Not true at all.

Not required at DAL or UAL. Plenty have been hired at DAL with no PIC turbine.

 

What do you all think a typical FO to Captain upgrade time will be at a regional 5-10 years from now based upon current hiring predictions?

The way I see it, if I fly as an FO for a regional for a couple years after flight instructing, I'll have around 2,500-3,000 hours total, which I've always thought would be enough for a Mainline. (?) If I were to get an offer by a Mainline as a FO a couple years in, there really is no reason at all to stick around and wait for the Captain upgrade at the regional...

 

Seen any unicorns, lately? No one can predict hiring in 5 years, let alone what the mins will be then.

GF

 

Gotcha, thanks!

 

Doesn't mean squat if they arent hiring.

 

Mainline hiring is going to eventually have to be done by age group rather than experience level.

 

I did it, but I was extremely lucky in that the VP of Flight at AA was one of those types who helped you get hired if you knew him. All I did was call him up at 6am one day expecting his voicemail.... however he picked up the phone and I ended up chatting and asking if I could come down to DFW to deliver a resume. Keep in mind, this was back in the "Golden Rush" 90s - 1999 to be exact, and AA was hiring gazillions - so I did just that - flew down to DFW with a resume and a little "office decor" (so to speak - a nice hand-drawn 3ft long replica of AA's 757 RetroJet with his name on it... he had flown the inaugural flight a few months earlier, as depicted in one of the Airways magazines of that time - can you say Major Schmoozer?

At the time, I had around 2400TT and was a J-41 F/O at ACA with about 1200 turbine SIC. He told me to get up to 1500 Turbine and I'd get a call. Got the call three months later.

My interview stats: 2700TT, 1500 SIC Turbine, No Turbine PIC, and no ATP. I had been at ACA about a year and a half and had just gotten my J32 CA award, but hadn't started training. After seeing the quals in my interview group, I was CONVINCED I was doomed: I had, by far, the lowest quals in the group. But I flew a great sim ride (in the DC-10) and interviewed well.

I just flew a trip with one of our former interviewers. After I told him this story, he told me that they didn't care so much if you were low time with zero turbine PIC - they wanted someone they could get along with who showed that they would be CA material some day. I'm not so sure I showed that, but I did my best.

So yes, it is possible, but it depends on the hiring airline and their policies. I don't need to remind anyone here that AA's hiring policy under Cecil Ewell could have been seen as more than a little unfair - he tended to hire who he liked. I'm much more in favor of a fair process that weighs heavily on experience. However, my thinking back then was, why not? the worst they can say is No, and I'd be an idiot for not trying. It paid off. (I think... who knows what will happen with AA.)

My advice is to apply and network even as a regional F/O with no ATP - you never know where it can lead you, and just like the lottery - you won't win if you don't play.

 

No, it won't. There's this thing called age discrimination...

 

I've had a few friends get hired at mainline without any TPIC. The most recent was a ASA to JetBlue buddy. Two went to CAL in 2005 with zero TPIC from ACA. One to Virgin just recently (had twin otter PIC) from Republic.

And that's just in my little world. So there's definitely more out there. Not to mention, all these people are white males. So they had that "disadvantage." I'm sure when retirements start cranking, seeing guys interviewing/getting hired without TPIC won't be as unusual as it is now.

I think the only airlines to actually require TPIC are SWA, FedEx, UPS and Alaska if I'm not mistaken?

 

Ummm. Well. Yeah.