derk74

I'm a prior military dude. I used this approach and believe it was instrumental in getting me an interview.

maddogmax

Currency is nothing more than another discriminator. It's like needing to have 20/20 vision to fly for the military or get hired by an airline 30 yrs. ago, having a college degree, etc. Once in, none of that matters.
I once gave A330 OE to a FO at NWA who had not flown an airplane for 13 yrs. ( 10 yrs DC-10 SO, 2yrs ALPA and 1 yr. Medical) He could barely talk on the radio but made it through with lots of extra time. He was a great guy who worked hard and knew he was behind the 8 ball.

Redbird611

At my regional I've flown with several First Officers recently that have notified me that they are newly qualified, but also already have a class date at a major. Literally just checking the boxes after being hired at a 121 regional was all that was needed for these former military pilots, including ones whose last assignment was a desk. I'd say it is a pretty effective approach.

badflaps

Everything that you have pointed out costs money, where is Nyrop when we need him.

gloopy

We can't really say currency is "nothing more than a discriminator", and then go on to cite an example of someone 13 years non current (although 10 of those years on the flight deck plumbing) who still needed "lots of extra time" and knew he was "behind the 8 ball".

Companies don't want to hire lots of new hire pilots that are stastically going to need lots of extra time and are going to be behind the 8 ball. They will usually hire a few though, and carry the majority of them through. But its never going to be the norm and that's completely as it should be. If someone wants a multimillion dollar career with your company its really not too much to ask that they do some grunt work for a few months knocking the rust off.

That can be done a number of ways from job hopping at an airline that's easier to get on with to getting a type rating to as little as doing a BFR/IPC refresher (probably a bit more than the couple hours minimum…don't you hate it when people treat the least amount of training allowable by law as a syllabus goal?).

Being non current (regardless of how you define that, from 91+ days to 10+ years) is rightfully considered a negative. Its also rightfully hardly ever considered to be an insurmountable negative, and to any extent its considered a negative, its really not that hard to mitigate it and get hired anyway.

Like someone else said, there's plenty of "desk jockeys" that either found a way to stay current or quickly got re-current to get the job they wanted.

maddogmax

I totally agree. Being current is much better than being non-current when trying to get hired. My point was that once hired, it only matters if one can't get thru the initial training program within the standard footprint. $$$$$$.
In a previous life, at another carrier, I did a study about who was more likely to successfully complete a training program within the footprint. It turned out that one who had been thru more recent training cycles did better than those who had not, regardless of flight time/experience.

Sliceback

It's not uncommon for guys that struggle to avoid switching seats/equipment. It's 'safer' to stay in the same fleet. Guys who have a lot of time in one a/c or seat are more likely to experience problems switching to newer fleets.

That might be why some airlines required a new training cycle in the previous X years.

gloopy

I'm sure there is a definite corollary with recent training cycles. And I don't doubt that, statistically, it may be more of a predictor than just overall recency. Airlines do look at that, and a few on and off have either required it or cited it as a competitive positive in their application process (IOW you get app points for recent training cycles). Just like airlines look at overall currency.

One of the best ways to completely shatter the stigma of being non current is to get hired by a less desireable airline that's easier to get hired at with the currency issue to get re-current, or perhaps knock out a type rating on your own.

dada9898

United CJO

2868 Total Time (All Military)
1771 (TPIC)
B.S.
M.B.A.
Currently in Ground Training with a Regional
16 LOR's (9 internals)
CP Meet-N-Greet
OBAP

Emerald Coast
Flight Training International (FTI)

Very Thankful! God is Good!

mrjiggs287

First of all, congratulations!!! But, I must ask...16 LoRs and 9 internals??? Is that really what it takes??? I have the same quals. I've had my app in for over a year and have not heard a peep. I have 1 internal at United. I am currently flying as an active duty heavy pilot in a TFI unit (over 75% are reservists). I don't think I personally know more that 10 airline pilots. Only one of them flys for United. How in the world does one get 9 internal recs and why does a career military pilot need so many LoRs?

And, please...before anyone replies, "...dude, you gotta network!!!", I get that; but, I've heard that an internal rec is useless if you've never flown together.

I keep hearing how there is a pilot shortage coming; but, no one is calling. I've had all the reviews done on my app and have been told it looks great. Is it the LoRs that are really making that much of a difference?

As I said, congratulations. It is very encouraging to see mil guys getting hired. Best of luck!