Since we're on the subject, I'll just share a story I heard a few weeks ago. Years and years ago, a pilot I flew with was trying to get on with United. At the time he happened to jump seat with a UAL crew, male Captain and recently hired female FO. They were discussing his efforts to get hired when the FO asked how many hours he had.

"5 or 6," he replies.

She answers, "Oh, you might need a little more. A CFI friend of mine just got hired and she has around 800."

The Captain shakes his head and says, "No, he means 5 or 6 thousand."

 

It doesn't matter what their experience is, they are connected. Most female pilots have family ties or worked at the major as a flight attendant, or is just plain hot compared to your average balding nerdy RJ capt. At that point, it doesn't matter if you're black or purple, you're getting on as long as you meet mins.

 

That's par for the course at UAL. Back in 1990 when I was getting out of the Navy, my stepfather (a UAL Capt.) hand carried my stuff into HR. With 5200 military hours, 2000 in C-9s they told him I was "overqualified."

Not necessarily true. There is no pilot shortage now, nor will there ever be. Just look at all the grey haired Eagle pilots strolling around DFW. If you don't think a regional gig could be your last stop on the pyramid, think again. There's a whole subculture of pilots out there in the world...Part 91, Part 135, Part 121 supplemental...virtually all of them are looking for a better gig.

 

In all seriousness, this is spot on.

 

15 years ago before 9/11 and all the majors we're in a hiring frenzy (like now),a female CFI colleague of mine had an AA capt for a father. She eventually got hired at a regional but we all thought it was just a matter of time before she'd get the call from American... never happened.

 

Haha you and me both broski!

 

And I know PERSONALLY that UAL newhire classes as of late have had an AVERAGE flight time of 10k. So for anyone that needs that unpacked for them, there were pilots in the class OVER 10k. One of the reasons it's NOT higher is that the pure mil demographics total time drives the mathmatical average lower. If you subtracted the pure mil numbers out, you'd be getting HIGHER than 10k in some classes.

Something about the recruiters at job fairs, SADLY you can't EVEN take their word as gospel at times.

The UAL head of hiring completely misspoke at one lately, and airlineapps had to send out a correction over what HE MEANT TO SAY.

DAL's guy misspoke as well.

 

US Airways system was by far the most fair. If you met their quals you were put into a pool and then numbers were randomly drawn out to pick those called.

UAL is still hiring females out of sequence, I've seen it first hand. There is a whole contingent of ladies over there that sued to pass the upgrade and when UAL conceded, they are paired with check airman for life. Sad but UAL upper, upper management doesn't care.

That being said, TT and years on the job doesn't make one more qualified over the other just like sex doesn't make one more qualified over the other.

 

Why do we have to keep rehashing this? Airlines call people for interviews based on a myriad of factors, some are under a pilot's control, some aren't. Some seem fair, some don't. Feedback would be nice, as the silence can be deafening when our phones don't ring, but life goes on. We all want to be in the first few classes, but there's only so many seats. It's important to remember that the retirements are just starting. Pretty soon, the yearly retirements will double and the cumulative retirements will out-number the total regional pilot count today. So far this year, close to 200 pilots have left the regional I work for. Scapegoating is easier than self-examination and uncertainty, but if you're bitter now, chances are you'll be bitter no matter where you work, plus your interview will be more challenging as you'll have to pretend that you're enjoyable to fly with.

 

UAL has a whole herd of permanent F/Os due to the EEO hiring requirements of the past. They're both male and female.

Considering the fact that UAL got torched by the EEOC back in the early '90s, you can understand why their HR is sensitive to the issue. Hey, life isn't fair. You have to play the cards you're dealt.