slimothy

Know a lot of regional and corporate guys getting hired at SWA with 1700 hours, do ya? The OP was comparing 1700 fighter hours to 1700 civilian hours.

RJSAviator76

It doesn’t take 1700 hours to fly any of these aircraft. Matter of fact, there are 200 hour pilots in Europe in the right seat of the very same airplane every brand new major airline pilot starts on with time on nothing bigger than a small GA twin in their logbook. There are 3500 hour 737/A320 captains in Europe too. Hell, with those hours, one STILL isn’t really competitive here...

Rightly or wrongly, in this country, there’s an inherent bias in favor of the mil types, and it stems from the stronger social and professional networking among the mil crowd than their civ counterparts. There is no other logical explanation. Embrace it, appreciate it, be grateful for it, and be humble about it... Most do and are humble, but just like with everything else, there’s always that 1% factor that somehow feels they need to swing their weenies around, and at this stage, it’s stupid and unnecessary.

slimothy

So much here to unwrap. First, please give me the names of the European companies who are allowing 200 hour pilots in 737s so I can make sure my family never boards one of their planes. I’m hoping you don’t advocate such ridiculous low mins for US carriers, because that’s how I’m reading it.

Second, if your point about why military pilots have an inside track were true, then I would not have been laughed out of my logbook review at my first SWA interview for including 1200 RW hours in my 2800 military hours.

Warhawg01

I don’t know much about you Zap or your background, and don’t assume anything one way or the other. I do know you have a lot more experience than I do in 121 and I’ve learned a lot from reading your posts the past year. If I met you, I’d pay for the beers and ask you all sorts of dumb questions, just like I did for my sim partner in new hire training.

Same goes for RJSAviator, who asked what makes a fighter guy so relevant for 121 Ops. I would agree with most of what you said, but that wasn’t my point. Go reread post #11 asking about 1700 civ Hours vs 1700 fighter. I answered that, and that only.... okay, with some extra snark directed at Wackmaster. After a year of his schtick that fighter pilots are unqualified to be here, and flying upside down, I couldn’t resist.

Please don’t project some dumba$$ arrogant fighter jerk’s attitude onto me when I said no such thing.

And briefs were 50 minutes, RJS. Not three hours.

FlyingPirate

Ok. I'll bite. I instructed for the premiere ab initio flight school in Europe for a few years, so here are my thoughts.

All of the pilots to through a very stringent selection process before being admitted to the flight schools (something the civilian side of flying neglects, unfortunately) then spend over a year in classrooms before touching an airplane. Then they would send them to the U.S. to complete primary flight training up through their multi commercial license. They would typically finish the program with just over 200 hours of flight time then proceed to new hire training at pretty much any European airline (Ryan Air, KLM, Lufthansa, Air Lingus, British Airways, you name it) flying an Airbus or Boeing. The airlines based much of who they hired on the student's training record among other things. The thing is... these guys were incredibly sharp and some of the best pilots I have ever seen, even at a the very elementary level I trained them at. I would put them up against 75% of the pilots at majors right now (both military and civilian trained); myself included.

I am all for ab initio training here in the U.S., I think it provides the best of both worlds; A very selective applicant pool and demanding training standards with a specific focus on airline ops.

at6d

Nobody is comparing a 1700 hour mil guy with a 1700 hour CFI in this ballpark.

Let’s compare the 7000 hour, multiple 121 type regional captain applicant with the 1700 hour viper guy.

Let’s actually not...but that’s what we see in new hire training.

The 1700 hour mil vs. civ with the same time is apples/oranges/trolling and a waste of time.

BarrySeal

I know Rocky says "not needed" but I am still inclined to go out and get a 737 type. How will this help with my "points" for my app ?

slimothy

Agree with all.

slimothy

I felt like it helped me, definitely didn’t hurt me. If you can afford it, it’s a rather small investment when considering the career at stake. Others will disagree. I class up in 20 days.

BarrySeal

Thank you for the reply. Yes I can afford it (would prefer not to, but yes, can afford it).