My point being, is your foreign carrier governed by 121? Were your 1000 SIC in 135 achieved before the signing of the law and does it meet the requirements of 121.436? Is there an LOI that discusses your specific scenario?

Now saying May. Last I heard 18 airplanes.....

I just ran into a check airman that says there is no way we can staff all these airplanes. We've interviewed 3 guys in the last 2 weeks. The fact that they just lowered minimums is showing signs of panic. Where are we going to get FO's? Not everyone can be captain. And it's not like another regional can take those planes. Everyone is having staffing issues. I just talked to a buddy a XJET: they had 3 reserve guys for 1000 pilots last weekend at IAH. This will be an interesting year.

Oh yeah? I talked to check airmen who said we were hiring into a furlough last summer. Then some check airmen said we were never going to get new airplanes. Most of them want it to fail because they are angry and bitter about Uncle Hulas. I don't believe anything that comes out of their mouth that isn't SOP related.

Thanks fly your help! Whatever dude

It's governed by basically the same exact regs as FAA 121. We have A320s and 737 and follow the same rules as a U.S. 121 carrier.

My previous U.S. 121/135 www about 350 SIC and the rest was PIC.

It was done before the signing of the law.

I went online just to try and find if it specifically says a US citizen with a lot of (well over) 1000 PIC in foreign 121 equivalent ops would not qualify.

Checkairman aside, the numbers look daunting. We will have about 600 line pilots in a few months. Classes are full through March I believe. And how many airplanes are we supposed to be getting? The pool of pilots out there is quickly drying up. I very much hope our company can staff this, but I'm just not sure the numbers support this. Worst case scenario is we staff what we can I guess.

The regulation does not say 121 or equivalent. Unless you have 14CFR121 SIC time, 135 PIC time, or the 91 exemption, it doesn't exist. Also, I think somewhere buried in there the SIC has to have occurred since the signing of the law or maybe it was any active Captains at the signing of the law were exempt. I can't remember the verbiage.

How full are your new hire classes, and of those classes, what percent make it through IOE? That is the only valid way to speculate your future.

We will need somewhere around 900 ish line pilots… which goes to show the hiring is on track. The last airplane doesn't show up for over another year. Dropping the upgrade minimums will surely help get FO's in the door. I personally know of close to a dozen of my own CFI friends that passed on us to go somewhere else solely on the fact that our minimums were so high. With the news this week, they now regret that decision.

I'll start worrying when we are canceling dozens of flights due to staffing. Initially we should be fine… late summer/early fall may be another story, but only time will tell.