maxru

If I were to hazard a guess, was the “no” from SkyWest?

MTSTCK

It was from Endeavor. A squadron mate of mine had a CJO on condition that he got the rest of FW PIC time before his class date.
Republic invited me out for an interview but I would guess I would get the same answer as my squadron mate did from SkyWest.

v22guy

Sorry to steal your thread but I appreciate the recency of replies. Current CV/MV guy with 1200hrs, master's degree and clean record. CV-22 mission aircraft commander, MV-22 ANI, SL, CRMF at 204. I'm set on flying for AA due to proximity to family, so I'm looking at my options for quickest way to get there. I'm 3 years out from my ADSC and am exploring the option of pursuing a part time desk job at a guard/reserve unit through Palace Chase as soon as I hit my unrestricted mins in about 1.5 years. Based on previous replies, it sounds like with the current hiring situation, my chances of getting hired straight to a legacy are decent, but of course not guaranteed. In the risk/reward realm, if I'm only able to get hired to a regional/Part 135 with 1.5 years left on my ADSC, would the extra 1.5 years of mil time boost my chances of success of going straight to a legacy (probably looking at around 1750TT)? My guess would be no, and that the 121/135 time would prove to be more valuable on my app. Any guidance, advice, or spears are appreciated!

tnkrdrvr

I’ve known several Marine helo guys who went to Reserve and Guard heavy squadrons (KC-135, C-17, C-5, KC-10), volunteered for every flying opportunity, and were at American within a year or two of leaving active duty. Definitely room for debate over value of heavy mil time vs 121 RJ time. Either path can get you where you want to be.

B727DRVR

All,

We have a MV-22 Pilot who just started with us at flyExclusive.. I will check to see if maybe he can reach out to you with his experience. You would probably get your required PIC time faster with the previously mentioned inter-service transfer, Guard, Reserve, etc. to a jet or with a young, growing Part 135 with a quick upgrade like ours might help you get your desired time.

Otterbox

An extra 500hrs of MV22 time isn’t going to add depth to your resume the same way 500-1000hrs of part 121 jet time will.

v22guy

Thank you for the replies. Thus far, the advice posted here echoes what I am hearing from current V-22 to AA pilots. One had about the same amount of hours I'm looking to have at the end of my commitment (1700TT), and received the call the day after he updated his app with 777 time at Southern Air.

Jhsouders

Good Day Everyone,

Lots of great information on this thread. Thank you for all the insight into the current state of v22 airline transitions.

I am a current V22 pilot getting out in about a year, but my hours (listed below) are only high enough for a restricted ATP. I am assuming that no major legacy carrier will even look at a restricted ATP, so I’ll have to build hours elsewhere.

TT: 900
V22: 600

The remaining 300 hours are a combination of all of the flight school aircraft and GA hours.

My question is, would it make more sense to go to the regionals or to a 135 charter to build those hours?

Firstly, the regional airlines route. Above I kept reading that V22 pilots hung out at regionals for 6 months to a year before getting picked up by the majors. Do those pilots already have 1500 TT and lots of PIC time? My concern with going to a regional is that I’ll just be sitting on reserve forever and not actually building any hours, since I actually need the them. How often do reserve pilots actually fly?

Secondly, there is a part 135 gig I found that claims they will take me since they count .3 for each sortie and I’d already meet their 1000 hour FO minimum. How do the majors look at 135 time if I were to go this route to skip the regionals altogether? I expect this route would get me at least 50 hours a month of non reserve flying.

A hesitation I have with both options is that I would start out as a FO. How do the majors look at SIC time or would I have to upgrade to captain and accumulate a certain number of hours before they will look at me? In which case would I most likely upgrade faster? Am I typically able to accumulate PIC time (at the controls) while working as a FO in either case?

Some great knowledge in this forum. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you to you all smooth sailing.

rickair7777

Safe bet at the moment.

Regionals all suffer from the pilot shortage right now. Odds are very low that you'll sit reserve without flying... expect to be used. It's remotely possible that if a regional's shortage is more on the CA side that they might have junior FO's not flying much. But I doubt it. I'd verify that for any regional you're considering, just go ask on the forums here.

121 experience and transport-category types are preferred by majors over 91/135 experience, all else being equal. But with mil wings, in this climate, either would get you there eventually.

121 flying is also very straightforward... you just show up when you're scheduled and fly the plane.


135 ops are all over the map in many regards, you most definitely need to do your homework very carefully before taking any of those jobs. There are some very sweet deals to be had... the industry refers to them as "unicorns" and unfortunately for you they are pretty much only available to highly experienced and well-networked corporate pilots. The jobs available on public hiring boards are generally not that great (to put it mildly).

QOL is a real crapshoot as well, common to be on call 24/7 most or all days of the month (hope you don't like beer!). In some cases "days off" are assigned retroactively... if you didn't get called last weekend, those were your days off! Regionals at least you'll have hard days off, known about a month out.

Also unlike regionals, you'll do flightplans, concierge services for execs, aircraft cleaning (including the lav), and anything else they can think of. Some bosses also have the pilots come in to work odd jobs on days they don't fly, such as wash cars, mow grass, etc.

Also, personalities... if you get sideways with the boss and get canned then you have a blackmark with the majors. Again unpredictable, and you can end up between a rock and a hard place with something like safety issues: be told to fly or be fired by a non-pilot boss.

That's all worst case, but like I said that's what's going to be initially available to an outsider airdopping into the biz.

Fractionals are another realm, but I probably wouldn't go there for time building. They have their own warts and upgrade would take years IIRC.

The top-tier majors really like some TPIC. But your mil PIC would count towards that. The gold standard for civilians is 1000 TPIC but that does not translate directly to mil in this climate. I've known plenty of reservists who got some regional SIC and got hired by legacies in 12-18 months, mostly helo people.

Regionals are pretty predictable... in this climate you can upgrade as soon as you get 1000 hours in 121, so maybe 18 months or 24 worst case.

Corporate is widely variable, you could get hired as the PIC, or never upgrade just depends on the situation... obviously need to understand the specifics before you take a 135/91 job.

Also, 135 night cargo flying is pretty predictable and would play out similar to a regional gig except that you'd probably be flying a turboprop (121 glass jet time is better than any civilian prop time for the most part).

Jhsouders

Got it. So it sounds like regionals are most likely the better bet. The 135 gig I was looking at was a 7 on 7 off flying citations around the country. The schedule sounds workable, but like you said there can be a bunch of random and unfortunate caveats that make the job undesirable over just showing up and flying at a regional.


I will only have around 100 TPIC time from the military. Will that be looked down upon? While working as a FO at a regional, will "time at the controls" qualify as PIC time should I want to upgrade to the Majors?

Any concerns with picking a certain regional carrier if you have a specific Major in mind? It seems like with the hiring these days, it wouldn't make sense to sit the 5+ years at a regional until you get flowed to the Major they have a deal with. I would like to pick a regional that has the best chance of giving me a close domicile, then move to the domicile I get slotted for at a major. Coming out of the military I would like to reduce the number of moves where possible.


Upgrade to a regional Captain or upgrade to a Major legacy? What requirements would there be for each?


Part of why I love the V22. The glass cockpit life is primo.