You're gonna get some people fired up saying stuff like that. If you're gonna be an instructor to get 3-6 months worth of time, do your future students a favor and do traffic watch or fly checks. Additionally, the market determines how long you will be an instructor...especially in this market, you could get your first airline job at 1500 hrs, or we could go back to CFI optional.

Let them get fired up. I've been in the aviation industry for years. I'm just as capable as any one of us to succeed or fail. I believe that this is based upon the individuals effort to become a better pilot and "time in grade" so to speak.

For some, flight instructing or any other time building effort may only need to last 6 months for some; a year or longer for others. We all have different learning curves... the ability to absord information at different rates. That's why we enter the either the 91, 121, or the 135 game with varying ME & TT hours, whether it be turbine or turbo-prop experience, types of wx weve flown in, how well we handle emergencies, exhibiting good interpersonal skills....a.k.a. CRM I think ect. Oh...I forgot the economy as well. It to is a determinig factor.

In the end, I have to not only trust myself and those who prepared me, but also,those who have been properly trained to evaluate my KSA's, i.e. check airmen, HR, and anyone else that is involved in the hiring process.

JMO.




atp

The next big hiring boom is YEARS away.. 2-3 at the earliest. And even then it probably wont be a boom....now in four years there will start to be a constant bunch of retirements at the majors but by that time there will be many many thousands of currently flying regional jet pilots with 3-5000 hours of time beating down their door. This will be a tough industry to break into for the next five years or so. As always there will be the occasional operator who will be hiring but the years of 10000 pilots a year being hired are gone with the wind ....at least for the foreseeable future. Good luck.

Let me ask this: We had the hiring boom of say mid '05 to early '08. Was there a lull in hiring prior to mid '05? Was there a hiring boom before the '05? If so for questions, when did they occur?

In 3-4 years, as the regional pilots with 3-5K hrs of TT are beating down the majors doors, then I should be a shoe-in for an FO position or if I at the right place at the right time....I just may be upgrading to Captain in 3-4 years. We really don't know. All we can do is speculate. Shoot, right now, Pinnacle can't keep FO's. For some the pay, scheduling & work rules are pathetic, for some they can deal with it, and still while for others it's a goldmine. When it's all said and done, it's all relative.

On a sidenote but I think is still relative, people chided and castigated SkyHigh for his posts about the industry and how much disdain he had for it. True, he may have gone overboard from time to time, however....look where we are!!! Some of the same guys that spewed all that venom are the very ones who are now saying, "Hell, I'll take anything right now just to pay the bills". I am careful when it comes to posting comments on APC or any forum for that matter. Especially, when they involve my own personal experience and observations. General knowledge posting is all together different.

At any rate, I digressed a little....but my point is again....I waited 25-30 years for this opportunity. What's another 3-6 mos or 1-2 yrs building time and becoming a better pilot. Doesn't bother me one iota.



atp

Late 80's/Early 90's: Dead...most of my age-group peers bailed on the industry, at least for a while. I was not flying, but glad to have a job in the navy.

Mid 90's: Started to pick up a bit...

Late 90's - 9/10/2001: Gangbusters

9/11/2001-2003: Dead.

2004-2005: Regionals picked up.

2005-2007: Gangbusters at the regionals, moderate hiring at the majors.

So what's your take on it rickair? I mean in terms of forecasting, when do you think that things will have bottomed out and we'll see a return to regionals hiring 15-25 pilots/mo. on a consistent basis?

I'm aware that one part of the economy affects another...and that it's not a simple solution, but just wanted to hear from some of you who are already out there on the front lines so to speak.




atp

Once one or more legacy goes through a bankruptcy, the contraction in the regional market happens, the global market recovers. Say 3-5 years.

Dude, you totally missed my point. I've never seen you fly or know if you're a top gun candidate or someone who struggles with steep turns. Frankly, I don't care...and for the most part, neither does a regional.

What I was saying is you are not owed a regional job because you instructed for 3-6 months or because you have 13,000 hrs, or because you have been in the industry for years, or cause you have a pet hamster.

1) You will be hired when hiring picks up again.
2) Guys that "plan" to instruct for 3-6 months get 2 groups of people mad.

1. The guys that instructed for 3-6 YEARS to get to an airline
2. The guys that actually cared about being good instructors instead of being time builders.

No, I didn't miss your point.

1.Timing is everything. I know that already. Whether I have 6 months flight instructing or 6 years when applying, it's up to the employer to make that choice to hire me or not. I couldn't give a rat a$$ who gets upset.

2.In addition to an individual meeting and exceeding minimum requirements, there is also corporate culture. A potential employer has to think that I or whomever will fit in that culture.

3. What's with the quotations around the word plan? Please define.




atp

you can plan your future...but because you can't tell the future, you can't "plan" on instructing for a certain period of time.

when you say you "plan" to instruct for a period of time, you sound like you are owed a job and you also sound like you aren't gonna care about instucting...only the time you're gaining