It seems the trolls are coming out of the woodwork this week between this and the other, evil forum, which of course I have only heard of.... But seriously, what is with the rash of trolls?

 

When I got hired at a regional in 2004, the airline's minimums were 1500TT and 300ME. Around the second day of new hire training, several instructors came and spoke to the class, and told us how we had it easy, and they had to "pay their dues".
Going forward, when I was a 135 jet captain, I had the opportunity to fly with several 1000 hour (or less) "wonders". Let me tell you, it was twice the work for me, and definitely added to my stress level.
I would NEVER sign that petition

 

Pilots Today | Xtranormal

Only semi related, but this was good for a decent chuckle.

 

Lol. This was a typo. I decided to wait it out. I can't justify spending the money when the job market is still bad. The day will come when I get it for free and the job market will be better.

 

I think you're right about the Captain, well, I know you're right given he came from Gulfstream (enough said) and then went to Colgan early. The FO almost had 1500 hours, 1470, as a CFI. If I'm not mistaken, I could be wrong.

Not that it matters about her, since he was at the controls. I get your point completely. The only problem with gaining Part 135 cargo experience is why would cargo operators pay for a 2nd pilot? I thought AirNet had a ride-a-long program that the pilot had to pay for to do but still, you're not building cargo experience until you have 1200 hours? I wonder if AirNet is going to see a deal in the making here? 1500 hours? We'll help you get there. Heck, I bet Piper Apaches will be hard to come by too, when I was new at Coex I flew with a Captain who had built 2500 hours of time mostly in an Apache his parents bought him. He just tooled around in it.

But why go get a job at 1200 hours when you can wait until you have 1500 and go straight to the airline? Given seniority is everything (even 1 class date maters sometimes) and the difference 300 hours makes at that point is minor.

My idea was panned a while back but I still stand by it, bring cargo down to 1000 or 750 hours to be PIC as long as you have a SIC of the same amount of time. Single pilot PIC 135 can stay where it is. But allow pilots to get some experience and two pilot experience. If someone cannot fly a B58 at 750 hours in night imc with another pilot with them, then they really shouldn't be trying to become an airline pilot.

I'd still rather someone be a CFI though for more than 500 hours, but if you could get that kind of twin Part 135 experience, that'd be better.

I hope we can change this to shiny regional turboprop will still be around in a couple of years. If we can take back scope maybe we can get some movement going.

2004? Probably means those instructors were hired in the late 90s and did PFT? Probably still held that against everyone that came after them? What's interesting about that is there are pilots who would tell them they had it easy because they PFT and didn't continue building time until they didn't have PFT. Making some assumptions though, as that would've been the case at my former regional prior to late 1999 or mid 99.

But, when they say "paying their dues" I think this is where Axial has a solid point:

The one thing none of us should do is say flying at the regionals is paying your dues. It is how we got into this mess.

A Captain I was flying with told me a story that in the late 80s he was a Delta new hire that had come from a military background. One day he strikes up a conversation with a regional pilot somewhere and was astounded to find out their QOL, PFT and pay. He told his Captain "man, we have to do something about this! These guys are flying passengers?"

His Captain responded "they're paying their dues just like we did (in the military)." Let me guess, he wasn't the only one who said that, eh?

Problem as we all know is that "they're paying their dues" allowed their salaries to stay so low that when technology came along to allow for small jet airliners (that mainline didn't want) they landed in the laps of these cheap pilots. Sure we all love jets, but, we'd all rather fly them at a major not have what we ended up having now.

So to me, I don't say you pay your dues at regional airlines. I say we lift the bar a bit. Don't know what you call it, but I don't want to perpetuate this mess. In fact, if I had a vote, quadruple regional pilot salaries. But that may be selfishness on my part.

 

Close to a full moon?
(I've noticed he rash of trolls also on other forums. Maybe people are very bored right now.)

 

I actually had experience before I got a job at the commuters.
2000+ hrs was the norm to get a job back then.
Then again when I was at the commuters I flew an aircraft that did not have an autopilot. All hand flying.
Paying your dues is all about acquiring experience before you fly pax at a 121 operator.
Also, I haven't been at the commuters for more than 14 years.


I'll put it in a language you can understand....
I have mad skillz....u haz failed...lolz

and just for u

 

I just can't wait until all those FedEx guys "pay their dues" flying boxes, and get Part 121 passenger jobs! That way, I can regress to flying boxes when their spots need to be filled

(I know what you meant, but just thought I'd have some fun with it)

 

Out of pure curiosity, would everyone post what they did before getting to a 121? I'm interested to see how many hrs people had when they got hired and where they got those hours. I want to see how most people did pay their dues prior to flying pax I think it'll be interesting to see the results!!

For myself, I instructed till 1100 hrs, then flew 135 freight at amf until 2700 hrs before getting on with SkyWest.

Next?

 

I flight instructed, flew aircraft sales, and part 91 corporate in king airs, navajos and saratogas until I had about 1700 hours (while in college!). Then I got picked up by Pinnacle back in 2003.