Moving to the US
 

Hi,

I’m a 38yo dual US/EU citizen pilot living in Europe and currently flying the PC-12 on a commercial (officially) multi-pilot operation. I’ve got both EASA and FAA licences (FAA SE CPL (no ME), EASA ME CPL). I’ve got 2400 TT, of which 1050 PIC, 70 hours ME, 800 instructing.

Given the job market and the opportunities there I’m thinking about moving to the US with the ultimate goal of working for one of the majors.

I’ve been browsing the forum quite a bit and I’ve reached the following conclusions (please correct me if I’m wrong on one of them.):
- I’ve got 0 hour under part 121.
- only a few regionals are hiring 0-hour like me.
- For revenue optimisation I should target regionals that don’t offer hiring bonuses before going to one that offers some once I get the hours (~500 or ~900 part 121-hours).
- It seems that when your application interest them you can get invited for interviews within a week or so, so I assume I should already be in the US before applying to any operator.

My questions are basically:
- which regionals are hiring 0-hour part 121 like me?
- Are there part 135 PC-12 operations that would allow me to build part-121 recognised hours? I assume that with 1100 hours on the 12 I would attract at least some attention from some operators?

It’s hard for me, currently outside the country and only in touch with a few US pilots to know where to start my research.

Thank you!

There are no 135 pc12 operations that will allow you to build 121 recognized hours. Basically 121 recognized hours are operations that require an ATP and setp isnt that.

You need to get your faa commercial MEL and move toward an ATP at which point you will be competitive at a destination 121 job

Like Brickfire said, you need to get the commercial multi. A friend was talking with a regional recruiter who has commercial single only and they won’t interview him without it.

If you can also find a way to get the ATP on your own, you can most likely skip regionals and go to a LCC carrier like Spirit or Frontier directly. Good luck.

All regionals are hiring folks with zero 121 hours. The regionals are most pilots first airline job.They are moving up from 135 or flight instructor jobs.

They all were a year ago; many aren’t now.

Most are now captain constrained and hiring people eligible (or nearly so) for upgrade.

OK, I thought some types of 135 ops were "recognized" toward 121. This tells me I need to get my head back in the FAA regs :eek:

Thanks for the input guys.

Several issues to address:

1. Foreign 121 equivalent does not count for US 121 upgrade requirements. So you cannot come in as a DEC.

2. "Normally" in the US your SIC time in a two-pilot operation does count *IF* the OPSPEC requires two pilots, which is common in US 135. Even if the plane itself is certified for single pilot ops. In your case I'm not certain since it's a foreign operation, you may need to actually get a written legal opinion from the FAA (search their website in case it's been asked before). If the FAA allows that time, it's total time, SIC, etc, etc. If they do not allow it, it's not loggable at all, basically an airplane ride.

Regionals can only hire pilots eligible for an R-ATP or ATP. You'll need 1500 hours total, plus the other requirements. How many hours do you have exclusive of the PC-12 time, which may or may not be loggable for FAA purposes.

Depending on how long you think you need to stay, you may not want a multi-year obligation. Or just take the bonus and put it in the bank... if you leave early just pay back whatever they pro-rate.

Or available to fly over on very short notice. But yeah probably better to be here. But ask around what the CURRENT timeline is from application to interview call at any regional you're going to apply to. That changes with their needs. Also I'm sure they'd let you pick a later interview date, unless they're only doing interviews that week or something.

All of them are hiring zero-121 hour pilots, you dn't need 121 hours to be a regional (or any 121) FO. You need 1000 hours 121 to be a regional CA (some other types of experience also count but none of it foreign).

I'm sure there are, but with the high demand from the airlines almost all 91 and 135 operations are struggling to find pilots so you can definitely get a job flying something, probably later this afternoon if you apply right now. I'd shoot for twin turbine aircraft, even better if it's a jet. If you get 1000 hours in a jet I'm sure the LCCs will hire you, don't even need the regionals.

As a moderately experienced pilot with US citizenship, you definitely want to be in the US for career opportunities... it's way better than any place in the world right now, ease of getting hired, seniority progression, pay, and workrules.

It's a bit more complicated than just reading the regs, you'd need to also look at some FAA legal interpretations and maybe AC's.

1. "121" means US 121 operator (technically 119 cert holder).

2. You do not need any 121 time to get a regional SIC job (or any airline actually).

3. You need 1000 hours 121 SIC to upgrade at a US airline, or to get hired as a DEC.
3a. You can substitute certain US 135 PIC, US 91K (fractional), or some US military time.

For you this is doesn't matter at al unless you want to get hired at a regional as a DEC. If you want to start as an FO like everybody else, all you need are ATP (or R-ATP) minimums.

What does matter is:
1. Do you have 1500 hours exclusive of the PC-12 time? If yes, and you meet the other ATP minimums, you can get a regional FO job now, and possibly a LCC major airline job right now.
2. If no, then you need to
2a. Verify, via the FAA, that your foriegn "135 equivalent" PC-12 SIC counts as FAA SIC/total time. I don't know OR
2b. Get a 91/135 job in the US and get your loggable time up to ATP mins. Good news, it's very easy to get those jobs right now.

I’ll persist beating the regionals hiring certain types of FO’s drum

A number of regionals functionally are not hiring FO’s. So if DEC isn’t an option, you need to look beyond the regionals

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer so thoroughly. I'm aware I have 0 121 time and therefore can't apply as DEC as stated in my OP.

I didn't know about the issue regarding SIC time in single-pilot airplane with a foreign operator but what about FAR 61.51(e)(1)(i):Wouldn't that cover my case? If yes, that means I could log all my PF time on the PC-12 as PIC under FAA (not PM time).
Thank you for all the other inputs. Taking notes.