How long is training as a new employee till the time you go on reserve?

And where and how often does post training work after you're hired? If you have to pass check-rides based on new FAA or airline req. where does that usually happen and how often?

About two months


Historically it was one 4 hour sim session every six months (CA) or annually (FO)...basically just a repeat checkride. Pilots would devote 1-4 weeks to prepare for this.

It is shifting to two-day of various sim and ground evolutions. This is more training oriented and less checkride oriented (you can still fail)Eventually you can expect that format to also go to every nine months for both CA and FO.

You also do two days (16 hours) of ground training each year...classroom and/or CBT.

They normally include all of that sort of stuff into the regular sim schedule...it would be way too hard and expensive to bring 3000 pilots in for a special event.

Rickair....i read alot about the scope clauses of the legacy carriers with regard to the flights they outsource to the regionals. One thing i don't understand is the significance of a regional airline operating a 50, 70, 75, 90 seat aircraft for it's mainline carrier. I understand that there are limitations by the percentages of mainline operations that are able to be outsourced to a regional partner, but why does the number of passengers carried onboard an outsourced flight matter to the carrier or (scope clause).

If United allows for 3 E-145 by expressjet/ASA from IAH to TUL, why could expressjet not utilize at 175 if cost permits and transport the same amount of passengers and only have to utilize two aircraft instead of 3. The same amount of passengers are being transported in either case.

1) Scope clauses are not for the benefit of the major airline, they are for the benefit of the major airline pilot group. Basically they provide job security. Since smaller airplanes generate less revenue, they can only support very low wages for the pilots so mainline pilots were not (at the time) interested in flying small airplanes for low wages. This started with 20 seat turboprops and has now crept up to 90 seat jets in some cases. Basically mainline pilots want to preserve the lucrative jobs for themselves. Management would like to outsource ALL flying to the lowest bidder...major airlines would become travel agencies and no longer be actual airlines.

2) If one large airplane could provide the same service to the customers as many smaller planes, then every flight would be an A-380 and it would only fly once a day, once a week, or once a month. But frequency is very important to premium and business travelers, so 5 RJ's is a much better business model than one 767 in most markets. To a business travelers, 1-2 hours difference in scheduled departure time can make all the difference.

A single larger airplane is more efficient (even with higher pilot wages) but not if all your customers fly on another airline which offers more frequency.

Once a day (or even every other day) works fine for many leisure travelers, but they only travel maybe once a year and the are not willing to pay premium fares. Business and premium travelers are the profit source for hub-and-spoke carriers, so they have to cater to them.

valid point. I see what you mean. When mainline pilot groups agree with management to relax the scope, let's say from a 70 seat scope clause to 76, how is it determined how many (76 seat) jets can fly for that carrier....does they mainline pilot group designate a number/percentage or once the scope has been raised, it's up to the regional to decide how many planes to allocate??

do you think with the 1500 TT & ATP rating coming into effect, that the regional wages & QOL will improve much or stay the same? If the wages were better than what they were, it wouldn't be so bad just making a career as a regional/contract pilot. Regardless of what you call it, it's outsourcing work...and it sounds like that's not a form of business that's gonna decrease anytime soon.

All details of scope limitations are negotiated between mainline management and mainline pilots. Once the totals are set, then management can allocate those to one or more regionals as they see fit.

Regionals have absolutely nothing to do with it. They are pretty much like those illegal immigrants who hang out in the home depot parking lot...they gladly take whatever work is offered, no questions asked.

Not sure why you think a regional has any control over anything related to mainline??? They are not partners, more like master and slave...


The 1500 rule (if it actually goes into effect with no loopholes, which is doubtful) might have a slight affect on entry-level regional pay. It may be nothing more than bumping first-year pay up to second year.

During normal times, 1500 hours is about what regionals hire at anyway...and they have no shortage of takers.

It's actually some of the other provisions of that law which could have an impact...if turbine, icing, and IMC time are required for 121 employment THEN you would have a pilot shortage at the entry-level.

But the regional business model is not looking very good for the future. f you have more than ten years left, the best you could hope for at a regional will be to get merged (stapled?) to a mainline seniority list.

There are lots of good reasons why RJ's may not survive long-term, especially small ones.

Damn Rick, did he wear you out...LOL??

Thanks RickAir7777 for all those detailed responses, it was helpful.

from a guy getting out of the military, thank you for the questions and answers!! I still need to learn these little things.