fatman1683

Thanks. Do the Metroliners operate like the 120s, or are they single-pilot ships?

FreightDogs

Mostly single-pilot, but in locations where the weather isn't great, you'll get a First Officer. Like Lansing, Michigan for example; those routes have FOs.

fatman1683

Ok, is the opspec such that FO time on those routes loggable as SIC? And what are the hiring standards/minimums for a Metroliner FO? I'd prefer a crew environment but none of the E120 bases are on my list of possible cities, so a 227 would be the next best thing.

own nav

Yes, there is an exemption in the ops specs that allows you to log the time as SIC on a Metro.

https://w3.ameriflight.com/pilot-opportunities/

It would fall under the Accelerated Captain Program, so 800TT and the other times listed on the link above.

own nav

There's an elephant in the room I'd like to point out. It may not be the case with you, but most people will admit later on... when they say they want "crew time"..... what they're really saying is they don't want to learn hard IFR single pilot via the "sink or swim method."

I get it, we all do. On the other hand, you might be surprised how many people gain the confidence to fly single pilot IFR after a couple hundred hours of mentoring. Might be that they see that they are every bit as capable as the person in the left seat, and the fear of the unknown dissipates.

If you get to ATP mins in a freighter, in this current environment, you will have your choice of regionals regardless of whether your time is single pilot or crew time. Also, bear in mind the time as SIC in the Accelerated Captain Program, while loggable does not count toward your ATP.

fatman1683

I'm definitely not against learning the hard way, this is more about building experience that's as relevant as possible to the part 121 transport environment I'm aiming for.

Can you explain this one? My understanding was that the SIC requirement in the opspec counted as 'regulations under which the flight is being conducted' as described in 61.159(c)(1)(i).

own nav

That's just one of the limitations of the exemption. We got a memo about a year or so ago. If you did 200 hours in the right seat of a Metro on the way to becoming captain, you would need to add 200 hours to your total time to meet atp requirements.

fatman1683

Ah ok. Disappointing, but good to know.

ECMO4

I have seen some ads (not recently) for bases in the southwest for PA-31 VFR only with 135.243(b) mins vs. the mins currently on the website. Are these seasonal, special case, other?

FreightDogs

Are these the mins you are talking about for the VFR PA-31 Captain positions? 750 TT, 25 ME, 100 XC (defined as point to point), 25 night, 500 PIC, 75 instrument
Those are listed on the site here: https://w3.ameriflight.com/pilot-opportunities/
Also listed on the site are the regular PA-31 Captain mins: 1,200 TT, 50 ME, 500 XC (defined as point to point), 100 night, 500 PIC, 75 instrument
The VFR PA-31 Captain positions are rare as we only take them for our ABQ base and only when the weather is good (summer).
Hope that helps!