Not exactly... "Preferential Interview" means preferential interview, not necessarily preferential hiring.

They can still decide they don't like the cut of your jib, or the way you part your hair, and not hire. At the end of the day, majors don't make hiring decisions because ALPA.

And Slice has been an airline pilot for a long time, unless he joined this forum when he was like eight years old.

Historically downturns take about 2 to 5 years to correct. 9/11 took a couple of years, recession of 2008 took about 2 to 3 years. The wait won't be short but it won't be too long either but since you are a CFI, you will be ready to go when hiring opens up. Also it depends on what you are willing to fly as well. Some just wait for a regional to call, but there could be those random caravan or king air jobs that might be available.

If you're tired of being a CFI, something I recommend would be going to one of the larger local airports that has more corporate traffic and get to know people that go through there. You never know what awesome gig you could get by making friends and networking. I am at a regional now, but when I was a CFI with about 750 hours total time and only about 35 multi, I had a friend who made an introduction to someone he knew at his local airport and I ended up with a pretty great SIC contractor job sitting in the right seat of a Lear 45 making 7k/month which compared to my CFI money was pretty solid. Plus I was getting valuable exprerience on a more complicated aircraft cruising up in the flight levels. Networking can be huge. Go out at meet some people in the business, and maybe you will end up getting something similar.

Thing is, he is SPOT ON. As someone who’s pretty new to the airline world, and a part of the younger generation he’s absolutely right. So many CFIs clearly have zero interest in doing their jobs and only care about how far the hobbs have ticked. I find it appalling that people expect to be handed a job at an airline when the only flying job they’ve had they’ve done the bare minimum or less at.

It’s like being a fry cook at McDonald’s and never getting a single persons order right because you’re just waiting for the call from the Michelin starred restaurant that you applied to. So to you, who cares how well you do your job.

Sure, you could say that maybe memorizing STARs and SIDs might be kinda pointless for someone years from the airlines, but I don’t really think thats what he was getting at. Having the willingness to LEARN MORE is 100% admirable. The students and instructors that had a passion to learn more about aviation were always the most successful, and breezed thru initial airline training. The ones who complained they weren’t getting what they wanted seemed to always be the worst ones to work with, and often the worst pilots.

I loved being an instructor, I tried my best to teach students above the standard, and to excite them and teach them about more than just what the ACS tells them they need to know. I miss instructing a whole lot. There are still times where I kick myself for lessons I gave students years ago that I could have taught better. I look forward to having a chance to get back to some day.

If you can’t do your job, it’s probably time to find another. There are too many people of my generation who just expect everything to be handed to them, and think the bare minimum is acceptable. I don’t think a single recruiter would hold it against you if you got to 1500 hours and decided to do something else because you knew you weren’t gonna be able to give your 100% to instructing and your students . As long as you stay current, proficient and knowledgeable you should remain competitive.

To the OP, as you near your hours, don’t b**** and moan, and don’t let your colleagues either. You have an awesome job, and the opportunity to do really great things with your job. I know it’s brutal being just behind the wave, but do your best and you’ll feel a lot better about yourself in the future.

Bingo. It's an interview. It's a nice parachute but it's not a job guarantee.

First commuter flight was October 23, 1978. Deregulation signed into law October 24, 1978. How we operated a day before it became law is beyond me. If I know I've forgotten.