Quality over quantity is VERY true. I've argued that before on here. I think this becomes more prevalent when you get up to the hours you compared though. It's hard to compare the quality of 250 hours coming through training to 1000 hours of doing anything else though. Like TD said, nobody is trying to be mean here. Someone else mentioned that we shouldn't dislike the guys getting hired with such loq time because we'd have done it. I don't dislike them, I just think they could've made a better decision for their career. Maybe I'm weird, but I wanted to fly some, instruct, hunt forest fires and do whatever else I could find to get some experience. That way, when I got to the regionals I would have a decent understanding of what I was doing and have at least seen--albeit maybe once or twice--some things like weather, turbulence, a few equipment malfunctions, etc..., scared the hell out of myself a few times, made decisions on my own without anyone there to rely on, and survive to tell the story. You gotta remember you're carrying people in the back.

In my original post I just addressed the abstract question of how to get to a regional as quickly as possible.

But I agree with all these other folks that 1000 hours as a CFI will do wonders for you...and it'll be a lot more fun than mesa.

Like I said, there are no absolutes. The system has always been about hours. Ironically, the F18 guy wasn't qualified to be an ATP at 1499 hours while the banner tow guy was. I'd not argue with you over who would probably make a better RJ F/O, though. I don't discount quality over quantity. I just don't think 300 hour RJ F/O's are, generally, a very good idea. There are exceptions. I met one yesterday. But I'm not impressed with the trend of the lowering experience levels to be an airline pilot.

This is very true. I dont think everyine should be an instructor because if they are there only to build hours then most of the time they dont care about your flying. I guess a pos of this is that there will be one less instructor so less pilots can be trained which means maybe someday we will get paid like 2 or 3 cents more.

I am glad i instructed but change is happening and heck i am part of the change i may not be the 300 or 400 fo but i am lowwer then the old 1000 hours.

I guess, but at your shop for a while it was about the type of experience, not the TOTAL experience was it not?

At one time, if some guy had 10,000 turbine PIC but had never been across the ocean, he wouldn't even get looked at, while a guy with a fraction of that time who had could get hired. So is your statement ALWAYS correct? Highly subjective and conditional if you ask me, depending on what is asked of the candidate.

I may be inexperienced when it comes to the actual flying....for now....however I will not enter the profession naive and driving at the hood ornament. Having a good field of vision while trying to minimize the potential pitfalls no matter what route one chooses to take is always a good thing.;)

As far as lowering the experience level of cockpit crews, well, I don't set the standard. Whether or not if a pilot is proficienct enough to fly a jet or turboprop a/c at 500 hrs as oppose to 1000 hrs is a judgment call. It's not mine to make about anyone else other than myself.


atp

What I find interesting is how all those on here advocating the CFI-route don't look at the individual. Lots of people weren't made to teach - just think about how many lousy teachers you had in school, and how many lousy CFI's you've come across.

Why would ya'll say that it is absurd for a 500-hr guy to fly 50+ passengers around, but okay to teach somebody the art of flying? The only difference is that with CFI'ing, you will most likely kill only one other person in the process. In a Jet, however, you'll be the junior crewmember with a mentor in the left seat...

If somebody really doesn't want to teach, don't force them. It's dangerous and irresponsible. A lousy CFI can teach lousy habits, which can easily lead to a fatal accident. Would you want that on your conscience?

"But there are other ways to build time - like banner-towing," you say...Can you expect somebody to really spend many weeks or months hunting down a lousy-paying job in another part of the Country when a half-decent airline may be knocking down their door? Some just don't have the network of friends and contacts you may have enjoyed.

If we were all the same, this would be an incredibly boring world. Don't knock someone 'cause they're not your idea of the "right stuff."

In answer to the actual question, I have a friend that flies for the same airline I do who went to Regional Airline Academy in Arizona (Phoenix I think). I'm pretty sure it's 141. He got all licenses and ratings, went through the CRJ course there, and then instructed in the CRJ sim. Never got his CFI but knew that airplane like the back of his hand and has had no problems in training or on the line and we do not work for Mesa or GoJets. Long story short, there are ways to get to the airlines fast and still get a quality regional job.

Just my .02: you can get through training quick but don't be hasty when you decide what regional to go with. Personally, those people I've spoken to that work for Mesa are abused by the company and the quality of life sucks. Not worth it. GoJet pilots are regarded by a lot of pilots in the industry as on the same level as scabs. Definitely not worth it - the last thing you want to do in this industry is start out on the bad list.

If flight instructing is not for you, do try and get some experience such as doing a jet training course. It gives you something to offer the airlines and will give you a taste of what you'll experience in training with a 121 carrier.

I agree.......

Experimental, GVine,

Thanks for the responses. It's hard to believe that in 4 pages of responses, I've received about three actual answers to the original question. A lot of people interested in giving an opinion, which if informative, is appreciated. It seems that there is a lot of folks on this forum who resist the idea of an airline pilot not having been an instructor.

I can tell you I've flown with both Captains and First Officers who come from military, civilian with cfi, civilian without cfi backgrounds. From all three backgrounds I've flown with below average, average, above average, and excellent pilots. A lot of the excellent pilots I've flown with over the years were flying high-performance military jets within 200 hours. Many of the excellent pilots were guys/gals who had never instructed and were at the airlines at around 300 hours, and many of them were in also flight instructors.

What I've seen determine the quality of the pilot I've flown with is attention to detail, the ability/desire/capacity to learn, good ability to communicate and work well with others, a love for the job, and a positive attitude. Somewhere on that list is also hours flown, but not at the top of the list, and neither is whether the pilot has been a CFI or not.

I've flown with turbine pilots who have more than 10K hours who are nowhere as competent, safe or professional as some of the under 4K hours pilots I've flown with. Of course, at some point, hours are of importance. But again, from the first airline training I went through, flight instructors (and I mean no disrespect), who had been mainly flying around in the right seat of a C172 or similar for the past 2000+ hours were having a MUCH higher washout rate than the 250-500 hour pilots coming into the airline with airline-specific training in high-performance complex aircraft. This I say from direct experience as a sim instructor in turbine aircraft for pilots who were first exposed to turbine/high altitude flying. All my personal observations and opinion of course. It can be just as fun and rewarding of a career without the need to be a CFI.

Great pilots come from ALL different backgrounds... the CFI route is only ONE of the possible paths to being a safe, professional, above average airline pilot.