Hey folks,

I've been out of the manned cockpit a long time doing the UAV/RPA thing. The career totals page on the Pilot side seems to give me ~1200 hours of primary (~530) + secondary (~360) + student time (~300). Thus I'm eligible for my R-ATP (and have already completed the CTP portion) but am trying to figure out just how much PIC time I've got. As I try to translate my FHR to determine PIC time, is it correct that I only count primary and secondary for time showing MP and not MC? If I add up just my MP Primary and Secondary time, it looks like ~280. It's a shame my 3600 hours of (mostly turbine) RPA time (all PIC/IP/or EVAL) doesn't count.

 

From an airline perspective only your time as MP counts for PIC. They will want to see your HARM printout. Unfortunately, your RPA time means nothing to them. On the bright side, don’t pay for an ATP check. Let a regional do that. You should be competitive within a year of starting at a regional for a major/legacy. Maybe faster, but your years flying from a shipping container, not a cockpit, aren’t an asset.

 

Exactly what tnkrdrvr said. You qualify for a pilot position at a regional airline and they need pilots. Go there and build time. With the current rate the majors are hiring, it will not take long. I fly with many ex-military FOs who went to regionals before the majors.

Being able to list civilian and military experience on an application is a big plus.

 

It doesn't count but you can list it on your resume with your RPA experience. Leadership experience is good to highlight.

You are correct that the airlines don't want you to include "other" time. Which case in point--take a look at your UPT hours if you still have the summary record of training. If you were a T-1 guy about 80-90 hours are probably "other" time technically, though SARM still logs it as "student time" at UPT (on the other hand, I think most people just throw all the student time from their FHR into total time...the FHR being an acceptable source document to the airline, thus no one looks any deeper than that). It's fitting a square peg in a round hole, each airline has a slightly different definition of what they want and what they care about. Big picture it seems they want to see how you got your conversion and your justification--network and get the gouge from guys that have interviewed with that specific airline.

It's getting even more complicated now that SARM is logging eligible MWS sim time into your aircraft career totals (really so that they can count toward gate months, I assume for penguins that are pushing for staff or long term DNIF). Aircraft totals are accurate but career totals are not.

Enjoy!