FlyJSH

Sounds like you are describing yourself.

USMCFLYR

And still you can't admit that someone just may want to fly big radials for the pure joy of the experience.
Believe my Sky, I wish APC had been around for you too!

USMCFLYR

Airhoss

So says the guy who never got the chance to prove his theory. And that is just exactly what 95% of your jewels of "wisdom" are because you have never been here. You know Sky maybe if you would have worried less about the "right" kind of time and little more about enjoying what you were doing at the moment you might have been successful in your single minded narrow viewed quest to fly for a major airline.

I am typed and have a bit of time in the L-18 Lodestar. My advice is do it while you still can, do not turn down an opportunity to fly the last of the great flying machines. Jets will always be here. Heavy working radial engines airplanes are endangered and soon to be an extinct breed.


I can't think of a major airline that I've interviewed with where the pilot in the room wasn't extremely interested to hear about my Alaska time and in particular my round engine time.

BTW Sky I've interviewed at two majors and one large jet cargo outfit and was hired by all three of them. So my advice isn't in theory only like yours. So while heavy recip time isn't going to put you ahead on the computerized application sheet it sure as heck makes for a good conversation piece in the interview. These guys like to see one come through every now and then who isn't straight up cookie cutter material it breaks up the monotony.

SkyHigh

Here is my point. Flying is the bush is "neat". DC6 time is kind of "cool". However there is not even a place to record those experiences in most airline pilot applications.

The HR lady does not care about your fun connection to aviations past. The computer who scans the application does not care how cool a DC6 is. It all just goes into the total time column as if it were touch and goes in a 172. There is not a place to record such vivid and broad experiences because the airlines don't care about it.

All they want to see is part 121 jet PIC. Anything that detracts from that path is seen as a negative no matter how cool or fun.

Skyhigh

SkyHigh

Yes. I have a background of interesting, fun and cool aviation experiences. I flew the Alaskan bush, smokejumpers for the forest service and air ambulance among plenty of other things. I can tell you that none of that trumps a 26 year old who has only ever seen the inside of a regional jet.

I was always hearing "wow you have got as lot of good experience" from captains I would meet. Good for what I could never figure out, because it never helped me to get a job anywhere that mattered.

I could pick up the phone right now and get a half a dozen jobs flying taildraggers or some other crazy risky fringe job but my resume of aviation experience bares no weight at the legacy airlines.

It all was a waste of time and a detractor to my ultimate goals. HR departments do not appreciate a broad background of different aviation experiences. All they care about is young airline jet captain success.

The guys who I flew the bush with pull wire or sit at desks today.

Skyhigh

SkyHigh

Hoss,

You also last interviewed a few decades ago. Try to get hired today with DC6 time. There is not even a place to put it in most airline applications.

Besides if it is so good then get me hired at a legacy. I have got 185, Beaver, Islander and Casa time. I can tell you now though that regionals, legacy and LCC.s don't care about that stuff.

Skyhigh

SkyHigh

USMCFLYR,

Fly for fun?

I know that there are millionaire sons out there who only care about the "experience" and that is great. However it is my belief that after spending a small fortune on college and flight training most here have a specific goal.

This forum is called Airline Pilot Central after all.

Skyhigh

DeadHead

With your pessimistic, pi$$-poor, negative, defeatist attitude, I am sure you still would have made the same mistakes.

SkyHigh

I was not born this way. At one time I too was a bright eyed new pilot who loved everything aviation. Experience is what lead me to the opinions I hold today. I do not feel that it is a fair and equitable place for most. You stay blindly positive on aviation and in 20 years we will see what that gets you.

Skyhigh

SkyHigh

Another element about fringe flying is that once you are established it is very difficult to start over in another area of aviation.

Pilots advance largely on the contacts they make as they climb the ladder. I lived in various huts in rural Alaska for years. The rich tapestry of contacts that I made there did not advance to American Airlines. Some are still there. Most quit flying because they could not find a good flying job outside of the bush and a few died in plane crashes.

Once established in one area a pilot usually has to start completely over at the bottom in a new one as with the regionals. As we get older it becomes more costly to make the transition. I spent an hour on the phone one night with a 40 YO DC6 captain who was stuck in his position. There was no job he could get in then lower 48 that offered even half the pay. He should have left years prior. By then it was too late.

Bush flying jobs lead to more bush flying jobs. DC6 time only holds value to other radial engine operators. Before you know it your short diversion into the fringe could become an unwanted life and career. Not good.

Skyhigh