CBreezy

I disagree completely. I think pilots need more than 200 hours in a Cessna before stepping into a jet. Was 1500 hours the right number? No, but the have cutouts for experience. If you go to ERAU, you can go with as little as 1000 hours. That's less than a year and a half of flight instructing at an International Flight School or Riddle. I don't think that's too much too ask.

donny

D.C. Has a DFR to the pilots of AA. Nobody else. I wouldn't expect regional love.

Without elaboration further it's my hope that the Brightest here know what I mean.

Maybe the decision would be made to change to ALPA😃,

Belly laugh. Belly laughs. Belly laugh.

Nantonaku

Incorrect, it was a total lack of experience, every time Colgan comes up someone has to say they had over 1500 hours when they crashed. Great but how many hours did they have when they were hired? Have you ever been instructing and had a student pull back at an inopportune time? If you instructed to 1500 hours you will have had this experience. Do you think the Colgan pilots hired with 300 hours ever had this experience? The 1500 hour rule would of prevented the Colgan crash, pure and simple. All hour requirements set by the FAA are arbitrary, the bar has to be set somewhere.

The law wasn't meant to increase performance, it was meant to prevent crashes. It doesn't matter what a small subset of sim instructors are observing, are 1500 hour pilots safer than 250 hour pilots? Of course they are - this is the intent of the 1500 hour requirement. I don't see how you could argue otherwise.

DreFlyer

Don't know about that . . . wasn't too long ago that some were saying that regionals would never ever be able to increase starting FO pay above 22K and make money, yet today most of them are paying well above that and throwing in everything but the kitchen sink to try and recruit both currently-eligible and potential pilots.

N1234

All of this comes down to basic business 101.

You don’t get paid for the responsibility you have or anything else - but only as much as it costs the company to replace you. The pilot profession is at an inherent disadvantage as we are a true commodity. There is absolutely no differentiation between pilot A and Pilot B as everyone is supposed to go by the SOP. Sure, experience helps a little but at the end of the day the only thing that matters is checking FAA boxes and company qualifications. And those can be checked just fine by new hires.

That is the major difference between being a pilot or say a lawyer. No two lawyers are truly the same and you can become the expert in say real estate law in a certain geography. There are only so many of them around and hopefully that differentiation is in high demand. As a pilot you are the expert of the SOP - as all other pilots on the seniority list.

The increase in regional pilot pay is a direct result of supply and demand dynamics. And we have the perfect storm of retirements kicking in and the 1,500 rule. And just for the record, I hope it is here to stay exactly for those supply-demand reasons.

But don’t be fooled that there is a cheaper way out with any academy type programs. Qualify with just 1,000 hours for an R-ATP? Great, they will make up the difference in tuition / flight training costs.

Their interests are very much aligned with the RAA lobbying.

And as far as the Harvard of the Sky (or any other academy program) is concerned…

I would always wonder about course work that is geared towards a very specific purpose and cannot be applied to more encompassing fields of study, e.g. PS 103 or PS 104 which “Cannot be used for credit in physics toward degrees in Engineering Physics, Civil, Aerospace, or Electrical Engineering”

Search Results < Daytona Beach campus catalog, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

That is not a ding on ERAU or anyone who went there. But just be aware of what they really offer.

It is the minimum requirement to “check a box” for a very specific job while making sure that as many people qualify / pass. And they do it at a very steep price. A price that buys you a more comprehensive degree and possibly broader career choices elsewhere.

It is just business …

FlyingKat

I'll just agree with Senator Joe Manchin here when Ms "Malarkey" was appearing before the Senate with Capt Sullenberger.

With all due respect, whos word do you thing I am going to take on pilot training? An experienced airline Captain with thousands of hours, or you (a hack lobbyist who used to work for the Clinton administration and reads whatever fiction Bryan Bedford throws in front of her).

TimetoClimb

there is a nprm circulating to address this issue. It's called the PDP or pilot development program and it allows operators to assign an SIC to certain twin engine aircraft; and even though he is not required by the type or the operation conducted, he can legally log the time.

Therefore when it passes, all the cargo operators will be able to take green 250hr wonders and put them in the right seat of a beech 99, navajo, metro etc and they can legally log to gain those vital IFR hours and move towards 500, then 1200 and then 1500.

I was a wet commercial pilot in late 2014 and remember just how frustrated I was trying to find work and simultaneously being straddled with debt, and insufficient funds for the CFI. Once I broke in (due to forging non-flying relationships with a certain 135 carrier for 9 months), I started gaining 60-80 hours a month and now am close to ATP mins and have an offer at SKW. In 2014 I wanted so badly for congress to repeal the law FOQ, but now I realize the value, not just to gaining experience, but to protecting the profession.

NMuir

Wrong. The report speaks for itself on this. Fatigue and poor training.

NMuir

Yes, but that may not be sustainable over the long run?

JAAB9TEEN

I could... your telling me hours count? How many foreign carriers hire at 250 hours and put a pilot in the right seat of a 737 or bigger? How many hours is that new hire pilot manipulating the controls? Even a junior pilot flying a 747 in the USA? Atlas for instance. Many of there FO's have to go to sim for landing currency. They could have several thousand hours in a 747. Doesn't make them a good pilot. Same with a flight instructor at 300 hrs. They will instruct for another 1200 hrs sitting on their hands, tellling someone else how to fly in a primarily VFR environment. That doesn't prepare them for a 121 world, high traffic and difficult environment.

We need to focus on skill and experience (type of flying, not hours). I'd rather fly with an 500 hour pilot flying a PC12 or King Air than a 1500 CFI from ATP flight school. Or even ERAU graduate. That is a 1000 hrs in four years plus. Pretty sure they will have problaems flying an ILS single engine in the sim. TSA's #1 failure for new hires.