PilotGuy77

Totally agree. I learned so much more in my second full year as an FO. The first year is a total fire hose. After three years in the right seat I think you will see alot. More confidence and experience is needed to be a solid captain. It's no joke and you need to know more than just systems of an airplane. You need diverse experiences to prepare you and this I know comes with years of right seat time. Be patient it's not a race...

Darant

I dont disagree with you all but I dont totally agree.

I think the 1500 hour rule is a blanket rule but I totally agree with it. It mitigates some of the risk when you are dealing with the average pilot. If you had a guy that was raised in aviation by his airline pilot dad/mom, flying their family plane every weekend maybe he would be better than the average. You cant however apply that idea accross the board. Most guys/gals dont have tons of exposure to aviation prior to flight school or are natural sticks so you cannot count on that when designing the rule. I do however know that when I got my CFI, I realized very quickly that I couldn't fly for sh** compared to a senior (currently flying) CFI and didn't have the knowledge base that they did either. That is the point of instructing, you are asked questions you wouldn't have thought of yourself on a regular basis. Also, you push the envelope on the aircraft that you wouldn't normally either. Constant stalls, maneuvers build your stick and rudder skills and basic airmanship very quickly. I do not however feel a 300 or 500 hour pilot has any buisiness in the right seat of an airliner. In 135 ops, we had part 91 observers serve as right seaters. Low time, low pay, but really they were just there to serve as an SIC but hold no responsibility what so ever. Its a very common thing.

Back to the 1000 hour rule, my point again is this. A person could have 6000 hours experience. Multiple type ratings, years of experience, etc. There should be some additional provisions to allow a credit or exclusion of that rule. You guys bring up great points, but my direct issue is that a person could have flown a king air 300 under scheduled passenger ops for a 1000 hours and waive the requirement. However, a person flying a Brasilia 120 under scheduled cargo ops cannot. The King Air pilot would not be a safe person under your definitions but the FAA feels otherwise.

PilotGuy77

Agree! My night 135 cargo flying was single pilot in the roughest of weather. No go equals no pay. My opinion is that the quality of time should be a factor with respect to the blanket regulations for times. Flying cargo is much more demanding than doing stalls in a 172.

NovemberBravo

I'm confused as to why ground crews and ops care?

Navmode

Because it's their job, and if they perform poorly (especially on purpose) they should be fired.

Darant

I have 3.5 years of single pilot cargo ops in three different aircraft. It was very eye opening and the experience was incredible. Everyone talks about winter ops, but when you do it on a daily basis in Michigan, North/South Dakota for a few years you become weathered to it as they say.

But still again, Flight Instruction has just as much to offer. While not necessarily the same things you don't go around stalling cargo aircraft often or things of the like.

Facebitten

From a erj 170 first officer at Mesa. "No they don't. I have 135 hours in the plane now and the highest capt here has around 170 hours in it 80% of my flights I have more hours in it than the capt so he s asking me what to do."

Xdashdriver

12 CRJ CA openings and 14 EJET CA openings. So much for the slow down on upgrades.

Jowersman

Just saw the vacancy... Keep them coming!

VanDriver208

PHX upgrade vacancies! Who would of thought that was a possibility a year ago? I'm sure they will go pretty senior, but still...