Ridiculous

 

1700 TT is going to be the new norm for mil guys due to the pool of applicants getting shallow and sequestration not giving someone the opportunity to accrue hours like in the past.
Anyone who is getting hired here has almost a decade of flying experience at a minimum.
The hours for civilians are trending down as well. My class three years ago it was 10k minimum for civilians.
I think the hiring folks have done a great job hiring SWA pilots over the last few years from ALL backgrounds. Your repeated chip on the shoulder act about mil guys is getting pretty tired.

 

Like I said.....ridiculous. There's guys out there with 10,000-15,000 hours total, 10,000(+) part 121 jet PIC, 4 year degrees with no skeletons in the closets and they can't get an interview.

 

99% of the time I enjoy reading your posts, Whack. Seriously.

But, assuming you're being serious, why? Because no one with 1700TT could possibly be qualified enough to fly at a major airline? Or because they haven't paid enough in the way of dues to be worthy in your eyes? If you don't have military flying experience, then you have no idea how demanding, diverse, dangerous, or complex those 1700 hours can be. (Notice I said "can" be...just like civilian hours, not all military hours are created equal. But they sure as hell can be all those things).

Now, this is NOT a mil vs. civilian comment. Just because someone doesn't have mil experience doesn't mean they aren't an outstanding pilot. It's not either/or. But what's ridiculous is saying someone getting hired with 1700 hours is ridiculous when you don't know anything about them or the quality of those hours.

Then why not just institute a hiring policy that is based solely on Total Time and PIC? No one gets an interview unless they're next highest time guy on the list. Right.

 

It's exceedingly frustrating watching RJ Cptns with oodles of experience ALREADY DOING BASICALLY THE EXACT JOB THEY'RE APPLYING FOR AT SWA, not be able to get an interview and then a 1,700 hour TT guy gets hired. I think it's absurd. Let's just agree to disagree for the sake of keeping this thread on it's rails.

 

Maybe my measly 3300 hours of Mil time will get me an interview call soon. I just hope I can be quick enough to sign up for the job fair.

 

Fair enough. But we don't completely disagree. I understand your point. And I completely agree that it's crazy that many of those guys can't get interviews. They should be getting interviews right along with the mil guys, but not necessarily instead of them.

 

Fair enough, Gator. I can respect your opinion.

 

So here's one for the group:

Seventeen years ago I pinked my Commercial and my CFI check rides. I passed each on retest one week after the fact. I've disclosed this on my application.

In the years since, I've passed two type rides, and every line check and recurrent event I've ever had. I've been a chief pilot, and ACP, and a Standards Captain. My record has been clean ever since.

How heavily do you figure those two busts figure in the hiring/interview equation? Obviously they figure, or the company wouldn't ask that they be disclosed.

I've never interviewed and never gotten the call. I'm wondering if those busts might be the thing that's holding me back.

My stats, btw, are:

8800 TT
3200 TPIC
Three types (no 737)
Heavy international
Part 91K, 135 (no 121)

 

If I'm not mistaken, the question on the application about checkride failures has been re-phrased to only ask about failures within the past 10 years. It used to be an open-ended question. Regardless, it may factor into the interview invitation, but I am proof that it is not a deal breaker. And once you get the interview, it'll probably be a total non-issue if it was as long ago as you say. Mine was 13 years ago and I think they just wanted to hear me say "yes" when asked if I had any, then moving on.