Hiring w/low multi hrs
 

Assuming regionals start hiring again what are the odds of getting hired with around 1000TT 65Multi? The flight school I work at got rid of the twin cause of high insurance cost and lack of multi-students:( I realize its all about supply and demand for pilots. Is 100 multi the minimum magic number? Crap! I probably gotta sweet talk my way into a school far-far away that still has a twin on-line.

-Bons

Maybe get your 1200TT and get a 135 gig somewhere, maybe flying a caravan or something. Regional airlines suck! Unless you're looking for an unpaid vacation like me.

Beer Count: 1 "you start over at 12 right?"

65 multi probably wont get you squat WHEN there is some movement.....

Have you ever worked 121 before? If not the problem you are going to run into is all the furloughed or previously "almost hired" 121 pilots out there or all the 135 guys just waiting building time. Oh, and don't forget you will now need your ATP to get on with a regional. A four year degree may be a "desired" trait as well until they pump the well down a bit.

I would guess that by summer of 2012 things will be in full swing again. The age 65 debacle will be completely played out by Dec 2012. I have heard that people are already giving up and retiring either because of medical issues or they are just tired and want to play with grandkids without having to worry about that international trip that takes them away for a couple weeks.

The military isn't cranking out tons of pilots like they used to. Besides, alot of what they are making now fly UAVs and I don't know how legacy carriers are going to look at that if at all. That would be good for regional guys since it will open up more mainline jobs for them/us.

Of course all this will depend on if the mainline carriers don't just simply let the age 65 rule take them down to where they want to be anyway. UPS furloughing and FedEx trying not to furlough isn't good.

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Gotta be somebody around you can pimp yourself out to for some free multi time. Get creative. When I was building time I would fly 1.5 hours one way with a guy and then take a Grey Hound bus home. $25 for 1.5 hours of C-310R Turbo twin time. Free time I had...money I didn't. I once found a company that had a twin and talked them into letting me sit right seat as a "safety pilot." I didn't get paid, but it was a King Air. I got a little training in it and the pilot let me fly after that...I guess I got paid about $600 per hour. Again, time I had... I just had to forget that I paid for the ratings I had, but now I wasn't getting paid. But, I wasn't sitting at home either. You can only do "free" for so long, but that 15-20 hours got my foot in the door in other areas.

I don't think you're totally out of luck. I remember a few of the regionals in the past had 50 hours multi as their minimum, and to be honest, I don't see much change in those requirements. Some of the better regionals will still probably have 100 hours as their requirement.

Now, if I were you I probably wouldn't sit idle and count on 65 hours being sufficient... keep looking for that MEI job, or like posted above... look for a 135 gig.

I wouldn't discount regionals.. after being at both a regional, and now a 135 gig.. i have to say that I preferred the regional. 135 single pilot is great and invaluable experience, and I think it would be a good step to go to after flight instructing. In my current situation though I will be making more at my regional, with more days off, and control over my schedule and where I live. But to each his own... if I stay at the 135 gig I can upgrade and get TPIC faster...

So I guess what I am trying to say is choose what works best for you, but keep looking for multi time.. don't sit there with 65 hours, then be frantic in 2 years to try and become competitive.

I would also make sure you have ATP minimums. I wouldn't necessarily worry about getting the rating though. I am sure whatever company you go to would give you the ATP.

What hiring airlines has 50 multi as a requirement? This is no longer the case today This guy is totally out of luck untill he gets some more multi time.

It's not the case today because barely anyone is hiring. Give it two years, and I think it will drop back down to that level.

Who knows... this is all speculation from my side.

Starting to look like 500 multi is the new minimum.

no way. Even when the minimums were 600/100 every regional made that 100 a hard minimum. The public is quick to forget but i think the media is starting to turn on these airlines since the Colgan crash. As a cfi i think your chances of getting hired within the first year of movement are very slim. There are too many furloughed regional guys. There is a huge backlog of people with well over 1000/250 because they have no where to go.

Im sure the OP with 65 multi will rest well knowing in 2 years there may be a chance he can interview with a regional.

Um, Ameriflight hires at 50. A friend of mine just got hired on with 52hrs multi.

Also Great Lakes, but thats another thread entirely. :D

The biggest thing is that there is no magic amount of multi right now. I have close to 2000 hours of multi, and I can't go anywhere. Just hang tight and keep networking.

Nobody is hiring anyways and by the time people hire again you will have triple what you have now assuming you're still flying. I wouldn't worry about it. They like multi currency so right before you put your stuff in go and get a block of multi time.

I'm not trying to start anything with NightIP or anyone else with higher multi time. When the hiring starts, I think that a lot of the people with a large number of multi time will not want to take the regional jobs or other similar jobs, like myself and others with lower times will. I work with other CFIs that have well over 400 and a few with more than 600. When I question them about getting out, they only answer me by saying they don’t want to sit reverse for some regional airline. It seems that they want to be called up by chance or looking for a non-airline job. We operate out of a good field, but 135 and 91 ops are not abundant, even before the downfall of the economy. I’m curious of how many pilots that have this mutli time will not go for the jobs others will. I don’t what to start something about Gojet or anything else, but it brings up the point that even if some people have a lot of time, they might not be a factor. I am open to opinions on this, but then again, that's all we have for this thread unless someone can see the future.

Wild Smurf

I heard something interesting from an Eagle recruiter. This was a couple years ago during the big 2007 hiring boom. Back when eagle was hiring with around 350/50. The recruiter warned about "safety pilot" time. They look through logbooks and pay particular attention to multi time. She said if they see a lot of safety pilot time or "100 hamburger time" they generally will only count about 20 hours of it at most. Maybe 30. What they really want to see is MEI time since she said "it shows you are constantly thinking about multi-engine stuff." (and I quote).

She also warned dont get your MEI and fly with a buddy - him logging PIC time and you as the MEI logging PIC time too. They look at how many sign offs (and passes) you do with your MEI. If you have 100 hours MEI time, but none (or only 1) sign offs, they will get suspicious.

I forgot the term, but I think its something like "quality of time" that they will look at and it seems they pay particular attention to with multi time. Not sure how true this is, but this one recruiter seemed to say it was pretty true so I'd tend to believe her.

I got hired 2 years ago with 14 hours of multi. Just need to be at the right place at the right time.

that was also 2 years ago

I would not bet on this...

When hiring resumed after the last downturn, there was an endless supply of ASEL pilots with 1500-2000+ hours. The airlines thinned out the applicants by focusing on ME time...you needed at least 350-500 to even be considered. In the past the high-ME time 91 and 135 folks got first crack at the jobs, and 2-3 years later did they start looking at 100 hour ME pilots as the norm.

To make matters worse, the post-colgan bills in congress require (inadddition to an ATP) that airlines place emphasis on ME experience when hiring. No set amount is specified but I'm sure the airlines would be very way of anyone with less than 200 or so.

Bottom line...in this day-and-age plenty of ME time will be required. The airlines will have no trouble finding it initially, so if you already have 1000 TT, multi time should be your number one priority. As far as airlines are concerned, you will be going nowhere without it.

Yeah, pretty comforting right? =)

Rickair.. good point. I wasn't looking for jobs back in the beginning of the last hiring wave because I wasn't qualified for regionals back then, but what ya said makes sense. Even when I did get hired though, 100 multi was the minimum, and it was difficult for me to get it. So I take back what I said... go build some multi time!

As mentioned above, AMF hires with low multi-time!

I see what you are saying and whole heartedly agree. But you can see I used "safety pilot" as a foot in the door. Then I got a little training from him and he let me do some of the flying after that. It definately wasn't MEI time I was signing off. They are welcome to scrutinize my logbook and question the owners all they want. It will all hold up.

Try Cape Air. You may be able to get on as an FO and then work you way in as a Capt, once u get 1500TT. Their a great company and the expericence is really good for resume building.

I agree with many others in this thread. You best bet will probably be to get on with a 135 operator that flies twins once you have 1200 hours. AirNet, Cape Air, FlightExpress, etc... Whatever is close to you. It may not be the best pay and QOL, but do it for a year, get 300-500 hours multi PIC and move on. By that time things SHOULD be stabilized enough to be a little more choosy about where you end up working.

It could have also been that particular recruiter I talked with. I know people who have gotten on with airlines because 3 or 4 of them split a bulk 50 hour package of seminole time and double dipped with safety pilot or MEI time. They all got hired. I used safety pilot time when building for my commercial and instrument ratings.

Flight Express does use Barons but the wait to get in them is a year minimum. Right now its closer to 2yrs because lack of turnover.