jrav8r

If part 135 captain mins are close ATP, why are pilots choosing to go to Ameriflight?

own nav

Shiny Metros, most likely...

AlphaTexan31

Turbine PIC is extremely valuable and hard to come by. Ameriflight offers this from day one for many new hires.

AlphaTexan31

Quite the colorful picture you paint. Let's look at the facts. The Eaglejet guys are here to build time. Last time I checked, turbine time is by no means cheap. If you run the numbers on the amount of hours the EJ guys log while here in the states, they're getting a heck of a deal.

Also, EJ pilots have made a conscious decision to come to the U.S. and pay a massive amount of money for flight time. There are other options, and no one is forcing their hand to come here and pay for flight time. For most of them, while very expensive, it is still the fastest way for them to build time and move on to their end goal (Korean Air, etc). They could have done the same as most of us and instructed, flown survey, contract work, so on and so forth, to build their time. They knew what they signed up for before they got here.

Ave8tor218

Applied earlier this week and awaiting the phone interview. Looking like 1900 Captain would be the position.

Does anyone here know what SEA/PDX average for hours/month? I've heard SEA is less, but just want to compare it to what I'm doing currently

AboveAndBeyond

SIC in a 121 jet with dual FMS is far more valuable than Turbine PIC in an old single pilot turboprop. It was different 10 years ago, but in todays world, time with a 121 carrier in a dual crew cockpit, with glass and FMS is required to go and work for a good airline.

There are many, many regional FO's that are getting hired by JetBlue, United, and Delta right now with absolutely ZERO TPIC. Moving forward, expect more of the same.

Airlines want people with airline experience. Period. Do yourself a favor and go to a regional. After 2 years at a regional, you will be able to pick your LCC's or smaller freight 121 companies (Abex, Atlas, etc..).

Upgrade time at most regionals is 2 years or less now, and the ones worth going to pay $60,000 first year pay, offer REAL flight benefits, and have far better schedules and benefits than AMF offers.

AlphaTexan31

1000 TPIC with a 135 freight carrier will get you to the highest paying LCC in the industry, or Atlas, Abex, etc., regardless of whether or not you have several thousand hours sitting in the right seat, staring out the window, pushing buttons and letting the captain make the calls. If you can fly a type rated turboprop, single-pilot, in the weather, with no autopilot, without losing your life or certificate in the process, you are well qualified to sit in the right seat of any airplane - and countless others share this opinion. As is also proven during our current hiring boom.

That being said, regional vs. 135 cargo is purely a preference and lifestyle choice. It's quite the nice change of pace that regional guys with no TPIC are getting picked up by the legacies. Now that you can make 60k first year at a few different regionals, there are far more livable options than there were 3-5 years ago. Go to the operation that gives you what you need, and allows you to do what makes you happy during your time off.

AlphaTexan31

Somewhere around 40-60 hours a month on average for most bases is pretty accurate.

Jetlife

That is a line places like AMF sell to get applicants, but turbine PIC isn't any more valuable to a company that doesn't require it. The hiring process is so dynamic now that a multitude of factors go into getting hired at an ACMI, LCC, ULCC or a large fractional etc. You will have work very hard to get out of AMF and into one of those companies. If you spend several years flying a Metro or 1900, and you are a check airmen/ACP etc you're going to check a lot of boxes. If you're just a line pilot collecting PIC time, you're no different than a line pilot collecting SIC time at a regional.

Even if the airline requires 1,000 TPIC still (FedEx, UPS, SWA) that alone won't get you in the door. A simple metric would be to measure who went to AMF with no significant outside qualifications (military, previous 121 etc) and went to one of those companies.

Bottom line, a well rounded resume will get you farther than any single qualification. And this is verbatim from several airline recruiters.

Jetlife

It valuable, but so are other forms of time. And it isn't that hard to come by.