out of UPT ready for regional?
 

I am currently almost throught the 1st phase of flying in UPT (T-6's) and will soon go to corpus to train in a king air 90, then get spooled up in the C-130 for the Guard. My question is, do low time mil guys have the skill to go to a regional job right out of UPT? Any comments?

Not trying to start a mil. vs civ. argument as I have done both types of training. Just trying to look down the road a little bit.

The FO in my last crew had just finished UPT and was a Guard 130 pilot. He did fine in the 170.

You will have something like 215 hours right out of UPT, with about half of it multiengine.

Maybe after you finish at Little Rock you might have the total time, but I don't think anyone counts UPT as PIC time.

Had a guy yesterday interviewing with me and a few others at Comair who had 700-something hours and was a Herc guy in the guard. I would say that you are close to having what the regionals want, if you hold out a bit longer you can have your choice airline.

Yes and no. Experience no. But skills wise yes. I worked all last year with nothing but UPT students and once you get through there you definitly have a solid foundation to build on. If you've got 5k hrs in a single engine or light twin you'll be just the same as someone who only has 1k when it comes to getting into that jet. Just different systems.

Once you meet the min requirements I feel you'd be good to go. I've never met a UPT graduate who didn't have what it takes. The training there is much more difficult. Like I said though that's once you have the time. Right now you aren't ready but by the time you get to 1k hrs you'll be a leg up on just about everyone. Just my opinion though.

Absolutely, seen it plenty of times before. In my opinion, you guys have the best of both worlds.

However, a guy I know is in a C130 unit that does tactical missions. He says that trying to do both the regional job and stay current checking off all the boxes for his mil gig is a pain in the a$$ as far as time off goes.

One more thing, and I'm not flaming you or any other military type. But if UPT has been the only training you have done, don't be that guy in regional ground school. You know, the guy that keeps poping off "well, in the military that's not how we do it", or, "it's not like that in the 130". Although you have valuable skills and training, the methods of the regionals may be different that what you have been used to so far.

Regionals are hiring wet commercials to fly jets. Compared to that a winged military aviator has exemplary qualifications. But I would try to pick up a little time and apply to a "better" regional.

are you C130 E, H, or J. I know an older model 130 guy who struggled bigtime in the CRJ with all the glass stuff. If youre flying the J model youll probably do better cuz that has a real FMS. Would of been nicer if you got to fly the Beechjet (T-1) because that has the same Honeywell FMS as the CRJ so youd be well ahead of the game. But hey youre down in corpus bangin all sorts of chicks so I would say thats a great trade-off!

Kid, the world is your oyster my friend. And to answer your question...Hell yes! Lots of us would love to trade our experiences for what you're getting. Go knock 'em dead and thanks for the service.

thanks for the reps, the reason I ask all these is because I went cross country last weekend, and ended up in KSDF at about 1030-1100 doing multiples with all the UPS traffic. I felt like I was about a good 15 mins behind the plane and my coms were a pile of $hit. I guess it will come with time, I still have a long way to go before UPT complete.

ghilis- H2's, old school, no glass, $hitty auto pilot, plus I can't give up the life in Corpus!

Duece, don't worry. You were flying manually the T-6 in multiple patterns while everyone else was "flying" the autopilot on ONE ILS, with another guy half asleep doing read-backs.

How do you like the Texan ? I flew a very similar trainer (PC-7) and enjoyed the hell out of it !

Why dont you go "full time" in the guard, fly your a$$ off, upgrade to aircraft commader asap, get 2500 - 3000 hrs muti-turbine, then apply to the big boys......

well that would be the ideal situation, but being a guard bum is not always a sure thing. The T-6 is fun as all hell, aero and contact were good times for sure. lots of work, but good times.

deleted....

You will be a viable candidate for the majors with 1K PIC in the herk esp with civ 121 experience.

1 Graduate, do well in Little Rock and MQT hit the ground running when you get to your unit = early AC upgrade.
2 After your mil job is squared away find the civ job that will get you the jet pic the fastest, and a livable commute.
3 Use mil lv to maximize your guard flying and actually make a paycheck.
4 Upgrade in the herk asap and vol for all the bad deals to get your hrs as quick as you can.
5 Find a major job and keep guard gig as backup.

Good Luck

From one who has been there
 

I did tweets then went to Corpus....awesome training! I flew 130s for four years and loved it. I wanted to go back to Corpus and instruct but as luck would have it there were no slots available so I got T-1s instead. That was a MAJOR learning curve. The Rockwell-Collins FMS is NOTHING like SCNS from the 130. I am actually lucky that I got T-1s so when I do go civilian I won't be fightning the "box". My advice is for you to do what my reserve 130 buddy did. Go to your unit ...fly your a$$ off and upgrade to AC as quickly as possible and get your 1,000 hrs of PIC as an AC in the 130 then look for a civilian job. My buddy is now flying for FEDEX while I'm still waiting for my commitment to Uncle Sam to end! I wouldn't even bother with a regional unless your unit isn't willing to fly you enough to upgrade in a timely manner.

My 2 cents

T-1

cool man thanks for the advice, I seem to hear the whole "guard bum" your A$$ off if you can theme over and over, so I guess that is the best path.

My sim partner here has no probs in training, former KC-135 driver. Did you get selected by the 123AW in SDF?

if youre looking to have fun go to a regional for a little while, theres something to be said about flying with younger crews that like to party versus grumpy old captains at majors or fedex/ups that get on your case about everything. but hey you got lots of options

I tell ya something..........some of the "Grumpy Old Captains" here are the Long Ball hitters, meaning they are the old pros of nightlife. The Younger guys tend to ask "where is the Gym?" when they check in at the layover hotel. The Older guys ask (or already know) "Where's the Bar?"

Flying into SDF
 

Is that what we're supposed to do when we fly into SDF ????

I seemed to have missed that memo.

FF

Test waived
 

Part of the initial Captain checkout used to be a required score of at least 8 on the grump-o-meter. Recent developments in the profession have made this unnecessary, since even new-hires are meeting the standard. ;)

good one! :D

Boy, someone here has met some pretty grumpy captains? I haven't seemed to have that problem ;)

its not an old captains fault for being "grumpy," its just what happens after 25 years of being in the industry. i hope to get there someday, with as little grumpiness as possible, although id rather just be a career widebody FO. i just think that youre more likely to have a good time with a young single crew than you will with an older crew. its science