, the direct entry or ab initio route to IOE completion is no walk in the park by any standards.


I don't think many AF pilots are ab initio either. The AF pilots were well trained and experienced but still subject to the elements of the SHEL model.


AL

I just sat up front on Iberia/KLM flights and was talking to the f/0's.......both were full ab-initio and they stated the majority of new entrants are. 11,000+ hrs is a good bit of time for an EU pilot, my good friend at Lufthansa flies about 8 out-n-backs a month (about 4 hrs of flying a day).

We've got guys upgrading to captain on the 777 and A330 with 6000 total time. The provision is that there is a minimum of 4000 jet and 1000 in type. So it's not unusual to have sub-10,000 hour pilots in command of an intl. widebody.

With Air France work rules I doubt he'd fly more than 500 hours per year. The French love their vacation time.


Typhoonpilot

Thanks for all of the comments. As I said, I wasn't trying to draw a conclusion about the captain's total time and the accident. I saw the 11,000 number and thought it to be lower than I would have though, but many have explained that number is not low and how hiring in Europe can be different than in the US. Thanks again.