good luck to all, safe flying

PIC time always helps, but I know of a number of FO’s who went overseas with no PIC time. What I don’t know is whether or not there is a bias about upgrading them to captain without prior PIC time. In many countries, the captains are expats, and the FO’s are locals, and they promote those FO’s over expat FO’s.

Chip

Can anyone comment on good resources for getting employed at one of these overseas carriers that actually respects their new employees?

The drawbacks to the job still exist: missed holidays and family celebrations, living out of a suitcase, late nights followed by early departures etc. There has to be a reason to acquire the required training and certification. I love to fly and that powered me to flight instruct and make much less than my wife in the beginning to build time, but not anymore. Pilots are a commodity like fuel. Bring the pay and benefits back and there will be no shortage.

I’m working on a commercial certificate/instrument rating but can’t see the reasoning behind quitting my nice paying I.T. job and going into flying for less money and more work. If the airlines wanted pilots they shouldn’t have raised the minimum age, they should have treated their people better and enticed people to pursue that career.

This is a good question. Right now, the airlines are not being offered any exception to grandfather the sub-1500 hour pilots. In fact, many have raised their minimums in order to avoid this problem. Skywest is using a step plan, stating that the minimums are going up each month so as to assure that this isn’t a problem, and there are a few that are allowing pilots to take leaves of absence so that junior pilots can fly and get those hours. If the rule went into effect today, those pilots would, for all intents and purposes, be grounded and have to go make up the difference on their own, but I assume that their spot on the seniority list would be preserved for a period of time. This is one issue worth watching, but there has been plenty of warning on this for enough time that I don’t see the FAA cutting any slack…and nor should they.

Steven,

I suspect that personal cost is a far larger part of the decision making process than has been acknowledged. I suspect that certain scholarships, etc. will be created and/or offered. In time, I would not be surprised to see certain airlines offer to pay back a large part of pilot training costs if certain conditions are met—grades, passed checkrides, and most importantly, years of service to a given carrier, but I think these steps are down the road a bit. The airlines have to truly feel the pain before they go this route. However, I think certain aid opportunities will exist fairly soon for those that meet the criteria.

Greg,

As an industry veteran, especially at the regional level, I will respectfully—and strongly—disagree about the requirements being “outrageous.” In fact, in some respects, they are not strong enough or shoot for the wrong target. That said, the ability to invest the time into becoming an airline pilot can appear to be daunting. The key here, and I’ve mentioned this before, is to keep your debt load and other expenditures in check. Having done the starvation-wage lifestyle myself (both as a CFI and a regional FO), I can attest that it can be done and, while it isn’t easy, it is often as hard as you make it. Please don’t take that to be a cavalier statement. It’s not.

A most important step in this process, if you decide to pursue an airline career, is to look at the new FAR requirements, as well as the requirements for several regionals you might want to work for, and then work backwards to figure out the best path for you. You may decide to go gang-busters and get your hours as fast as possible to get that first job, or you may teach in your spare time to work a more regular job and get there slower. Both methods have worked, and both have their pros and cons. Remember, you can still do the FBO route, but it is a higher hurdle.

The monetary investment will be significant, but there are ways to save significant amounts of money without compromising safety or quality. Only you can decide what you are willing or not so willing to do.

Chip

Next years requirements are outrageous. I’m positive it will do nothing but to discourage and put additional strain on already struggling flight schools. We’ll be teaching the rest of the world to fly while Americans sit idly tinkering with model airplanes instead of flying the real thing.