Hiring at the Regionals?
 

Where do you see hiring at the regionals level this year and next year?
I’m in the grind to get to 1,500 but every CFI at my school sitting at more than 1,500 is mot going anywhere anytime soon it seems and it seems like the grind is not getting me or them anywhere.
walking around the flight school is just sad everyone wants to be out but have no place to go

Very promising numbers for this year. Have your apps in and keep them updated.

Flood gates will open up VERY soon!

The variables determining regional hiring are 1) how many pilots are hired at the majors 2) where those pilots come from
#1 is to a great degree a function of Boeing/Airbus supply chain. It's hard to say
#2 depends on how many ULCC captains decide to bail. The big 3 could feed on spirit captains and air force majors for a long time. It is to their great advantage to hire as few regional pilots as possible. That ecosystem functions best with a deep bench of captains/LCA's and the ability to be choosy about hiring

There was a time when 1500 hours got you a job. It has gone. Arguable whether it will return. CFI > CRJ is not a historically normal career progression. You would do well to assume a regional is NOT your next stop and look far and wide for something that is a step up. Bigger airplane, more complex airplane, more complex regulatory environment, different environment (ie banner tow 172 rather than instruction), more challenging flight conditions (night, IFR, ice, etc) - some combination of those. Keep moving the ball down the field. Stay ready to move when a better job comes along. Have the resume for when the next hiring wave hits.

Are you and your colleagues in cadet programs? That seems to be the *current* pool in which most regionals are pulling from.

If not, get on with one. It’ll help down the road.

Good advice except banner and glider towing is considered a step down. Get a CFII or MEL/I would be a better move if the other steps you mention aren't available. PC-12/Caravan PIC would also be a step up. But I'd stick with regional FO over PC-12/Caravan PIC. PC-12 might be better initially but you'll need 2-3 hrs of it and by then the regional FO job experience will be close to, or will, exceed the PC-12 PIC resume.

I see the regionals hiring coming to almost a complete stop. With the big 3 only hiring for retirement, its gonna go back to the originals days where they only hired at most: 1000 pilots a year. And believe it or not, thats a lot. With Spirit furloughing pilots and possibly closing their doors, they pretty much have first dibs. You have Fedex Pilots also possibly being furloughed in the future, we'll see, but again. They also have first dibs. And with Air Wisconsin pilots will also have first dibs to the majors if they can get hired, Im sure another regional will pick them up. And then you have military pilots, who can skip the regionals completely and go staight to the majors.

The reason, Boeing and Airbus. World supply chain is taking a ****. I dont see this being fixed for at least two years.

The hiring explosion is finally correcting itself. You already have CFIs that cant get any CFI jobs cause no CFIs are leaving the the regionals. No regional pilots are leaving cause hired has slowed down at the majors. Some guys are getting in threw flows and ****. But it can take up to 8 years.

Majors have already raised their hourly requirment, if they havent. They will. I also seeing degrees coming back at some point.

If you can get any 135 job, Id take it at this point. Even if they made me sign some kind of commitment contract.

You’re probably not going to like me but I will give it to you straight. I won’t tell you what you want to hear. No sugar coating.

It’s during times like this, when CFI’s, of all people, complain about their jobs, the people I feel the most sorry for, are students. I don’t feel sorry for you. Or your CFI buddies that are ‘sad’ that things are slowing down. You have an important job in aviation. A very important job. Do your job, and put the effort into it. Show your students that you like teaching. That you enjoy it. They are paying your school thousands of dollars, just like you did to get your ratings. So many students suffer because of people who are building hours. This has been a problem in the flight training industry for decades, but more so in recent years it seems. You knew what CFI work was gonna be like before you did it. If you don’t like it, start filling out apps to part 135 cargo ops, or go around your local airport handing out resumes to part 91 corporate operators. If you want to ‘get out’ of instruction, then get out. Quit wasting your students’ time complaining about how things in the aviation world are ‘coming to an end.’ It’s not. It’s going back to the way it’s usually been. And it may be awhile. Do what many of us did. Pick a number. Get in line. Wait your turn until your number is called up. You aren’t entitled to anything. I know you are NOT gonna like reading this. But you aren’t special. It’s guys like you who show up to the regionals thinking your a Tom Cruise, only to end up getting repeat training events in sims, failing an MV, failing an LOE, or getting washed out completely. It ain’t easy. It’s a firehose, and you will have more stuff coming at you so fast you won’t be able to digest it all, more so than you did in CFI training. That’s just training. Once you get out on the line, there are days that are tough. Days where you will be worked to the bone, more so than your typical day as an instructor. Days where you will definitely have to earn your paycheck. Days where you will hate the company you work for because of everything just going completely sideways with the operation, and everyone is stressed. I promise you will look back an think man being a CFI wasn’t so bad after all, it was actually kinda fun. Don’t shake your head at me, you will say that at some point. Trust me.

Now, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, maybe, you aren’t like as I described above. Maybe you do put in your absolute best every day for your students. Maybe you do give it 110 %. Maybe. But I doubt it though by the way you’re complaining, and you haven’t even hit 1500 yet. Good instructors don’t do that. I certainly hope you aren’t complaining about being a CFI in front of your students. I’ve seen that before.


It’s aviation, the industry fluctuates. There are times when it’s unforgiving to prospective candidates. The last few years it’s been on an unusual cycle of binge hiring like never before. I’m sorry your favorite Instagram ‘influencers’ made things look like it’s all sunshine and rainbows. The majors were scooping up pilots like crazy, and lots of (mostly) young people thought they could get hired instantly. It wouldn’t last though. We kept telling people like you it wasn’t gonna last. Right now you’re seeing the industry hiring starting to NORMALIZE. The way it’s usually been for DECADES. Put your time in, PAY YOUR DUES, and wait your turn.

While you’re waiting, take my advice, and study the heck out of SID and STAR charts at big class B airports. Chair fly them. Know the crap out of those. You will be flying those every single day at the airlines. Get familiar with turbojet/turbofan engines while you’re at it too. Study general systems diagrams and schematics. Get a head start. If you show up to training and are asking on the first day “what’s an APU?” You’re already behind. Set yourself apart. Got your CFII? If not, get it. Know your IFR procedures like your life depends on it.

Basically, take advantage of this ‘lull period’ we’re in, and it may be awhile, to get ready for 121 training for when things do pick back up.

Every word in this post is absolutely spot on. OP, I'd read this multiple times and take it to heart.

When I was a new CFI, the regionals wanted 4K TT with preferably some turbine time before they'd even look at you. Average TT for new hires at mainline was around 8K TT. While we're not quite back to those numbers yet, the hiring lunacy of the past few years is coming to a screeching halt. You'll have to decide for yourself if an airline career is worth "grinding" it out for another few thousand hours in a 172. Because that's what a lot of guys had to do.

Personally I logged around 5K hours of dual given during the Lost Decade. I ran a flight school and had furloughed mainline guys applying for CFI jobs at my school. I sure as heck hope we never see that again, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Did almost a decade at the regionals before finally getting on at a legacy. And all I can say is, the gentleman whose response I quoted was absolutely on the mark.

This is the way. Apply everywhere but keep one of these programs in your back pocket.

Typical response of an out-of-touch mainline guy harping on some CFI.. Cackling at you advising them to study SID and STAR charts in/out of Bs.. Airline pilots **** this up more than you could possibly imagine (you probably aren't even aware of the ways you personally have forgotten how to read them yourself).

Hi-larious.