I waited but it had nothing to do with liking or not liking my instructing job. I instructed in Utah and did not want to commute. Knowing that SkyWest was the one place I could go and not commute I waited until I had the 1000 hours for SKW. It was more QOL issue for me than an issue of loving my instructing job or not. And yes Honestly I don't think I would have traded the valuable experience I gained flight instructing. I did have the oppurtunity to jump ship and go to another regional at 400 hours but chose not to. But that's just me, to each his own.

 

WOW> I actually find myself agreeing with SkyHigh.

I have debated this idea of Flight Instrcuring versus going to a Regional Airline. I love Flight Instructing. I love to teach. I dont do it to "build time" In fact I hate the trem "building time" I prefer to call it "building experience". But the more I talk to airline pilots or people going through Airline pilot training, I dont see wher eflight instructing will help prepare you for Airline systems, CPT, or GENOps training. Flight Instructing is an important job, but its a totally different job from being an FO ina part 121 environment. The rules are different. The equipment is very different. Sittin gin the right seat watching a student fly and correcting his errors on steep turns, turns around a point and S-turns is not going to help you learn to fly a CAT-II approach. Heck, I never heard the term RVR in my private, intrument or commercial training. ididnt start getting into that term until I was a CFI.

So, I am now of the opinion that if you have the requirememnnts to go to an airlne and thats what you want to do then do that. Everyone has to start somewhere. Wheather you have 1000 hours or 300 hours isnt the point. The 300 hour new pilot is just as gren to CRJ systems as is the guy who flew Cessna 172's for 1000 hours. Plus you guys make it sound like the 300 hour newbie is inthe cockpit by himself and is making all the decisions. There is an at leats 15oo hour Captain who has experience in that aircraft making the decisions. And thirdly. Why do you guys knock on 300 hour pilots flying as FO's on regional airlines but you respect the 250 hour 2nd Lieutenant flying T-38's all by himself?


Airline flying, Flight Instructing. they are different jobs requireing different skil knowledge

 

As a Captain, you are training the First Officer how to become a Captain. Flight Instructing gives you incredible experience in doing just that...train. Mesaba for the longest time only invited CFI's to interview. This was why.

 

The world is ending...I suppose I agree with SkyHigh too (did he endorse this post, btw?!) LoL

 

Everyone complains how hard and expensive it is to get into this profession, yet if the rules change and one can get in easier than what you had to go through, all of a sudden you are up in arms. Gotta love it.

 

and i'm sooooo sick of the 250 hr FO, 250 hr military hot shot comparison that i should just stop reading the boards. The jobs are different, the demands are different, the training is different...and i'm sorry to say it, but the trainies abilities are typically different too.....Fly happy!

 

The military won't take somebody because he/she paid for a job.

 

The whole thing comes down to attitude.

I've had the pleasure of flying with both low time and high time pilots (air force,121,GA) and honestly, the attitude and or competence of the pilots is not directly proportional to the the amount of hours they have. The attitude and or competence they have comes from how they were taught, their reasons for being a pilot, their love for aviation, maturity etc, and also their experience level - which, is in fact not directly proportional to the amount of hours they have in their log book.

I've had in flight emergencies with a private pilot and a commercial pilot and the commercial pilot was the one who ended up freaking out and loosing it.

I've found that pilots whose attitude reflected more of a concern with learning, rather than climbing the ladder of success, are the better pilots.

The thing is you can have a 1000hr pilot whose spent 900 hrs doing touch and goes. Then you can have a 250hr pilot, whose spent 100hrs single pilot imc... and had three inflight emergencies

The stance is that if you have more hours, then you have more experience...only because the chances are you've seen more and the shiat has probably hit the fan a couple of times.

I believe experience comes from situations.....the consensus is, the more time you have the more likely you are to have had 'situations'. This doesn't bode well for low time pilots, however you could have had all your 'situations' in the first 200hrs of flight which ended up changing your whole attitude/views towards this flying gig.

Remember one of the main reasons for the hiring minimums is because of airline insurance premiums. They pay cheaper insurance if the guys and gals behind the sticks are high time pilots. These insurance firms also think that the more time you have the more experience....well in theory they would be right....but in my experience it all depends.

Nobody gets paid for stick and rudder anymore......you get paid for, well,.... if it hits the fan, you're the guy/gal they want in the cockpit.

JayHub

 

put a lid on it...

if you deny a job that brings you a step close to your career as an airline pilot because you haven't done the whole CFI B.S, or your time in the "hot, humid Memphis summers", then you my friend....are a fool.

Granted you can actually fly and do the radios and take the job!
If you have a commercial license but can't do the radios, then you shouldn't be flying at all...

 

You missed the whole point of my post...
BTW, CFI isn't BS. You are the fool for making such a comment.