Searching for Advice
 

So... As a student pilot currently, what is the best way to gain the necessary experience to achieve 1500 hours while still being able to repay a $600 per month loan payment? CFI is the obvious, I guess, but the money seems to be an obstacle.

Hi!

U can get a job now. 36 mos after the bill passes, you will have to have your ATP, or you are out.

cliff
NBO

Wegs, I think that sums it all up quite nicely.

The point of all this was that students were racking up huge amounts of flight training debt going into these jobs desperate to pay them off. Hopefully with this new barrier to entry the regional airlines can't be flooded with low-time guys willing to work for nothing. In the end it might make your career path a little longer but I assure you it will be worth it if we can make the airlines a more livable place to work.

CFI is perhaps the best and most obvious solution. There's also light cargo from places like Ameriflight, Ram, etc that would also be of help. It depends on how many hours you left training with. I know if you're like most with 300 hours or so I think you're pretty much only going to find work instructing, maybe right seat in a King Air or Lear.

Right seat in a King Air or Lear with 300 hours? Tell me who's hiring. I have a couple more than 300 and have a nice warm resume. :D

Well I should of said its not all its cracked up to be. Usually these are 91 gigs and the eqipment is older than your parents. I've seen a few of them around, usually single-pilot gigs where the FO really isn't necessary except for insurance purposes. SIC types in the 135 world are pretty easy to come by too, from what I hear.

So they round up some kid, pay he or she $17k for the fun of flying a big-boy plane around and they get some real-world experience and loggable time to boot.

Not quite the glamorous world it sounds like but it is a nice way to get some time.

Thanks for the info. If I can only find a way to stomach the loan payment while continuing to live with power and water. I started late. I'm 26 and married, so that slightly complicates things.

All in all, I like the idea of the bill, although it may complicate things for me. I'm actually surprised it took this long for something like this to happen. It's like a bad intersection... A certain # of people have to die before they put up a traffic light.

An Issue
 

I don't think it is going to be much of an issue. It wasn't long ago when most regionals required 1500 hours, a four year degree preferred and an ATP as hiring minimums anyway. Competitive minimums were above 2000 and some previous jet or turbine time. The hiring bubble of the last few years allowed hiring minimums to briefly sink to 250 hours.

Now that the bubble has burst it will be a long time (To never again) before the pilot supply shrinks to a point where airlines need to consider hiring low timers. Even now I read an article that predicted the airlines would have to shrink its capacity by another 7% in 2010. Airlines are still furloughing and in danger of going under.

There is a huge amount of highly experienced pilots walking the street. It could take most of a decade to get to a point where the regionals have to look at pilots without previous airline, turbine or military experience.

Skyhigh

There are also many highly experienced pilots walking the street that will not work for regional wages, particularly regional FO wages.

All those that have been hired over the past 5 or so years with less than 1000TT don't realize how lucky they really are.

I think the reason the mins went so low last time is that over the last 8 years many candidates for flying jobs have gone elsewhere. More so now after the Buffalo crash than ever. The regionals would not of gone down to wet-ink certificate pilots if there was an ample supply. Age 65 and the economy just put the brakes on very suddenly and got us in this situation.

However, if the law stays the same as it is now, it will be very easy to find replacement pilots regardless of the pay since they can be ramped up quickly to meet basic commercial pilot certificates. I heard some folks getting on at an airline with a student pilot certificate on the back of their medicals (less than 1 year training, usually 4-8 months!)

If the ATP rule passes then hopefully it will eliminate some of the worst parts about this career. One is that they won't be able to find cheap replacements to career airline guys any more. The other is that the costs of entry will be so high that the supply-demand curves will naturally cause pay to increase. If pilots could become a scarce commodity then the airline with the best pay/work rules will get their pick of the litter. That's opposed to the current situation where its a buyers market and pilots have to compete for scarce jobs.

It could be years and years before we find out what really happens with the proposed duty limits and ATP regs. Short term probably nothing at all, but I think if business picks up and the supply of pilots is once again a scarcity, we might start seeing some improvement.