Why 21? Here is why...
(from another board)

So, I'm flying with a 'kid' this month (JUST turned 21) who thinks he is God's gift to women. He has one thing to talk about while flying.....that's women. How many he is currently dating, how many he's slept with, how many he wants to sleep with, how many want to sleep with him, how he picks them up, etc.... I could keep going with that. He is, by no means, an attractive guy....but he does have the ability to talk to women. Nevertheless, enough already. I DON'T CARE!

In an effort to talk about 'anything' else. I start a conversation about our upcoming vote for representation this Aug. and ask him how he voted this past year. He tells me he didn't vote, not because he doesn't want a union.....he told me he didn't care.
Perplexed, I asked him how it is he doesn't care about his career and the industry. His reply: this isn't his career. He doesn't plan on staying here very long. I said don't say anything when management starts imposing their will upon the pilot group.

At this point, I'm starting to get aggravated. Ok, let me get this straight, you didn't vote because this isn't your career and you don't care. Hmmm, ok, got it. So I ask him if he understood what happens at one airline, affects all airlines. After a little explaining, he gets that point...supposedly. Unfortunately, being 21 and knowing 'everything' he still isn't planning on voting for the union in '08 because he's not changing his mind about this company not being 'his career.'

Oh, this isn't over yet......now comes the kicker......

So, I ask if this isn't your career, where are you planning on going. His answer, SkyBus.....he needs Airbus time so he can get a job at Emirates. I tell him about SkyBus being a bottom-feeder and how company's like them bring the entire industry down. His answer.....so what! He said, his words not mine, I don't care about anyone else, this is what he needs to do to further his career. At this point, I wanted to reach for the crash ax and just bash his head in. I told him we needed to stop talking right now or my head was going to explode.

So I ask him what he's doing over our 4-days off this week. Surprise, he's going to Cancun to pick up women and bang as many as he can.........OMG, get me out of here.

This is yet another reason why kids don't belong up front in transport aircraft. Go and get life experience, then come talk to me. And to think I am flying w/ this person the entire month of January.

 

I wish I could have been instructing when I was 20 rather than not starting until 22. I would have had more than enough time to go to the regional of my choice (where I start next week) versus spending a few months at one I had no desire of staying at.

I hope you're also in college and getting some sort of 4 year degree. Enjoy your youth. You have the rest of your life to work.

 

Exactly. You want to spend 45 years in the Airline industry? Why not just hook a battery up to you genitals.

When I was 20 I was in College having the time of my life. Why do you want to make the jump to the working world, esp the indentured servitude that is the Regional FO?

Also, if you don't have your 4 year degree, you will have plenty of time at a regional after you get hired, like your whole career.

 

I'm looking at your display picture right now, you obviously have no interest in women... Youre just jelous. heck... i am. But on a more serious note, pilots are more than just drivers, they are the face of the buissness. Appearrance and demeanor is very important for the brittle layer of confidence the passengers have in us. Personality is very important, moreso than age. Some 20y old are ready. some aren't

 

boohoo. im still p***ed that you dont have to get you 1000/100 anymore like i worked my a** off to do before i could go to an airline.
earn it like the rest of us (and passing your CPL at 250 hrs doesnt count)

 

I don't feel age should matter. If you can have a 4-yr degree and 1000+ hours you should be able to go to a regional. You know going in you are going to be an FO for at least 2 years (age 23 min) and you have proven over the last 3 years that you are a driven person who puts priorities straight. Sure age can matter but many times a resume can show how someone is as a person. For someone to be under 21 and applying you MOST LIKELY graduated under 4 years in college and put flying as a top priority. It can definately be done. There are many people much older than 21 who act extremely immature. Age is only a number IMO.

 

Because they don't get enough applicants by requiring you be over 25. I don't know any 20 year olds that couldn't benefit from a few more years of "life" before being entrusted with expensive equipment and lives.

 

I am fully aware (by experience) that there is a vast experience gap between 300 hour wet-commercial and a 1500 CFI/MEI. But this guy has a point...I think any of us would have taken a job at 300 hours if available. But hopefully not at mesa/gojet...

Personally I think both CA's and FO's should have an ATP. But I would have a lot higher comfort level with a 30 year-old 300 hour pilot, as opposed to a 20 year-old.

 

I talked with a 54year old 777 Cpt. the other day and he said he was hired straight out of college with 200hrs and 10multi directly in to the 727. (Braniff) This isn't the first time there's been a pilot shortage and the airlines have done what they had to fill seats. Question is.... Has safety been jeopardized? History says no...... I just don't get it, why are people so mad at low time pilots?

Cited from http://cf.alpa.org/internet/alp/2001/feb01p18.htm

The jet boom (1965–1968)
People like Juan Trippe of Pan Am and Howard Hughes of TWA had no intention of inaugurating a pilot shortage when they began buying jets in the late 1950s. But these whisper-quiet magic carpets caught on quickly with a newly affluent flying public, beginning an era of glamorous travel, with Sinatra crooning "Come Fly With Me" in the background. The airlines hired pilots as fast as they ordered jets. United famously hired zero-time college graduates and paid for their training—from scratch!

 

What a badass.