Looking for Recommendations/Suggestions
 

Greetings,

I am seeking recommendations/suggestions from the pilot community as to what I can do to secure a first officer job with a regional airline. I have the following:

460 Total Time
101 Multi Time
Commercial Single & Multi, Instrument
DC-9 Type Rating

All comments are welcome, good or bad (or sarcastic...we all can use some laughter).

Thank you.

Welcome to the forum, is that DC-9 type from the ER CAPT program? (those stats aren't very common). Have you thought about getting a CFI and teaching? With your flight time you still aren't competitive for most regional FO slots. Is the DC9 type all Sim time or did you go through an IEO in the jet?

Yes, it was from the ERAU CAPT program. I hope this does not generate a thread of "good luck buddy" comments from other pilots. The DC-9 was all in the Level D simulator and it does carry a PIC restriction on my certificate. Thank you for your suggestion on the CFI option, although I'm pretty dry these days to pay for that additional training. You said "most FO slots" which to me seem to indicate there are options?

Try Mesa, they are hard up right now. If you don't like it, you'll be competetive for any regional after 6-12 months there. I'd also recomend Eagle, but I think they are rigid on total time. I suspect Mesa might let you slide. If you can afford Mesa's PACE program, that would take 4-6 months since you have COMM ME, and would have an 80-90% success rate. If not, 600 hours is pretty easy to come by as a CFI.

CFI & CFII Cost: Approx $3,500, then you get some income back.
C-152 Rental: 600h * $50 = $30,000
PACE Program: About $12-$14,000

If you really want to fly, take out a loan and get on with it. You're losin' seniority while you dick around on the internet...go fly! Once you get an airline job, then you can sit reserve and get paid to surf the net...what do you think I'm doing?

I thought those places had airline agreements or something to help the graduates find jobs. That's a chunk of change, I hear, for nothing, not a real PR for anyone interested, "pay us a ton of money and you get nothing". Why not go the cfi route and follow the trend? If they didn't get you a job what chance do you think you have on your own with such low time?

Wow. A Capt guy with balls enough to post here. That's impressive. I can't believe they just leave you on the street with those times, no CFI, and coming to an airline pilot forum looking for advice on a regional job with 460 hours total time.

To answer your question, though. Cogan likes Gulfstream guys so you might have a shot there. ASA tends to hire low time guys from FSA.

Are you still glad you did Capt?

Go get the CFI, CFII, and if possible MEI. Teach. You need another 400 hours, min. Mesa might take you, but you would have to blow them away in the interview. They have a bunch of people with your hours and experience from their PACE progam and those guys get preference. I agree with the others here. Get with it. You are losing senority. 800 hours, 100 multi will get you hired, especially out of ER. Maybe even 600 hours.

Colgan won't take or interview you with 460 hours. You will need about 800 min right now. A couple of months though, who knows!

"Colgan won't take or interview you with 460 hours."

Even if you have a MD90 type rating? What's this world coming to...

Thanks for the correction, though. Also, the whole point of Capt is to enter the industry quickly, with low time, and without having to CFI. If he wanted to instruct, he wouldn't have done Capt.

Try not to bust the guy's balls too much...all those Zero-to-Hero airline pilot factories do agreat job of lying...er...marketing to prospective students who don't know any better. About once a month some kid's Mom or dad asks me about ERAU or some other program. I give them the real story, but they always seem sceptical about do-it-yourself freelance aviation at the local FBO.

I myself tried one of the fast track programs for a short while. But I figured out what they were really all about after 9/11 when they started blowing sunshine up our butts saying that hiring would rebound in 3 months...I bailed (WITH my money) and went to work as a CFI. Others weren't as lucky $$$

The new DCA website cracks me up. They got a link on the home page that says "Five steps to becoming an airline pilot". I was guessing the first one might be to get your private license? How wrong I was....the first step, according to DCA, to become an airline, is to download their marketing video. No kidding.

:) Yea even with the DC-9 type. Due to continued expansion Colgan needs to hire guys who can be captain's in 12 to 18 months. The insurance mins right now are about 2200 TT with 1000 in type for captain upgrade. There are many factors in the hiring process - insurance mins are just one of them. The DC-9 type is nice, but not necessary. Colgan does occansionally hire some low time guys from good programs, but they have too many right now. Also, at the moment, they are getting very good candidates with 800 plus hours or more, in part due to the quick upgrades.

I think as others have pointed out there are no regional airlines that hire F/O's off the street with that low time. After looking at the CAPT web site I was surprised they don't have an agreement at a regional to place program graduates, or AT LEAST provide an interview at regional airlines.

Also, I would take exception to the this this blurb from the ERAU web site:

Highlighting that is not a jab at you, I just think it's a bit disingenuous to advertise something like that without an agreement to ensure that you ARE competitive at an airline.

OK, so your strengths:

You are no doubt trainable, you have a the jet type rating and 4 year degree, however, this is offset by the lack of experience. While the lack of experience is not a reflection on your intellect or proficiency, insurance companies make the rules.

If I were looking for some quick flight time, I'd be looking in the Anchorage an d the Fairbanks papers for pilot positions as "the season" is getting near. Also, as others have suggested, get that CFI and build some time.

Best of Luck!