maveric311

Yes these types of pilots can get through a structured airline program very well. Shooting approaches over and over again and getting procedures and profiles pounded into ones head is totaly different than flying the line. But how are you guys going to react when the SH** hits the fan. The lack of experience with stressfull situations combined with the preasure of on-time performance and heavy weather can and does break these guys down. 250hrs is not enough to Safely handle anything that could possibly be thrown at you on the line. Instructing exposes you to intesnse situations and you learn not only how to operate in airspace and busy airports but you learn how to properly respond to stress and deal with the responsibility of being Pilot in Command. What are these guys gonna do if the Capt. (god forbid) passes out or becomes incompasitated. a 250 hrs pilot has never been in the plane by themselves except on VFR solos now he/she is at 30,000 ft with thusnderstorms and icing and has to guide an aircraft full of 50 people safely to the ground on his own. Are you realy ready for that???? come-on, anyone who would say yes to that I would not want to fly with ever!

Go instruct, get ome expereince before you just through yourself out into the world. This job is not a video game.

IlliniPilot99

this is gonna turn into one of those 200 page post on how people should get more experience then fine...but is there anyone who is at the airlines now who wouldn't take the job at low hours because THEY thought that they didn't have enough experience...

...I don't think so (and if u, you probably had a better reason other then you wanted more experience)

flynavyj

If the industry is accepting guys with 250 hrs, and there are people who have 250 hrs ,then feel free to apply. heck, if eagle still has 500 hrs min on their website when they start hiring, I'd put my application in if i met the minimums. If you don't get a call, then you weren't qualified, easy as that, build more time, update regularly, and eventually you'll hear something.

I've heard of the guys with low time being amazing pilots, also heard of them being terrible pilots. I've flown with plenty of guys who were several weeks to a couple months on line and were 250-300 hr boys. Most did alright, struggled in some ways, but never made me "freak" out, granted, i considered myself a competent captain, and with that said, there were some "incompetent" ones around, and it'd be the new guy with them that i'd worry about. But heck, i'd worry about a 1000 hr new guy, or a 250 hr new guy, all the same with some of those CA's.

The Juice

Seriously, come on. there is nothing impressive about 250TT and 100+ME...again I say come on

Your opinion that just because someone can make it through training is ready and experienced enough to fly a jet. Talk to some Captains that had to fly with those 300 hour pilots when they were released to the line and ask their opinion.

It is all about TT and hours. Simply put, the more time you fly the more time you have to see diferent situations.

Also, more hours can also mean more time flying out of a training enviroment. 250 TT is not enough time to allow you to fly in diferent conditions and enviroments.

The Juice

Exactly!!!

TBucket

The thing that scared me the most in new-hire training was the reaction of some of those low-time guys when asked to tell their best emergency story... Their response was " ::shrug:: Nothing like that's ever really happened to me..."

Now that's scary. You can be a decent pilot at a few hundred hours... You can have your procedures down and be a good stick. But until something catches fire, falls off, stops working, etc, you're just not prepared. A pilot's first emergency shouldn't be in a jet with 50+ paying passengers...


That being said, if you meet the minimums and somebody offers you a job. Damn straight you should take it. Everyone else would. Get your foot in the door before it slams closed again...

usmc-sgt

This is an easy one. Pilot A any day of the week. I am flying one of the more advanced regional airplanes out there and I can tell you that except for a bit more icing, major airport operations and copying a clearance I have gone a bit stagnant as far as what I was actually learning while being a CFI. I can say confidently that I have mastered flying a vector to a 20 mile ILS.

Being a CFI just prepared me for when things are not normal. Part 121 is a very safe operation and there are just fewer things that go wrong under the close supervision of the large team that oversees your operation. When you are a CFI you are flying at all edges of the envelope in varying weather situations in light singles and twins. When stuff is abnormal or goes downhill in a hurry you are all alone and forced to use your noodle to come up with a solution.

I repeatedly hear from checkairman who get new guys having their FOs freeze on the controls in simple abnormals like a gusty crosswing and literally just holding onto the controls and fixating on the guages and not making the necessary corrections to put the plane where it needs to go. Not saying that experience as a CFI will avoid all of these problems but it certainly lets you know that the plane is just a big 172 and it will go where you want it.

Of course as everyone else mentioned, if someone would hire me right seat in a falcon 900 at 300 hours I would have jumped on it in a second.

Why is it always the non cfis or guys with <200 dual given that always argue this point.

DeadHead

In a nutshell, you could aggressively pursue a regional airline job and maybe something will come of it.
In aviation, there's usually a big difference between what we can do and what we should do:

You CAN apply to a regional airline, but you SHOULD get more experience.

You CAN spend money on time building, but you SHOULD find a instructing/commercial job.

You CAN invest in a pay-for-training program, but you SHOULD find a reputable job.

You CAN take a job for less money than your counterparts, when you SHOULD pass on the offer.

My best friend from college left aviation for a couple years and started to get back into his career this past winter. He asked the same question, instruct or time build to a regional?
I'll give you the same advice I gave him, instruct and you will learn more about flying than just being pilot.

Your application should not just be your Total Time, it should also be quality flight time. 800 hours of time building is worthless against 800 of CFI experience. Any airline interview board will tell you that.

Instructing isn't just a road block to your dream job, it teaches you how to work with people at various experience levels. The whole "I don't want to teach because I don't like to teach" attitude won't fly when your a captain at an airline. Majority of Legacy Carriers hire pilots who have worked as instructors because they realize the benefits.
Not to say people who don't instruct won't make it to a Legacy Airline one day, but the person who does instruct will definitely be the stronger candidate.

Don't set the bar for yourself at 2,000 hrs. TT, nobody one here knows what landscape of the industry will look like when your get that time. I'm assuming you got into aviation because you love to fly, instruct build your time and enjoy doing what you love. Instructing might have been some of the more stressful aviation jobs I've had in the past, but it also has been some of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences I've had in this career.

duece123

just out of curiosity, any of you guys fly with low time mil guys? What was your opinion of them? Not trying to start the civ vs. mil debate, I have been trained by both. I am a low time ANG dude (~350TT/150ME) and wonder how I would do in regional training.

USMCFLYR

Duece -

That was going to be my question - what you consider a LOW time military guy. If a guy is getting out of the military after his first tour he would still have approx. 1500 TT with a good amount of ME, TURBINE, and PIC time (in my community). Now I see that you are a different kind of low time mil guy (ANG) so I'm interested to see what the responses are to your question. What is your MWS?

USMCFLYR