Of course some people can hack it and others can't. Some pilots should never be a captain....ever! I've seen others that are fantastic 2000 hour captains....but it's rare.

And yes...I do think that corp pilots flying small jets and turboprops around are going to have a much easier time at an airline than a fresh recruit straight out of a piston twin trainer. The thing is, the economies of the business make the airlines the entry level jobs. Most corporate flight departments can't take low time pilots, especially as captains, due to the much higher insurance costs.

 

I had to put it in da layman's terms so people like youz could reed it and no what we is trying to say

 

It's not unreasonable when you have guys coming into this business with 3000 hours all in a c172.

 

The next decade is NOT going to be like the last. I would say, if you ar young and VERY flexible--i.e. you are willing to move to anywhere in the world to fly, then get in and get your time. That said, if you can wait a year, do it! Build up some finances and see what regionals are going to survive this coming shake-out.

The majors still are not hurting for applicants, the regionals are going to have to up their game to attract applicants. I think they will, because the majors are still going to save money thru outsourcing.

Unfortunately, our economy is really teetering on going back into a great recession--so waiting a yr, might be a good idea for that too.

Finally, XJT, RAH, Eagle are all operating 50 seaters which are going away--that will change the regional landscape severely in the next 18 mos.

In short, wait and see...at least till we see what happens this summer and the upcoming volcanic meltdown.

 

Go where you can be hired as a street Captain for the shortest upgrade.

 

But I know a pilot with 120 hours that can fly the pants off anything with wings including the space shuttle. Yes I know its retired but he is that good.
On the other hand I know a 767 Captain with 30,000 hours that can't even drive a car. (the fact that he has never bent any metal or been violated in 35 years is irrelevant).

I'll take the 250 fresh commercial guy anytime, heck that is over twice what the first pilot has.

 

I assume that's sarcasm. Otherwise we'd have to take you out back and put you down.

 

That's all you have to say? The reason that's all you have to say is because he's right.

 

I agree, I gave seen both sides of the scale. My sim partners at my last two regionals had less than 1/4 my time and they both flew amazing ... Very impressive ... Sure they may not be able to make certain decision flying a wide body on AR routes using HF etc, but flying wise these guys were amazing . Surpassed many many many other in class with 10,000 hours +, I never jude off if what a total time number is . Just what I can see in front of me.

Everyone has valid and good points above but
At the end of the day that's what truly counts.

 

Every pilot is different. Some are good, some are bad. Training departments nowadays are much more adept at weeding out the bad ones. Back in the day I upgraded in the CRJ with a whopping 3200tt and 250 in type. Personally I thought it was easy, but out of the 10 guys in my upgrade class, over half failed out. I don't think you need 6000 hours to upgrade. Hopefully at 6k you would be a little more seasoned than 3k, but if you were a low timer when u got hired, 2.5-3 years slinging gear and learning from the good captains should be sufficient. I knew exactly what I got into when I got hired. I loved life as a rsv capt. Hopefully guys chasing the upgrades these days do their homework before choosing an airline.