Airline Pilot Central Forums - Advice to a Military Helo Pilot looking to go

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Advice to a Military Helo Pilot looking to go

I tried to keep the thread title pretty broad as I think it could develop into a good resource for other helo bubbas in a similar position.
I’ve read through many of the regional forums and all the military ones and there is a lot of good information out there, but not in a central location for the helo guys looking to making the jump.
What advice would you give to a military helicopter pilot looking to make the transition?
Are there any rotor heads that have gone before willing to share their path and experience?
I’m a Navy H-60 driver with just shy of 2,500 logged hours. Civilian quals include SEL/MEL commercial/instrument, helicopter commercial/instrument/CFI/CFII. I’m looking to transition in the spring after I hit 20 years active. Fixed wing time is lower, but better than most rotors due to flying C-12s a little bit at a test tour. I think I have a reasonable chance of going to a regional and hopefully to a major within a couple of years there after.
I’ve seen advice on getting resume’s reviewed. Who have people used and how much of their services (resume review, interview prep, etc.)?
For log books, how did people transition them from the military to civilian? I need to clean mine up as a dog as literally tried to eat one of mine. Do most folks just do a straight copy into Log Ten Pro or a similar program and then print out a nice clean version, or do they make adjustments to account for FAA rules on flight time logging?
Any information or advice people are willing to contribute is greatly appreciated.

As long as you have your ATP requirements met, you will get an interview to any regional of your choice - assuming nothing out of the ordinary in your background. As far as logbooks, I kept separate mil/civilian paper logbooks and brought them to the interviews as well as my mil printout. I transcribed all my logbooks into a spreadsheet, tabbed by year, (took forever) so I could keep track of various things (EFIS, etc). I continue to keep manual logbooks, however, and do not use my electronic logbook for interviews - only to more easily track/categorize time. As far as resume prep, a bit overkill for regionals IMO. I will definitely use one of the prep services when the time comes to move on - will probably print and bind my spreadsheets as well. But for the regionals, use your mil attention to detail to ensure your apps/resume are on point, and all will be well. I cannot speak much to conversions (only mil RW time), however I would be very cautious with them. The only adjustment I made in my hours was to decrease some time - took out any sole manipulator PIC time - only counted single pilot and aircraft commander PIC. If the topic of PIC time came up - never did - I would rather discuss that it does not include sole manipulator rather than the opposite - I believe some regionals have notes in AirlineApps not to use sole manipulator- cannot remember.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tester130 (Post 2197574)

A good number of helo guys with C-12 experience are going the ISR route to build fixed wing time. Make sure your clearance is upto date and that's also an option for you.

From a much lower time standpoint, Envoy has a program for mil helo guys. PM me for details, apparently they don't want them in the open just yet.

If you already have your multi and ATP mins though you can probably go to any regional you want. Endeavor seems to have the best pay including their bonus setup, but NY base is a deal breaker for me. With your TT you could probably go to a major after a year or so of 121 experience, but if you want to hedge your bets with a flow there are the three wholly owned (WO) American regionals: Envoy, Piedmont and PSA. Whole threads on pros and cons for each.

Check out APTAP.org - Professionals Helping Professionals

The group is "Army Pilot To Airline Pilot"; mostly green helo guys who have the same objective as you.

It used to be quite a group a few years ago, but not sure how active it is today.

Thank you for all the great information.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hacker15e (Post 2197886)

I looked into the APTAP web site and forums and it looks like it has died down quite a bit. Since January there has been only 70 posts in the forums spread out over 21 threads. There is still a lot of good information on that page and I would recommend it to any Helo pilots looking to make the transition to read through some of their threads and advice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tester130 (Post 2198543)

Glad there was something there of value in the archives, even if it isn't very active now.

It was a pretty good community 5-10 years ago during the last hiring boom, and I know a couple USAF helo guys who participated there and went on to regional jobs in the late '00s.

The good news is that the hiring picture is very much like 2006-2007 again, so it is going to be easier for a military rotorhead to get into the game.

Don't forget that JetBlue is the only big airline to officially give credit to rotor time, so put your app in there as well as the regionals.

JetBlue values sling wing time highly as they do military applicants.

USA Jet is an unusual supplemental carrier. They love mil pilots of all types. Starting pay is about $55/yr, second year pay is higher. They have Falcon 20, DC-9 and MD80...and B727. They are based in YIP (Detroit). PM PILOTYIP for all the details and up to date info. A LOT of mil pilots have gone through there and then kept going. They fly throughout North America. It is different than a regional...in some ways worse, other ways better. All cargo, now.