Islandhopper

I currently have 1200 hours and I am flying the BE1900. I will most likely upgrade in about a year. I have friends flying RJs telling me that my PIC time will not be viewed as equal to Jet PIC time when the time comes to apply with a major. Will that be the case?

I am in my early 30's and not concerned about quality of life for the next three years. I just want to do whatever it takes to get to the majors as quick as possible. It is all about seniority.

Should I stay where I am and upgrade a year from now, or should I jump ship now and try to get jet time.

Also, where would be the quickest place to get that jet time.

Ottopilot

The last two new-hires at Continental that I ran into were from a B-1900 and Saab 340. Both were flying the 757/767. I think I might go the PIC time vs. Jet time. Both are turbines. The turbo props are actually more complex than the RJ's. I flew ATR's and then the RJ's. The RJ's are simple.

328dude

1. I currently have 1200 hours and I am flying the BE1900. I will most likely upgrade in about a year. I have friends flying RJs telling me that my PIC time will not be viewed as equal to Jet PIC time when the time comes to apply with a major. Will that be the case?

I fly the RJ and don't agree with that statement. PIC is PIC. If your getting it under a 121 type of operation, the quality of the time really dosen't matter, but the total PIC time does. I would stick to what you know and what your doing. Don't jump ship and face the possibility of waiting years for PIC time just to get it in a jet. Keep your seniority and rack it up as quick and safely as you can. Besides, PIC in a prop is more fun.

2. I am in my early 30's and not concerned about quality of life for the next three years. I just want to do whatever it takes to get to the majors as quick as possible. It is all about seniority.

Believe me my friend, quality of life does matter and you will soon realize that. Keep your current senority, upgrade and rank up the PIC. This is the quickest way for you to be eligible for hire. All airlines have a PIC requirement of some sort. However, it dosen't specify jet or turboprop. There's your answer. Keep the senority and start filling out the left column of your logbook.

3. Should I stay where I am and upgrade a year from now, or should I jump ship now and try to get jet time.

See above


4. Also, where would be the quickest place to get that jet time.

If you still want to go this route and I don't think you should, most regionals now fly the CRJ or ERJ. You're going to start at the bottom again, so I don't think it matters. Upgrade however at some of the regionals are longer than others and that would certainly take some investigation on your part to consider.

Sr. Barco

There's no question you should stay where you're at. Get the turbine PIC ASAP and then go fly jets if you want. Once you give up that turbine PIC gravy train you don't know when you'll get it again.

This industry does weird things. Example: I had friends of the same seniority as me at my last company delay upgrade because of QOL issues. Well.....the company shut down its westcoast ops before these guys upgraded. This delayed their upgrde by 1 year. Just about the time they got their 1,000 turbine PIC Sept. 11 happened. Now, 5 years later they're starting to trickle into major airline jobs. I and several other guys took the first upgrade 1 year prior, got hired at SWA and we're now looking at upgrading. That's the difference a year can make in this crazy industry.


Just my $.02 S.B.

328dude

I have friends that got hired at Southwest with nothing but turboprop PIC time. It dosen't matter what it's in. Stay put, log it and make yourself more competitive.

If you leave, you can push your career progression backward while others at your company that stayed on moving on to better pastures.

surreal1221

They want turbine time. They do not care if it is jet turbine, or prop turbine.

Once the RJ kids get over the "I fly a jet. . . you fly a prop, I'm better than you are" mentality we all can become a better profession.

Colgan associates have recently moved onto UPS, FedEx, SWA, CAL, NJA, and JBU.

BenM

Its all good time at the end of the day!!!! Turboprop time won't do you any harm. I must say turboprop PIC is alot better than jet sic!!!

hatetobreakit2u

well if its in my otter is practically useless as far as majors are concerned

quimby

Upgrade in the 1900. Don't worry about what your friends are saying about jet- this & jet-that. Get as much turbine PIC as possible, ASAP. Then look at all the majors you want & you can hopefully skip the lateral jump into another regional & their jets. my .02

hyflyt560

Are you at a reputable place now where you are sure you'll get the upgrade? Or, is there any potential that you're being fed an empty promise? It seems to me that if you have one more year, why not go to Mesa or Skywest who have relatively quick upgrade times?! I haven't received the AirInc. magazine in about 6 months, but I seem to remember them stating that Jet PIC is always better than TP PIC...and there are a ton of pilots out there building jet PIC time.

I would research upgrade times at various regionals that have both turboprops and jets and compare them to your current position. Even if you lose some months to your current upgrade time, you'll be at a place where you can fly jets eventually. Sure, the majors are going to be hiring in 07 (we hope), but even with some turboprop PIC time, you may or may not get picked up right away. Be at a place where you can hang out for a few years and be building time (with the possibility of that being jet time).