Hey everyone, I'm just looking into the 135 side to finish my 1500 and get to the regionals. A little tired of the day to day instructing although it's not horrible and I actually get paid well I'm looking at alternative options for the next year to finish

I live in Phoenix and would appreciate the guidance on how many hours as SIC initially I could expect and how long would it take me to upgrade into an airframe after hitting IFR mins 135? I wouldn't accept a route that flies the short 1-2 hours a day type flying. What are the routes like out of Phoenix for flight time and upgrading into airframes? Thanks :)

Times:

900TT
390 XC
80 Instrument
75 Night
720 PIC
96 multi

Instrument current, high performance, complex endorsed, 200 hrs G1000 experience including dual given.

CFI/CFII/MEI - 1.5 yrs working CFI 6 months on G1000 glass

College degree, no check ride failures

This is totally true for commercial first officers (KAL & other Eagle Jet folks.) Though I would only bump the FO if it meant we could get all of the remaining freight. If there were 300 lbs remaining, I wouldn't bump a 150 lb FO to take half of it. And UPS doesn't have the authority to direct that an FO be bumped.

For FOs that we have hired, we want them to get to 1200 hours as soon as possible so they become an asset instead of an expense. So we try to put them on high time runs as much as possible. And I haven't seen an instance when one was bumped for freight, though I can't say it hasn't happened.

We generally don't hire pilots direct to part time positions. In general, the part time on call (PTOC) pilots we have were full time pilots who stay on in a PTOC capacity when they move on to other jobs.

Now, this isn't to say we WON'T hire a part time pilot. You would need to talk with a recruiter to be sure. I would think you would probably need to be living near one of our bases where you could cover a run, possibly on a short notice situation. You would also need to be able to give us some heads up on when you would be available, as you would also be likely used to cover vacations.

Just a curious question, has anyone got hired for the FO position and been put into the hiring pool? If so how long are they in the pool for until they get a call for training?

The easiest question to answer is the one about upgrade. Once you hit 135 IFR mins (1200 TT) we will work to upgrade you as soon as possible. Unless you are an FO on the E120, you aren't making us any money flying as an FO (unless there is low visibility for take off.) So we want you in the left seat as soon we can. And there is no reason to delay it any because we don't have to find a replacement for you to send you to class.

As for time on the runs, I can't speak to that for PHX. The only run I have flown out of there is the E120 run to Hermesillo Mexico. On that run the pilots get just under 3 hours per day.

One thing. You mention twice in your qualifications about your time with a G1000. For our aircraft, that isn't much of a plus. While we are working on outfitting the entire fleet, right now only about half of our aircraft have GPS. So I would recommend taking some time to be sure you are up to date with basic instrument (VOR, NDB, airway navigation) before you come to class. It will make your training go MUCH easier.

This is what you, and your fellow management AMFers still don't, and clearly never will, get. A second crewmember is NOT just an expense. They are an asset to the cockpit, an asset to the company, an asset to safety, and they should be treated as such.

Your statement should speak volumes as to how FOs will be treated there.

I apologise if the question was asked already, I was offered left seat in the 99, is it single pilot? Thank you..

I had an instructor that flew for them and from my understanding they are mostly a single pilot OPS with expectation on the EMB120 and I think a few on here have said they will an FO on either the SA 227 or the 1900, can't remember which one or if both are being set up like that

Appreciate the info

My qualifications on a G1000 are simply that, a qualification I listed for my overall experience. I've had 5 students all pass Instrument checkrides as my time as an instructor so far - 1 has been on a G1000 and two were on aircraft that were equipped with standard analogue OBS/CDI.... Put another way I never flew ANY glass till about 300 hours ago and still regularly independently instruct in BASIC six packs, I also never even touched any GPS till I was half way through my instrument training. Ive done localizer BC non precision approaches using basic NAV/LOC REVERSE sensing just fine. Just wanted to clarify my previous experience instead of feeling like I just got put down for setting hands on a "too capable" airplane to be a "good" situational IFR Pilot.