Airline Chances With a Q-3
 

Fellas,

Just curious what my chances are when it comes to getting hired at a legacy with a Q-3 for cause in my FEF. All other check rides have been Q-1 with a downgrade or two, several with commendables. The Q-3 was for a bad decision to continue an unstable approach and a late decision to go around resulting in aircraft damage. Am I facing a tough road ahead with regard to airline hiring? Anyone in the same situation had any luck?

TIA!

Not at all dude. Plenty of guys have been hired at Legacies with Q3's on their record. The fact that aircraft damage was a result of it doesn't help and may make explaining it harder, but it shouldn't ruin your chances of getting an interview. It will be on you to take ownership and explain what you learned from it in your interview and you'll be fine.

What did you learn?
 

I have a Q-3 in my FEF and was hired by 2 airlines at the same time. Have a good story, own it, move on!

Thanks for the replies. I absolutely own it and I learned a great deal from it. The biggest of which is the fact that "get-there-itis" is very real and can happen to anyone at any given time. You have to be mentally prepared to fight it and make the right decisions. This was very difficult for me since I've always prided myself as a sound instrument pilot. Especially since I've lost 3 good buds in the F-16 under similar circumstances (RTB in IMC/CFIT).

My biggest concern is that it was a command-directed Q-3 for safety of flight and missed approach/go around. Word around the fighter community is that a Q-3, especially one for safety/flight discipline, is an airline career killer. My leadership understands that it was a momentary lapse in judgement and are continuing to upgrade me to MSN/CC and IP so I'm hoping that will help ease the airline's concern but it's on my FEF nonetheless.

On the bright side, it will ensure that I have a good TMAAT story for sure.

Thanks again!

If you REALLY learned from it you're a better pilot because of it. The school of hard knocks can suck at times, especially when you're the participant instead of reading about it.

It might be a good TMAAT - "embarrassing, humbling, and beneficial. It gave me insight into pitfalls and made me wiser, especially after losing three friends with somewhat similar circumstances. My commanders ultimately realized it was a harsh lesson learned and my career progression continued with upgrade to mission CC and IP qualifications."

It can suck telling honest stories of one's failings, especially when one has high standards/expectations. Learning is the key lesson. We all know guys who havn't learned from their previous lessons. IMO that's the guys NO ONE wants to hire.

Good luck. Be honest.

That is probably what the interviewing Capts will be interested in. And of course time and Q-1s that follow!

Scraped the boards or worse? Just curious.

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Scraped the outer edge of the left stab. They were able to repair it. Mostly just paint and bent up the outermost static wick.

Not a problem from what I've seen. You are making "career progression" which says it all. Just be able to explain the incident without making excuses and it can actually bring some life to those boring interviews.:) Life happens, right?!?!

I'd bet the Q3 will buff out, too.

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