What do you mean?

While its true that airliners come with some training events by the manufacturer, that would have zero bearing on entry level student pilots. New planes under warranty don't create a supply of new mechanics either.

 

The 135 market is the USA is not as extensive as many poeple seem to think. GA is used for training, and don't expect people to be able to gain their 1500 through either of these routes any more.

MPL programs typically still require time in GA aircraft, just less of it and more focus on sims and situational training that pilots would not get in a GA environment. Complexity being 1 important aspect.

 

You want part 135 opportunities? Seek them out in Alaska. I just got hired by a VFR part 135 operator, flying 207s. I thought that I would be stuck with instructing all the way up to 1500 hours. Heck, my company is known for hiring guys with wet commercial hours without prior Alaska time and putting them in a multi-turbine airplane until they reach the needed time for VFR PIC. This place is a safe haven for part 135s.

 

That is a place where 135 is still strong, Alaska. Some, including myself overlooked it.

 

Not for lacking of trying. I have a friend that owns a flight school in Dallas and has been trying to get a 135 going for four years. Keeps getting stonewalled by the FAA. Recently got a letter that said (paraphrased) "we don't have the resources to address your application so it's indefinitely on hold."

I contacted an FAA friend in another district that put me in touch with their 135 point of contact. That person advised that the only way to get a 135 going these days was to rent a PO BOX and a pseudo office in a low volume district (i.e. North Dakota) and try and push it through there. Several people I know have the equipment and finances to go through the process but are being unduly burdened from a regulatory standpoint.

 

I hear the best way to do it is to buy an existing Part 135 company.

 

That's tricky too, because technically you can't "buy" a 135 certificate and put your name on it. The certificate is issued to one person. That said, the FAA does have a "transfer" process, but you still need to get everything changed over in the manuals and documents, which will be looked at due to the required name change. If something is wrong and was not caught earlier, the process could be long and hard.

 

But what you are missing here is the way we all used to build time, rather than pay the "big bucks" to get hired at 300 hours are slowly drying up. The environment is very different from 10 or even 5 years ago. Mom and pop flight schools are shutting down all over the place due to lack of students and the increased cost of flying in general. These guys now are paying what it cost me for an instructor and the airplane for a mid 70s 172 DRY. Plus all the check operations have dried up. The few opportunities that are left are being targeted by regional airlines to create a pipeline for these college grads to build time for the restricted ATP. Plus some of the flight requirements for the ATP have increased as well. Building the 1500 hours was the easy part, but getting all the instrument, night, and XC could be difficult for a CFI.

Not saying I advocate going head over heels into debt for this job (I didn't). But going "the hard way" has gotten a hell of a lot harder due to the new ATP rule and the decreasing opportunities for time building jobs.

 

The accident rate for corporate aviation is higher than for 121 operations

 

Yes and when the computers stop working on that airbus (AirFrance 447) the low-time ab-initio relief pilot at the controls who did not possess basic stall recovery skills-likely because he was hired with very low flight time-kills all 228 people on board.