1500 Hours, 0 recency in past 12 months
 

Any ideas if I can still get a class at a regional with 0 flight time since last March 2020? I was interviewing at airlines right when things started shutting down due to COVID. Went back into my old line of work for awhile for stability, didn't fly at all, but feel I'm ready to get on with a regional given how things are looking now.

Tough to get a CFI job right now for currency at 1500 hours when they know I'm a phone call away from leaving.

Thanks in advance

Take a look at getting involved with a local flying club. You'll get to fly for a pretty reasonable price and make friends. It's also a great networking opportunity that could pay off down the road. You can fly just enough to stay recent while still working your current non flying gig.

Solid idea. I'll have to spend a little cash but it'll at least be fun.

Have you applied? I think you would get a call from a regional within a day or two.

I have my class date coming up. I also hardly flew the past year because I just worked my regular career when the CFI work dried up.

I just did an 8 hour ferry flight for a buddy in a Mooney. I also paid for some 172 time in the local flight club for a BFR and IPC with CFII that I actually built some time with before he had his CSEL. Now I am current at least.

Any school should be able to set you up with a quick flight. Or do something cool like sky combat ace in Vegas, or rent a cirrus in Hawaii or something else for sight seeing with their CFI

You should apply now at the places you want to work. Class dates are already getting pushed out months in advance

yaas queen (yes was too short)

I have a feeling things are quickly moving back into “do you have a pulse” territory. Definitely get your apps in.

Lol ok apps going in. Worst they can say is go fly and reapply later

I would apply but definitely go ahead and go get current if you have to spend a little money. It doesn’t hurt to be current.

In the mean time find a Civil Air Patrol unit and keep flying.

You might be able to get calls from some airlines without flying in the last 18 months, but you're always going to have to get over the hurdle of not having flown in a year and a half. Show them that you made an effort to ensure you can still fly a plane and you're going to make it 20 times easier on yourself to get past that.

My advice, get a flight review and an IPC, and if you need a few extra flights with a CFI to get those done, then do it. The airlines don't want to step into questionable territory if they don't need to, so your app would likely be thrown to the bottom of the pile if you don't have any flight time recently.

You’re getting good advice here. A guy in my class hadn’t flown since February of 2020 and thought he would wing it. Sure enough, he ended up being the weakest person. Failed his oral, failed his LOE and needed several extra sim sessions along the way. He’s going to be here for a while now. If you have any hopes of moving on, shaking the rust off is the single easiest thing you can do for yourself right now. Training can be hard enough even when you’re current. Plan accordingly.

Agreed, thanks very much for the thoughts guys

^^^^ What those guys said. Don't take 121 training for granted, *especially* if it's your first rodeo.

You'd be surprised at what basic skills you lose after not flying for a while, and one year+ is definitely going to make it rough. BTDT.

I’d definitely follow their advice and try to build up some recent experience again. The airlines will want to see you took the effort to get current again. Good luck!

im with the “do you have a 1st class medical?” crowd

But put another way “hire them all, let indoc sort it out”. You want to be current, for you.

Agreed 100%. The OP question, was not “is it smart to go to a 121 training program not having touched an airplane in 12 months” it was “can I get a class date?“

I would say don’t give up potential seniority to get every single duck in a row. One class date worth of seniority can make a huge difference, just ask all the COVID furloughees.

You’ve got a few weeks between the call and start date to get current, knock the rust off and start studying. Base it on your comfort level, but don’t hold back an app right now to try and make sure you have everything you think they need. Just one guy’s opinion. It’s a pilot’s job market again, especially on the regional side of the house.

Nobody advocated for him to not take his first. Lass date. Folks are suggesting to just show up to training current

Everyone is saying get current.

One way to do that is with a good sim. A lot of flight schools offer monthly rates. You could prob pay a couple hundred bucks and have a months worth of unlimited Redbird time to get confident with approaches, flows, checklists, approach plates and briefings, emergencies and failed instruments….

you’ll be flying a sim during training so the sim environment might be better once you do a couple currency flights in an actual plane

That’s great advice. Saves money, can always stop the sim and go back on weak areas, substantially more time to practice, less stressful environment should allow for the training to be retained faster/easier.

This gets my vote.

Who logs sim time? No. Read FAR 61.51 in terms of logging sim time. Red bird time outside of maybe working with an instructor towards an instrument training should never be logged, and certainly not as actual flight time. Your currency would still be zero hours of flight time in the last 12 months.

A redbird is just a fancy desktop sim, and not a real certified full motion sim.

Apply and see what happens. Fly what you can. There are jobs that will hire you, but they may not be very good jobs. There are regionals that will hire with zero currency.

I mean, tons of regional guys got hired at 1475ish hours because they get the rest in the sim. So quite a few people log sim time.

The point of “sim” time is proficiency so you are ready to pass 121 training, not logging time or faa box checking

and if you do want to log time, there are lots of details about which devices count towards what in which situation. But again… not the point