Regional Captain Upgrade Requirements?
 

When working for a regional airline as a FO, is there a requirement that you have to meet to become a captain?

As far as I know. . . yes.

They are, usually, established by the insurance company, then the airline themselves will set a bar at or above the minimum insurance requirement. That is how I understand it.

Senority to hold CA.
FAA rules: age 23
Pass checkride.

The requirements to be a Capt. vary with the airline itself... The basic requirement from the FAA's stand point is meet FAR 61 ATP mins... However each airline / insurance company can and usually will dictate additional requirements to sit left seat... For example when I was at mesa you needed to meet at mins plus your total PIC time + (your total sic / 2) had to equal at least 1200 hours also when on the beech side as I remember you needed atleast 500 in type before upgrade however that was waivable at the companys disgressions. Here at Pinnacle the upgrade mins are 3,500 hrs TT, 2000 hrs ME, 1500 Turbine... Plus meet the ATP requirements of FAR 61... The only relief from that is that the mins are reducible by 500 hours if you have 500 hours in the CRJ..... But bottom line to be a CA you need the seniority, ATP mins and finally the individual company's requirements. Then you get a chance to go and try to pass upgrade class and sim.

Thanks for the info. I ask this question because I have a friend that is 20 and wants to get with an airline that has a fast upgrade, I read one time that you have to meet some requirements to get into the left seat( I was right). So pretty much he can't become a CA till he is 23 and meets the requirements.(correct me if i'm wrong) Thats 3yrs of FO pay that sucks.

There is usually a trade-off between fast upgrade and quality of life and pay...sh*tty regionals often have fast upgrade because everybody leaves.

Three years is a somewhat fast upgrade time (on average), so it is not likely that he will have the seniority to upgrade in less time than that anyway. I would suggest a "good" regional, since there is no point in working for a f*%ked up company in order to get a 6 month upgrade (ie mesa) if you're too young to upgrade..

From what I heard:

When you upgrade to captain you immediately go on reserve and have to go through the same process you went through as an FO. For that reason some people stay FO longer even though they have the opportunity to upgrade because they like how they can bid for their working hours, the amount of hours they work for the pay, and flexibility they get. Let's say you are a 5th year FO, when they upgrade you become a 5th year captain with 5th year pay.

This is what I have heard. I could be wrong.

Thats what I told him, to go for a good airline. He also don't have many choices because most regionals won't hire you unless your 21. I guess Expressjet could be a good option and he might have a good chance because he is young and stay for a long time with the company.(correct me if i'm wrong)

Xjet is one of the good ones, but they are having some turmoil with their primary partner, Continental, right now. The possible downside is that they might do layoffs next year, but it's a complex situation and no way to say for sure really.

You have a little misinformation, no layoffs or furloughs coming here. We are keeping the planes and will be flying Charter and for either other companies or on our own. Details to come out shortly. Our union just posted that the company is going to be updating the union on whats some of the details going on with the planes on the 19th.

I certainly hope for the best for you guys, but some of the suggested schemes to operate those 69 RJ's are pretty thin on practicality, kind of like indy air. Though I do give your mgt credit for keeping the planes and breaking it off in CAL's butt :eek:

Another code-share would be great, hope it happens, but don't bank on it until you see it in writing. Anybody taking an XJet job needs to be aware of these issues, that was the point of the discussion. Until the new program(s) are up and running there are a lot of uncertainties.

Hey rickair7777, what about the MAPD guys? How long does it take them to upgrade? I'm guessing mesa doesn't have an upgrade minimum right?

The difference between XJT and Indy Air is that XJT wouldnt be jumping both feet into flying for ourselves. 75% of our aircraft would still be flying for CAL making money. In addition, XJT knows its niche and you would not see us do something dumb like buying Airbii and flying low-yield transcons.

Mesa has a high upgrade minimum because they fly international. Most captains must meet the ICAO minimums, which are higher than FAA mins for the ATP. There is extra PIC time required that MAPD grads DO NOT have. They usually miss seniority upgrade because it takes them 4+ years to accumulate enough SIC time to waive the ICAO PIC requirements.

Mesa likes to hire high-time CFI's and 135 guys for that reason.

If I am not mistaken, XJT does international flights and doesn't require special flight time besides ATP mins.

This is the minimum for Captain applicants at mesa:

* 2000 hours Total Time
* 350 hours Multi Engine, Fixed Wing
* ATP Certification
* At least 100 hours logged in the preceding six months
* Current flying job
* 121/135 flight experience
* 4-year college degree
* Three letters from pilots who can attest to applicant’s flying skills, having flown with applicant previously

What's up with that?

It is illegal to fly outside the US unless the captain meets ICAO ATP requirements. You could get arrested in Mexico or Canada, or violated by the FAA.

XJet may allow folks to upgrade w/o ICAO times, but then would have to ensure that they stay domestic. Mesa does not want to do this because of the scheduling hassle. They require all jet captains to be ICAO qualified, period. It is hard to bid a line at mesa that does not have international flying.

Those are for DHC-8 street captains only. Since the turbo-props stay domestic, they can legally use FAA, not ICAO minimums. Normally the company enforces ICAO mins for all captains, but they are in a bind right now...

That is exactly the case. This question came up in ground school and the instructor said, that it doesnt prevent upgrade. They merely only allow you to fly Domestic until you reach ICAO mins which are 2000TT and whatever else....Shouldnt be a big deal when upgrades are at least 2 years....