High TT, Low ME
 

I am currently at a job that I love and will probably hang here for 2-5 years. One of the things I am thinking about is my marketability down the road. I will be about 3000TT, 90 ME, almost all VFR.

I network with corporate pilots every day, but was curious if any pilots had personal experiences with similar times; and what was your next career step.

Lifter

Single Engine Piston
 

Single engine piston does little to help beyond getting other single engine piston jobs. If you want to fly for the airlines or in a jet then bite the bullet and get out soon after you reach 1500 total time. Anything beyond that does you no good.

Skyhigh

I am about to do exactly that, plunge into my first 121 job for multiengine turbine SIC/PIC. I have reached a point where additional single engine hours are of no practical use. I was not one of the lucky ones who was given a type by any of the companies I work for, so when things are tough you have to get going, I am headed for the airlines. Time to tighten the belt and get comfortable with generic food!

Good advice from Sky.

What airline are you headed to? I thought I saw awhile back that you decided that you enjoyed your time at your current job and weren't planning on leaving for the airlines.

Not sure yet but it is obvious to me that building any sizable amount of turbine PIC cannot be accomplished without some combination of hard work, perseverance, and opportunity. I spent the last 5 years doing mostly desk work in relation to flight test engineering and I see a pattern emerging that one cannot move over to the flying side of things efficiently, or at all, without some sort of break-in to the discipline of piloting turbines. That event may best be served by a detour to the airlines in my case. The rate of turbine PIC accrual is very slow even for those who are established in flight testing. You simply must do some dues paying somewhere along the line to establish yourself. If you do not come through the door with your turbine PIC already, you are almost guaranteed not to get it there.

I didn't have quite the TT that you do, but I probably had somewhere close to 2000 TT and 100 ME when I went to Central Air Southwest and flew freight in Twin Commanders. If you meet the mins you might think about applying. I can't remember if they have a 100 hr ME requirement, but you're so close that they'd probably take you if they do. It was a decent 135 gig to build up ME time and move on.

That place opened up the door to ME turbine and, ultimately, turbojet PIC. Prior to that job I'd been CFI'ing, to Saratoga pilot, to Caravan PIC...similar to your predicament.

Thanks for the responses guys. It sounds like this is a common situation to be in. If at all possible I am trying to avoid the airlines due to financial concerns. I plan on staying where I am for a while until the right opportunity opens up.

Lifter

I've got 3400TT and 120ME. Flying a cirrus right now but the pay is better than any airline i could go to and I'm usually home every night. I don't see the point in chasing ME time right now. Eventually our company will get something bigger, so i'm probably going to wait it out.

Pretty much the same boat that I'm in. Making way more money than I could at the airlines, with about 3 overnights a month. Once airlines start hiring, my guess would be the part 91 options will open up too.