I don’t know the guy but I could be him. I was away a long time - lost decade - and came back from a non flying field. And I’m old. My skills were beyond rusty. But I had 3000 hours in the distant past. Skills returned quickly. My past experience has helped me as well. It can be done. The past hours are valuable.

 

Take 2 crew members sitting in the same cockpit, one in the left seat, one in the right. One has thousands of hours of 121 PIC time and multiple type ratings, a 4 year degree(3.8 GPA) and no check ride failures or DUI's etc. The other is a new hire FO hired at the minimum required flight time for 121 flying and is working on a 2 year degree.

Who do you think was approached by the mainline recruiter and given a business card after being asked if they'd ever considered working there?

 

Needs more information.

How many soup kitchens volunteered at and kittens rescued?

 

Easy there Trigger. These boards aren’t anonymous by any stretch of the imagination and your company probably has some sort of policy about watching out on social media. Anywhoo. You really are gonna have to develop a much thicker skin if you want to last in this industry, especially at the regional level. Things won’t go to well if you go flying off the handle the first time a snarky gate agent or condescending mainline pilot rub you the wrong way.

 

^This x 1000^

 

Perhaps it means that female pilots are 42% less likely to come across as misogynistic racists during the interview.

 

My broad observations from working for two regionals, now at a major and jumpseating on SkyWest often. It would seem a number lifers at the regionals especially smaller ones or anyone who works for Hulas are oddballs. I don’t think many could handle being in the right seat again. SkyWest has a lot of very solid captains who are choosing to stay because of schedule and where they are based. At this point SkyWest seems pretty stable and many of their employees feel they have been treated ‘well’. I still think they’re crazy for giving up money at the majors for a Fresno base though.

 

Not the one that only has a 2 year degree.

 

Yes it was her. I've had this happen as well as an RJ CA. DHD mainline pilot asks to come up, he's on the recruiting team, starts soliciting my 24 y/o female FO for the only legacy airline which I had been pursuing for years. I had all the usual experience, credentials and education. Recruiter didn't even bother to pretend to engage me.

 

Something to consider...

Women aren't taking every ones jobs. In its intention, diversity based preferential hiring is a good thing. The Legacies now welcome demographics who have been barred historically and deemed unfit for the cockpit. They go out of their way to hire them. It is an attempt to right a wrong.

However there is a group of people who are more affected by diversity based preferential hiring than others. The Legacies are primarily out for themselves and not too concerned with fairness besides the two or three interest groups whom we all know about.

Put it this way: Initially the female 7% of 800 newhires in 2019 for airline X doesn't seem like a huge amount but consider this:

1:40% are military since oldtimers who have a say in the hiring department statistically are military as well. They are also guaranteed to have had high quality training.

2:40% are flows/CPP. This is a purely economic strategy in which the Legacies control pilot cost by keeping RJs staffed and wages low with a promise of a job or interview at the associated Legacy.

3: That leaves 20%. All of a sudden the pie for the remaining pilots becomes a lot smaller! The guy who lost the flow/preferential lottery through no fault of his own is now watching his peers, some of which settled for substandard contracts, get called while they wait. Add JetBlue pilots and Spirit Guys to the mix and your average non flow 10 year+ RJ captain is left with:

4: The final 10%. The experienced RJ Captain is left behind. He forces himself to go to Hiring events for gays, blacks, and women. He's not there to show support. He's there to beg for someone to look at his resume. He buys the tickets, the right colored suit and tie, the hotel room, and the rental car. He does it year after year even though it feels wrong. He gets conflicting information "keep doing what you're doing, try to get another type, when was your last initial?, do you do volunteer work?" He hears nothing meanwhile he sees 2000hour giggly girls in their 20's getting hired.

Now naturally its easy for a man in the final 10% to get hung up on the diversity preference. That is the pond he's in and those are the fish he's swimming with so one can understand his frustration. As myopic as it may be to blame the minorities for not getting hired I sympathize with these people. Many were dealt a bad hand. Just realize the real reason that you are left behind may very well be that you simply lost the RJ lottery.

My advice to people stuck in the RJ world is this: GET OUT!
You've lost the RJ lottery. They are not pulling many from your ranks for whatever reason. You are competing in the last 3-5% of the hiring pool. Go to a ULCC, LCC, Cargo or whatever it takes. Just don't stay in your CRJ, you have plateaued.