I worked briefly as a 121 recruiter/interviewer.

The HR people like hours.

The Pilot interviewers may see lots of hours and assume the candidate will be bored/frustrated/unhappy.

Both HR and the Pilot interviewers saw a B737 type and assumed WN was the pilot's 1st choice.

Hours are not like a graduate degree, to build time I just had to show up at work. To earn a degree it takes extra effort and economics...

Why would someone with such experience want to work 20K a year? There is got to be better options out there?!

When you have mouths to feed, a mortgage, car payments, your putting kids through college, etc. You CAN'T sit around and do nothing. You have to at least bring some sort of income in and maintain currency, while you are waiting for the perverbial "Part 91 Global 5000 dream job."

...just my 2 cents

I know, it blows my mind too. I guess it underscores just how crappy this job market is. As soon as things start moving again, those guys will be the first ones out. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them leave sooner to go overseas once they realize how much flying for a crappy regional with a crappy contract really sucks.

I've seen plenty of high time guys get hired at SkyWest over the years. At least 3 with over 4000 PIC turbine, and another wither 6500+ of instructing time.

It's all about the attitude in the interview...

I know guys that are getting hired with Mesaba with only 350 hours with a degree in commercial aviation within the past month...I hardly think that they are going to increase the minimums anytime soon. But with that being said, I believe more hours without a doubt give you more experience!

P51 - stop flame baiting. There were no 350 hour wonders hired in the last month and there hasn't been for a very long time. And when there was, they were in small numbers.

Back in May when I interviewed/got the letter from Eagle, there were 3 ex-ATA guys in my group all with 10,000+ hours. They did some basic HR stuff, talked with a few folks and were hired within 3 hours while the rest did the Frasca stuff and tech stuff all day:)...One of them was an FO on the L1011 and he had no clue what a Frasca was haha.

Sadly, those guys got the "sorry we've stopped running training classes" about 2-3 weeks after being in DFW like we did.

Because it keeps him/her current, pays a couple of bills, provides health insurance, and lets him jump seat to interviews.

About 10 years ago, I knew a PanAm guy who took a job flying boxes in a Caravan.

I think some of you may have some misconceptions about what the pay was like at ATA and others. There were a couple of reasonable years. And I emphasize a couple. The guys who did very well worked ALOT of overtime and were on the road basically the whole month. The majority of folks existed on 75 hours and on the int'l birds were gone a long time as well.

No complaints-just letting you all know the reality of the situation. When it shutdown an 11 or 12 year FO ( not by choice; by force of furlough ) was doing about 80 g's and was gone a good portion of the month on long trips. Not everyone of course-it depended on the airplane you were on. The hedge fund that bought the company really decimated it behind the scenes-on purpose. It would have been nice to know what their plans were! Thats not how it works unfortunately!

Anyway stack that up against a 3 year new Captain at say Skywest doing what? 3 day trips at 70 g's? Maybe not dead on but I bet its ballpark. Home alot more. Yes, there would be some lean years, but they probably have some cash stashed away and could hack it for awhile....I think the comparison is a little more valid than you think and for those of you who haven't made the "step to the next level or two" may be in for a bit of a rude awakening when you go to work for one of the lower tier "big airplane" carriers.

Just my 2 cents worth. Take it for what it is!