Street captains?
 

So how long before they regionals are desperate enough to hire left seaters off the street?

There are no (zero, none) RJs that are single pilot operations.

I imagine this would be a consideration due the inability to find new FOs to replace potential upgrades?

I would hope most contracts would have provisions to cover the idea of hiring a direct-entry-Captain when you have plenty of First Officers with the qualifications to upgrade. That is, traditionally the street captain thing is only a fix for having low-time FO's that are prohibited by the FAR's from an upgrade, rather than being a fix for the inability to recruit new FO's.

In short: If your company has a single First Officer than has the FAR minimums for upgrade, "street captains" should be off the table. This is why DEC's have not been historically that common.

With the ATP law and the last 5 years of stagnation, I'd have a hard time believing that ANY regional doesn't have at least a few qualifying FO's.

am I missing the humor/sarcasm/point of this with regards to street CA's? :confused::D

I know of about 700 at Endeavor alone with the mins....

There are also hardly any new-hire FOs who currently (or in the near future) will meet the 1000 hours of air carrier operations requirements for an unrestricted ATP... but I appreciate your attitude.

Sure, but the people who are qualified and experienced, though possibly looking for a change, are unwilling to work for the wages those FOs are willing to.

Packrat didn't understand that the post was about street captains and not about single-pilot operations.

When companies hire street CAs it's usually because none of their FOs meet the minimums to upgrade (1,000 hours 121 time). Since the industry has been completely stagnated for 6 years now and upgrade times are through the roof there are very few FOs at any regional who don't meet the mins to upgrade. Why would any company with a 6+ year upgrade time need to hire a street captain?

With the new 1500hr rule. I would imagine that all current FO's are eligible to be Captains thereby making the term "Street Captain" obsolete. Unless you can think of some weird reason why they would bypass an already employed FO?

Not completely true. You still need 1000 hours 135 PIC or 121 SIC to be eligible to upgrade to Captain. Plus, many airlines have minimums that exceed those requirements as well. I think the only companies that would face a pinch are those that are either having a hard time recruiting FOs thereby not allowing upgrades or those that have less than 2 year upgrade times right now. Nothing time can't fix.

If you can't hire F/Os, why would you hire street Captains. And where would you get them anyway?

From people who have the time but not the will to be on food stamps.

I would be interested in some time on a "modern" airplane to check off a box on certain applications. I have, however, zero, nill, none, no interest in slaving at regional FO wages to get it. It sounds like, unless many of the current CAs and FOs are hovered up to the majors that this won't be an option.

Where would you get them? There are plenty of high-time regional FO's who are still looking at quite a while before they can upgrade. I'd imagine a Captain seat would look pretty attractive, as long as it came with a Captain paycheck.

Because you can start them at year one pay while bypassing qualified FO's just like Go-Jet did.

If you're encouraging off the street captain hiring and by passing current and qualified first officer's you're insane.

No one and I mean no one would fly with you. You would be looked at as the scum of the industry. I would call in before I flew with such a "street captain" and it wouldn't be sick. It would be due to it being impossible to possibly have a safe flight deck with that captain.

Did you bother to read what I said or are you just rage posting like the average regional pilot?

Actually not raging at all. I am merely stating that if that happened that would be the result. It would not be pretty.

And yes I did miss that statement. I was asking if that's what you meant not trying to accuse per say. I apologize if it came off that way.

For those that keep mentioning the ATP minimum, don't forget you also need 1000 hours in 121 ops; not just an ATP

I did meet a "street Captain" once. He was an ATA 737 Captain who went to Colgan as a BE-1900 Captain. But, that's been awhile. I was thinking along the lines of the fact that the Regionals can't even find enough qualified pilots to be F/Os much less Street Captains.

I don't think you quite understand what a street Captain is.....let me break this down....

Airline XYZ begins receiving new aircraft. They need more Captains. Airline XYZ runs through it's FOs that are eligible for upgrade. (2500TT 1000 121 SIC or 1000 135 PIC, some airlines CA requirements may be higher. 3500TT.)

Airline XYZ has run through it's eligible company FOs. Therefore advertises street captains.

Airline ZZY has FOs that have been at their airline for a long time and exceed Airline XYZ's Captain requirements. FO at ZZY is looking at many more years in the right seat, no upgrade in sight at ZZY.

Airline ZZY FO applies and is hired directly into the left seat at airline XYZ. Thus now making more money and getting 121 turbine PIC time.

Follow?

Its not just 121 that counts. Certain 135 and I believe 91K operations count as well.

I get it. Wouldn't a street Captain get stuck seniority list wise behind every F/O on the property when it comes time for them to upgrade? Additionally, wouldn't the street Captain sort of be a pariah at his new airline?

Yes he'd get stuck... Comes with the territory, plus side is he's also stuck with the higher pay. So it's a trade off. I think some airlines use the date of the captain check for captain seniority as well, so it can vary from place to place as well.

Now, he maybe a pariah if the (not qualified for upgrade) FOs in question are unprofessional and self absorbed. In laymans terms it would be jealousy over a position they were unqualified to fill.

I've seen that before - When I was upgrading at my old regional there were FO's angry that they weren't yet 23 and thus couldn't hold an ATP certificate...It's not like the rules had been invented the day before, it's the way it's been for years, don't get upset NOW.

I'd wonder what job security is like for the street captains - considering if things go south they'd likely be the first ones kicked off property, and as a guy who's ridden the downgrade/furlough train I'd have no interest in that life....I'm sure I could get over living on reserve...but the missing security (is there such a thing w/ a regional) would be terrible.

I'm a guy who's on the outside and likely wouldn't get back in even with Street Captains coming up. I miss the life, but getting back in would mean giving up a whole lot of LIFE for the sake of "living the dream".

Trans States has the lowest upgrade right now holding steady at 10 months. Some FOs have the seniority for captain but not the hour requirements.

It's 1000 hours of time that required an ATP. That means any 121, 135 captain as long as it's multi engine passenger, or 91K captain.

It's been done before. PNCL had a brief time where they needed CA's, a company had just displaced some CRJ CA's down to FO, some were furloughed. Like I said, it was brief, and not that many.

In the late 90's, one crappy regional was hiring current/qualified J31 CA's, offering a $10K bonus for a either a 12 or 18 month commitment, can't remember.

Where were they to find said CA's from? Well, the other couple other J31 operators that were ever MORE crappy than the one offering the $10K.

I hear the Saab operator in Puerto Rico is needing captains for their rapid growth.

When I was hired at Skyw in 06, upgrade times were running 9 months if you had 1000 hours turbine crew time. The guys that took the early upgrade just got off reserve within the last year or so.

Indeed. The so-called pilot shortage (I loved hearing Great Lakes press release recently! oh the lies!)
There is perhaps a CHEAP pilot shortage, but there is no pilot shortage.