What TT are the regionals looking for...
 

now a days. Have been out of the loop with the recent government proposed 1500. Whats competitive or needed for consideration?

it looks like the magic number in TT is 1,000... the more multi time the better... standard stuff...

If you haven't done so already, click on the 'airline profiles' tab in the upper right corner of the screen on this website. You can scroll through all the different regionals that are hiring (note- some are listed in the 'major' section) and get a pretty good idea of what each airline is looking for as far as mins.

Here is the next money question :) What if you fall short of the total time but well meet the min multi (with majority being turbine)

I think it depends on which regional you are looking at. Republic wants 2000, Compass wants 1500 and Eagle wants 800.

You won't get "looked at" without meeting minimum total time requirements... unless the company can't find enough pilots at their current time requirements.

It's never too early to get your resume in. Email it, fax it, send an email a week or so later to the HR department asking questions about hiring and making sure they received it. You'd be surprised and what's on paper vs what they hire at.

That being said I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing a lot of regionals move towards ATP mins since that will be a future requirement.

I think it's the exact opposite...they're going to continue dropping the mins so they can pick up low timers and keep the payscales as cheap as possible. Get a nice healthy pool of them so when the ATP rule kicks in, they can coast for a bit.

Just apply at Piedmont. Mins 1500TT. Last month, interviewing 300TT. Ya, again, and we're nowhere near a shortage.:confused:

In seriousness, don't apply there, just do some searches, or go back 6 months in the PDT News and Rumors thread and read all the posts, not a good place.:(

:eek: :eek:

I'm fairly certain that the 1500 rule still has about another 2 years before it kicks in, so until then the airlines will lower the mins until they have fulfilled their need and probably to overfill even so that way they dont get short handed. As soon as that rule comes into effect there will be a definite shortage on the regional side since right now they are sucking up all of the guys with lower hours. Also that means that the quality of pilot coming through may be worse since right now they are passing on people with major issues.

Good to hear that coming from the side of "still in training." Should be done with commercial and multi by the end of the year, so let's see what the minimums will be by then...Didn't Piedmont hire those with just a CPL and give them a multi engine rating a few years ago? Hmm...I wonder, but something tells me those days are long gone.

August 2013

Hello all.
I have been reading the forums a lot lately. I am looking for advice concerning my personal situation regarding "minimums". If an airline has posted minimums of say 1000/100 and I currently have 1200/65, should I even bother applying? I have very little chance of gaining another 35 multi hours in the near future. I want to be proactive and get my resume out there, but just need opinions on whether or not I should hold my breath.
Is it fair to say that they might consider me or should I expect them to see "65 multi" and toss my app?

Also: I am currently a 141 CFII. Thanks.

You aren't hurting anything by applying. The worst that can happen is they say no thanks. I applied at several places, some of who's mins I didn't meet, and I only ended up hearing back from those places who's mins I did (and was recently hired by one). I have a friend who had 85 hours of multi time and wanted to work for a particular company with a published minimum of 100. They interviewed him and said they'd give him an offer if he got those 15 hours, so he sucked it up and rented a twin Cessna for a few thousand dollars and spent the weekend making big circles around Lake Michigan. In my experience, at this point you're not likely to hear back from a place if you aren't at least very close to their desired minimums, but that's just been how it worked out with me. Your experience may vary. The problem is there are plenty of applicants out there that exceed most place's minimums and they get a ton of applications, so the best thing you can do for yourself is have an internal recommendation. Know any buddies or old instructors who got on at a regional and would vouch for you? You need something to differentiate yourself from the masses and there's really no better way than by having someone walk your resume in. I think that's a scenario where they'd be more likely to overlook a shortage of times. Though sometimes you just might not be what someplace is looking for despite your best efforts. I had the times and two internal recs at SkyWest and never got so much as a no thank you email. Ironically enough, the offer I accepted was from the one place where I didn't have at least one internal rec on file. I knew guys there, I just hadn't bothered to ask for their help. You never know how things are going to work out. Like I said, you've got nothing to lose by applying (other than the time it takes to fill out the application).

We will never see the 1500 hour requirement in 2 years. It cannot happen, to have 1500 hours for a crap job means that there has to be such a great demand. In 2 years the regionals will be lucky to even find commercial pilots.

Absolutely apply. When I was hired, my airline had 600/100 minimums, and I had 750/45. The interview is more than just seeing if you have met the minimums. The worst they can say is no thanks. Another option is they could say "go get another 35 hours, call us back, and we'll give you a class date." That is exactly what happened to me (they said to get 25 hours multi).

Back in the fall of 99/winter of 2000, I was able to get interviews at Comair, Eagle, and ACA with times below their posted minimums. They were all around 1500 tt with several hundred multi. I think what helped me was that I had 300+ multi with only 1100 total. That also got me an interview at SkyWest, where I wound up.

SkyWest, from my understanding, has never let anyone in with less than 100 multi or 100 instrument. They have lowered TT requirements to 850 with 121 time however.

Go ahead and apply, can't hurt. I'd even visit the job fairs and speak to the recruiters. If you can swing it, I'd partner up with someone and get some more multi time ASAP.

Taking a 250 hour pilot for crap pay is one thing. To be forced to go to a 1500 hour pilot and offer the same pay scale is something different...no sympathy on my end if you head to a regional after 1500 is law and 'accept' the same conditions that we see right now. Hopefully in that extra 1250 hours you'll pick up a little knowledge as to how valuable a commercial cert will be to regionals, assuming that like others here have commented that regionals don't snatch and grab low time wonders and grandfather enough in before August 2013.

Were you military-trained?

Someone could easily be a military pilot (a young ANG or Reserve part-timer) with several hundred hours of PIC/multi/turbine time, but who are short of the "magic" 1,000 hour total time required. Likely guys with a fighter unit.

These would be pilots who are done with their seasoning and are looking for full time flying work on the outside. They might have something like 600 or 700 hours of that PIC/multi/turbine after a 2 or 3-year seasoning period.

My guess is that you could probably be looked at if this is your situation.

PSA is having a hard time finding "qualified" applicants. When they do find one, they are having an even harder time getting them to show up for class.

If mins continue to go down, could they hire someone with 250 hours in say July of 2013 and grandfather them in, or will they need to be at 1500 by August 2013?

Finally, someone who understands this whole shortage mantra. There will never be a shortage of low-time students. There will, however, be a shortage of pilots who are properly qualified to fly paying passengers and not want to live in their parent's basements until they're 30.

Rules say yes but public backlash would still be resonating from the Buffalo crash.

Mins are gradually getting lowered. Kind of like testing the waters before diving in to the shallow end (in this analogy that would be the 250 hour wonders.) Should mins go to 250 tomorrow, theres public outcry for taking 'dangerous and inexperienced' pilots.

You, the commercial pilot, are the commodity. Treat yourself how the market treats crude oil:
There is/are enough to make ends meet right now, but the price is dictated by what will be a couple months and years down the road. Ask yourself if you are worth $18/hour to fly a jet; then, research and dertermine if there is/will be a pilot shortage. Set your price accordingly.

Supply and demand people...

What does Piedmont consider "qualified"? I'm at 2,000/100 and haven't heard anything from them.

Did you email Bob Trout or do you just have an app on file on airlineapps?

I'm interviewing there toward the end of next month...

Emailed Bob. And I take it back, I got a rejection letter yesterday so I guess I did hear from them.

Our DO told us that the 1500 hour rule would most likely not be a grandfathered type thing. Keep that in mind when the regionals set their mins. We were told a final ruling was coming in June. From there the plan to get the ATP done for the FO's would follow. (This is why I'm holding off in the short term on paying for my own ATP so I can get out.) I imagine initially the lowest you will see mins get is 500 hours or so. That way you get roughly 14-16 months to get to 1500. As we get to August of 2012 I imagine you'll see 1000 be the walking line, then about 6 months out it'll be hard ATP. They aren't going to spend a bunch of money to put you through class and sim only to fire you in 6 months because you are no longer qualified. Again this is if there is no grandfather. What he did say though that if there was a grandather you dequal the moment you hit ATP mins until you take and pass your ride. They have to pull you off the line and send you in, so either way when you get to 1500 take the ride.

That sounds like a tough situation for the regionals, if the economy remains healthy and growing until 2012, the 1500 hour could literally shut the regionals down. I don't know how well that would go over with the flying public.

It won't, that's why the 1500 hour rule won't stand. If it does the government will put a lot of holes in the language for exceptions.

The information provided to the air carriers and 121 pilots from the FAA says this:

"The purpose of this InFO is to advise air carriers and pilots conducting operations under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), part 121, of the statutory requirement for all pilot flightcrew members to have or obtain an appropriate ATP certificate by August 2, 2013."

"Though the FAA may propose alternative hour requirements for a restricted privileges ATP, the Public Law does not include grandfathering provisions for current pilot flightcrew members who hold commercial pilot certificates."

So I agree with slumav505, less than 500 TT at the regionals may be in the ballpark for the next year or so. As life goes on towards August 2012, 1000 hours of TT will eventually become the hard minimum; followed shortly thereafter by requiring the ATP at the interview.

As the FAA information says, there are no grandfathering provisions for commercial pilot certificates in the public law. Requiring an ATP certificate for 121 operations will not change, the only option would be for the FAA to propose alternative hour requirements (less than 1500) for a restricted privileges ATP. Given the increased time that it takes the government to get something accomplished; I don't see the FAA taking action on a "restricted privileges ATP" any time prior to August 2013, when this law takes effect.

There will be some sort of 'amendment'; we still have two years before this is the reality...maybe an 'extension' of those under 1500 to 'waive' the rule until year end or so so they can get their 1500 since those right seaters are 'close' to the mins and can vouch for them being a 'good 121 pilot' even without 1500.

And those ' 's are for the lobbyists and lawyers to define...

I hope there's no amendment. I'd like to see any pilot without 1500 hours suspended from flying 121 until they have it. This will keep the airlines from hiring thousands of low timers in the next year in preparation for the rule.

Isn't that similiar to a bank charging you a fee when you don't have enough money with them?