erk45

Curious what the trend of V22 guys going to the Majors directly has been in this new hiring environment? I'm a recent V22 selectee, just want to keep the airlines as a potential option (way down the road) as I move forward with my career.

emersonbiguns

Depends...

Are you a rotor-wing guy upgrading?
Fixed-wing guy downgrading?
UPT guy that forgot to fill out his dream sheet?

Excargodog

It is not currently IMPOSSIBLE for a sufficiently experienced V-22 person to go direct to some major but you might need to fill a particular gender/diversity profile. But the future? Who knows. I’d probably plan on a touch and go at a regional currently though.

erk45

I'm a Marine who selected Tilt out of Primary.

As far as a short stint to the regionals, I imagine if a V22 guy got some T6 instructor time that would negate that, to get more pure fixed wing time? I've read that back in 2018 more companies started accepting V22 time. I guess I'm just not sure if that was due to more companies shifting their thinking regarding V22 time as more fixed wing, or if it was companies feeling the pilot squeeze, and opening their doors to V22 guys for a short time.

emersonbiguns

I have a buddy that was a Navy 60 guy who did a T-34 tour and got out. Got hired by SW in a down market. Your plan sounds good.

jaxsurf

No way of knowing what the future holds, but Delta was hiring pure V-22 guys from the Marines in 2019. You’ll pick up the current gouge from various places over the years, so just keep your ear to the ground and you’ll be fine. There are resources available to people like you… the fleet bros who are close to getting out will know what they are (or should).

In the meantime, enjoy the suck. Don’t worry too much about the airlines, you’ll be fine.

In 2018 Delta had a short hang up about AV-8B and V-22 time (both in the powered-lift category, not airplane category, per the FAA), but that was resolved after a few months. Not super relevant to you, but if anyone references this, now you know what it was about, but more importantly, it’s no longer valid. Delta has hired many straight V-22 bros since then. None of the other airlines cared, plenty of plopter and scarrier bubbas got hired by everyone else during that period of Delta insanity.

rickair7777

I know lots of guys who did that, worst case a few months at a regional. My hometown is a helo base so we got a lot of those in the reserves.

Even without an IP tour, 2-3 years at a regional seemed to do the trick. The mil wings are valued.

USMCv22

Right now (who knows in 10 years, which is when you might become competitive for an airline job) it still CAN BE (see below for what I mean by that) direct to the majors for qualified V-22 applicants (recently had a pure V-22 dude get in with FedEx). It’s FW time, period.

Now, remember, it’s not just about flight time. So regardless of the type AC you are flying (V-22, F/A-18, T-6, C-130, H-53) if you just barely have 1,500 hours, or only made aircraft commander/section lead, no squadron leadership positions, no volunteer, etc etc, then it’s gonna be really tough and your more likely to need to “supplement” your resume (IP or regionals.)

Significant Leadership (or safety) billets and other personal advancement IMHO are worth thousands of hours. Even with pure regional folks, they really like to see leadership (ie union work, check airman, etc). What I recommend to folks like you early in your career, is do all the things they tell you that make you excel as an officer (I’m assuming Marine?) and squadron pilot. Believe it or not, the path to success as a military aviator (think: the path to a Squadron Commander) also greatly enhances your resume for an airline as well. So, focus and work to be the best military officer and pilot that you can be, and when you get to that crossroad in your career you’ll be competitive for either path. Don’t put the cart before the horse; thinking “airlines” for the next 10 years of your contract could have a detrimental effect.


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rickair7777

What he said ^^^^ is generally true, they like to be picky if they can afford to be and whole-person is a part of that.

Right now they have such a demand with retirements that they are basically hiring almost anyone with military wings and certain min FW flight time thresholds. Their alternative is to raid their own regionals, hire CFI's, or corporate cowboys... cookie cutter, known quantity mil looks pretty good compared to the alternatives right now.

But that can't last forever and will likely change down the road a few years.

Excargodog

Indeed. And the big rush of legacy retirements peaks around 2025-2030, making you at some risk for being trapped in lag “way down the road” from now in a system based purely on seniority rather than merit, so you might give some consideration to looking at Reserve options to expedite your civilian career - especially since it appears that legacies might be now having to guarantee an actual flow to their regional guys to keep them - and even actually honor that guarantee. The regional ‘bait and switch’ shoe may soon be on the other foot.