Interesting that you judge the quality of a new hire by the number of hours it took for them to finish IOE.

 

I'd say its usually (not always) a pretty good gauge of the quality of the pilot. Some of the sharpest FO's I've flown with were pretty fresh off IOE, but they also didn't take much more than the minimum. As for those who have taken 100+ hours, well...

 

So you ask all your FOs how many hours it took them to finish IOE while forming an opinion of how well they did?
I've never asked or been asked how many hours it took me. I guess I just make my judgement of their skills on the flight I flew with them.

 

Irrespective of how many hours of IOE are required (and yes I understand that it costs money to do extra IOE etc.) the outcome appears to be pretty good as in sharp new pilots - for the most part.

So training is working. And the pool of potential pilots is deeper than what many thought (for now at least). It remains to be seen what the future holds but we seem to be doing just fine.

 

I don't directly ask them, but if they are new, it will usually come out in casual conversation. "Welcome to SkyWest, how are you liking it so far? How was training?" Not a pointed question.

I'm sorry, but if it takes you 100+ hours to do what an average person does in 40, that is a red flag. All I'm saying is that I, from direct experience, can see a correlation.

I agree. The vast majority of new people I fly with are very sharp. Training does a good job.

 

Ok no problem. We can agree to disagree. I don't think there's a correlation between the time it took for someone to finish IOE to the quality of pilot they are or will be.
SkyWest used to be a more difficult place to get an interview, relative to other regionals, before everyone started getting desperate for pilots.
Used to be you'd come here from another 121 carrier. Obviously since that has changed you will see IOE times increase. Doesn't mean you're getting bad pilots.
Btw this is coming from a transplant from a previous 121 before Skywest.

 

I guess I could have been more clear in my response. I'm simply making a generalization, not an absolute statement. There are a few reasons other than shortcomings as a pilot that IOE can take more time. I've even heard of people requesting more IOE simply to finish a month without having to sit reserve for the pro-rated days. That alone could mean an additional 25-50 hours.

But its a bit of a tough subject, because we must take ourselves and training very seriously. Right or not, training records are our only real gauge of the quality of a pilot. Someone who takes a lot of additional training, or has multiple failures in the past presents a big red flag to me (think Marvin Renslow). Sure, there are extenuating circumstances that could explain some of that stuff, but in general, multiple training failures, and excessive extra IOE can point to a pretty obvious conclusion of one's pilot abilities.

 

Not necessarily true, occasionally some people take more time, it can be attributed to multiple things such as time between sim and IOE, there was a time not long ago that that was over a month wait. Furthermore people are flying trips with senior LCA, it's easy to do 2 4 days that make up 50 hours, if then a candidate still isn't up to scratch, , sometimes it's say visual approaches because they haven't done much of those on their trips (easy to do with a lot of trips with arrivals to approaches)and they do one more trip suddenly they are at 75.

I think our training department does a great job, so I'm willing to say more often than not there is more to the story.

 

I am currently a CFI/MEI @ around 850 hrs, I just wrapped up an interview with a part 135 operator flying SIC in a KingAir350. At the end of the interview and job offer the HR guy made some confusing statements. Looking for some clarity before I accept. He said that their OP Specs did not require an SIC but their insurance did. According to the FARs 61.51 I can't log that time as SIC even with a type rating because the KA350 is certificated under single pilot operations. My next question to him is then how do I build time? He said most of their pilots were MEI's and that I could log PIC as the sole manipulator of the controls. Then I asked if any of their captains had the "Need an SIC" endorsement on their certificates, he said no.

My question, will Skywest or any 121 operator allow me to count that total time and dual received towards an ATP? I get that it is multi turbine time but I have a super sweet CFI job that I dont want to leave if I'm just going to have to make up all of those hours that wont be counted.

 

How comfortable do feel about telling a hiring board about how you were getting "not really" dual. Not a judgement or suggestion, just a future ghost you will visit so think about it now.

Sounds like an SIC is required. Sounds like the plane won't fly without one. (But I dumped all this crud)