I realize not all 'mil' applicants are coming off AD, but I can't imagine how a pilot departing AD wouldn't have IP time, at a minimum.

 

That's a good point. You've got 2 tracks, the active duty retiree or 10yr commitment separating pilot will have IP experience or better, and a strong chance they got their masters.

The other track is us guard and reservists. Most of us generally do not have a masters, and have the option to not upgrade to IP. I chose to upgrade at my airline and get a masters. My friends who chose to upgrade to IP and not get a masters or 121 PIC are now all getting calls from a major. I'm basing this off objective statistics. Trust me, I'd want nothing more than to be called because I have a masters. But I think we all know what really matters is the flying part.

 

I do agree with you that military IP time is a very strong résumé booster right now for the majors. I think with your heavy military A/C Commander time and your 747-400 PIC time you will get a chance to interview pretty soon. Oh, and having your masters will help you during the interview for sure.

 

Thanks. At the last job fair I attended i met Arnie at DAL and had a great chat with him. Great guy, very straight forward. And he said nice resume, made no mention of my masters, and asked me if IP school was on the horizon. Hes a former mil pilot himself and I think its just one of those things DAL wants right now because they can get it so why not.

there will eventually be a drying up of this surplus of ips on the market. And thats when theyll pull from the rest of us

 

Ghillis,
I understand your perspective. Did you by any chance relate to Arnie your thought process for foregoing your IP upgrade? You have differentiated yourself in other ways. Don't sell yourself short, you are more than qualified. DAL training will probably not seem foreign to you, but to a military only guy, it will be very different from what he is accustomed to.

 

Definitely was a positive experience, but the takeaway was that there is an incredible amount of talent out there. For all the various reasons out there, alot of people didnt get a fair deal, and that extends back basically through the last decade and beyond. Now you have for the first time in history, literally thousands of instructors, evaluators, and checkairmen, competing for hundreds of jobs. Its still a tight market for a while.

next year is when I think the bottleneck finally clears up. I think everyone with pic is eventually gonna get hired. The key here is understanding that it takes time. The best thing you can have out there is ip/ep/chk amn. The 2nd best is TPIC. And of course, a strong connection, job fair, meeting a chief pilot, etc, is the trump card.

i think its fair to say we can be optimistic about the future. It looks bright!

 

Almost 12 years of active duty here: I have zero IP time. When/if the question is posed by an airline, I will reply by stating that I've flown three different aircraft (B-1B, MC-12W, RC-135V/W)...I don't have 4ish years in any platform (the usual time for IPUG). I'm also headed to the Reserves to fly the C-17 in the spring.

My hope is that my diversity as an aircraft commander in different aircraft/missions will be "enough." Were I not separating in February, I'd be upgrading to IP once I returned from my current deployment.

 

Hired at DAL as a Basic AC (ANG). More time was spent talking about leadership stuff I did in college and what I did in high school more than anything else.

 

Deuce were you hired in this round or the previous round (2008 time frame). They did hire AC's back then.

Asupilot, hurry home brother. We need to party in Tacoma again! Stay safe in the desert

 

This round. A few weeks ago.