katana

Even in couple of years back they didnt care if a person has 1000PIC turbine or 1000PIC Jet time. Do airline prefer Jet PIC time over turboprop PIC of does it stand the same? I heard that airline wants to hire someone with some amount of Jet PIC. Would it be harder for a person to get hired in a major only with turboprop PIC?

andy171773

Most requirements ask for tubine PIC. Prop or jet, turbine is turbine.

Sabo

About a year ago I was talking to a King Air pilot who had plenty of turbine time, but he didn't have any jet or 121 experience. He attributed his difficulty in making it to the majors to those two factors.

I'm not quite sure how much emphasis anyone places on jet time, but if a major is your ultimate goal, 121 experience is going to be a plus.

Frankly turboprops are more demanding (and more fun) to fly. Systems knowledge is more critical, immediate action items are plentiful, and generally there will be less automation available, which helps to make you a sharper pilot.

rickair7777

Generally it is the same, all other things being equal.

There are three possible issues with turbo-prop experience...

Turbojet time usually means RJ time, which means glass. A turboprop pilot transitioning to a glass turbojet will have to adapt to things happening faster as well as the glass interface. From a hiring perspective such a pilot is more of a training risk than an RJ pilot. The solution to this might be to get some right seat RJ time...they probably don't care which seat your glass time was in, but it would be good to have some.

Another issue is the type of turboprop flying...some small operators may have few routes (I know of one which does nothing but one leg, over and over, all day long). Others do only day-VFR flying (Grand Canyon), and others operate the Caravan. These types of flying are not very competetive for major airlines (of course there always rare exceptions).

Also some majors have recently specified experience in heavier airplanes...IIRC they were looking for 30,000# MGTOW or something like that.

Bottom line I think it is more the type of flying rather than the type of turbine engine, but turbojets are more likely to do the right type of flying.

Jamers

You need all A's in school to fly a jet.

vtbvtdk

I think this is spot on. Combined with the previous post about 121 experience, I think that is the total answer.

Purpleanga

You're talking about competitive places, even then it's about who you know. If you expectations aren't very high you can go from a tprop to flying 747s so it's not really about mode of propulsion so much as it is competition.

Rightseat Ballast

What he said... it is all about who you know. When the hiring begins again, flight time will get you past the resume filters, but sadly it takes more than experience. Some airlines will care about prop vs. jet, but generally if it is turbine and above any listed weight cut-off, then it counts. I know enough people from both prop and jet regionals who went on to drive the heavy iron to know that prop drivers can get jobs just as easily as jet drivers. Nowadays more regional pilots are jet drivers, so of course it appears that more jet drivers get hired at the majors. What makes the difference is who you know at your destination airline. Make friends when you can, and don't burn bridges (including on these internet forums). I have seen resumes thrown out because of prior employers, and for personal reasons. It is a small world. You need to stand out in the crowd, but not in a bad way. jet or Prop... it is like brown suit or black in an interview. Neither will make you memorable.

Machnumber

also keep in mind the Q400 is glass, with a max gross of 64,500, so your operating a good sized airplane, with glass, with FMS and ACARS. I personally don't see myself having any trouble getting into a major once I have a good amount of time in this airplane. now if i was only flying the Beech 1900, I could see the argument that you may have a hard time.

just my 2 cents

AirWillie

Please, this notion that somehow prop is inferior than jet is just ridiculous. How have most current civ major pilots made it to flying heavy airplanes? Everyone knows that minus maybe electrical and engine, pretty much all airplane systems are similar. If you've learned one, you've learned them all. I was talking to a 767 crew on a jumpseat about this and they agreed their prop flying and systems helped them a lot in transition to mainline jets and systems and in many ways the props were more difficult to learn and fly than the jets. As it's been said, it's about who you know not what you fly.