Frequently Asked Questions
ANSWER: Take them both. The Regional commuters and Major Airlines honor the military commitments in the Reserves or Guard and will work with your schedule accordingly. Congratulations weekend warrior!
QUESTION #2 Which avenue of flying do you recommend in order to get to the airlines?
ANSWER: At this present time, with the present and future shortage of pilots the quickest way to obtain the right hours is through the regional commuter airlines. It affords quality time and is basically the same environment as the Major Carriers but on a regional level.
QUESTION #3 Once at the Regional level is there anything I should watch for or do specifically to gain hours?
ANSWER: Yes, you will find very quickly that there will be "lines" of flying that will be awarded to you month by month that a check airman may take from you to train another crew member. In this situation, you will be "paid" for the line selection but will not accrue the hours of that particular line. The goal at the regional level is to attain the most amount of hours in the least amount of time to get hired at the Major Carrier. If you continue to fly the lines that check airman take, you will never build hours. To let you in on a little secret you won't know until you get on with a Major carrier; The seniority number at the major carrier RULES it is almighty at the Major level, not the regional level, so beware and try not to get too comfortable and forget your goal: You want to get to THE MAJORS, of which you are not there, yet. Also try to stay in the position that will allow the most flying. Many pilots will quickly move up to a jet position and find they don't fly as much as they did at the turbine level. Stay where you will gain the most hours. If you want to get Jet time, advance somewhere around the 3000-3300 hour level. This will be just around the total time requirement that most quality carriers will look at you favorably. If you see making Captain doesn't afford the hours, wait a little bit longer and build the hours first. Patience is a virtue.
QUESTION #4: If a check airman does take my trip, how can I make that lost time up?
ANSWER: Bug, crew scheduling for another trip. If you keep bugging them, they eventually see that you are serious and they give you a trip.
QUESTION #5: I am a CFI here at the University and am not getting any students. I know there are other CFI positions available at other Universities but no one is going to hire me with out any hours as a CFI, so I am stuck here until they will give me students so I can build my hours. Is there anyway out?
ANSWER: You are not "stuck" as you may feel. With your CFI in hand, any University will hire you "right" out of school. They don't expect you to have hours as an instructor. With the good quality license/ratings and flying you have obtained from your University, they take that under consideration and will hire those from other Universities. Never ever feel "stuck" there are jobs a plenty out there.
QUESTION #6 Which do you think is more important, building hours first or being a Captain as soon as possible?
ANSWER: They are both important, but you must have certain number of hours to become attractive to a Major Carrier and if it were I, I would wait and build hours first before jumping right in to being a Captain. When you become a Captain right away, you will be very junior and thus will not build hours as quickly as you could if you stayed a First Officer a little longer. Captain experience is preferred by the Majors as opposed to not ever having been a Captain. Be sure you become one at some point in your regional carrier career, it builds confidence and self esteem. This is my own personal preference.
QUESTION #7 Someone told me of an aviation internship they thought I would be interested in seeking. After a little research I see that they want someone with a four year degree, something I am working towards and don't currently have. Do you think I should interview for the internship or should I wait until I have the qualifications they stipulate?
ANSWER: Make the appointment. This would be a terrific way to gain insight on how to interview, what the industry specifically targets in an individual plus you just never know, they may make an exception to their requirements, like you and choose you. After all rules are made to be flexible. Take the plunge and go interview, it shows you have moxy. All they can say is no come back next year, good luck!
QUESTION#8 I Interviewed for an internship that I didn't quite meet their minimum qualifications and they selected me to my shock and delight. There is a significant amount of money that goes along with the internship. My problem is that I need to take a few college courses for my own personal goals and this does not fit into the time frame of the internship. I feel if I don't take courses at the university while I do this internship I will be delaying my progress forward. Do you have any suggestions?
ANSWER: Yes, contact your college councelor and explain your situation. Many colleges and universities are going to ON LINE classes and that may be the solution to your problem. If the college does not have this available find out which universities have this available and see if that course will transfer to your college. You will also find that your internship can or may possibly turned into a college credit, something you should also discuss with your councelor. Where there is a will there is a way and remember internships are worth their weight in gold.
QUESTION #9 I am flying for a company who has multi engine aircraft. The company requires two pilots but the aircraft isn't type certificated requiring two pilots. I am the co-pilot and our company stresses CRM. I do everything in the cockpit but I don't always have my hand on the control yoke and the time I spend flying amounts to a lot of hours. How should I log this flight time?
ANSWER: Well it can not be logged as second in command (SEC) because the aircraft is not type certificated requiring two pilots but what you can do is add another column to your logbook labeled "other" or "PNF". PNF stands for Pilot not flying. Many of the airliners today utilize this term and understand the meaning of the term. When you fly the companies multi-engine aircraft log the multi-engine hours in the multi-engine column and include that time in the PNF column. When you actually control the aircraft label it in the PIC column. By doing this you will not lose any hours and actually it looks very good that you demonstrate the ability to recognize a CRM (PNF) position and log it accordingly.
QUESTION #10 Hind sight being 20/20... I graduated last year (1998) from College with an Aviation degree. In college I took our Turbo Prop familiarization class on the King Air. I got four hours of turbine time out of the deal for $1200, not bad cost wise. However, I could've gotten my MEI for the same price. It just didn't seem as "cool" at the time. Now I wish I would have gotten the MEI, because in the long run I know now, that I would have more than 4 hours of multi if I would have done the MEI instead. What is your thought on this?
ANSWER: I have to agree with you on this. It is tempting to be "cool" and get the King Air familiarization course at that stage of the game but as you state you would probably have a lot more hours now if you had opted for the MEI. Your choice was not a bad choice though, it may help you down the road in the event you ever fly a King Air. In reality it only veered you off your course of Airline Pilot a neglible amount. So I wouldn't worry about it. What I would do is take the knowledge you have learned from this situation and apply it to any other challenge that may arise down the road on your career path which may be similar. You are learning.
If you have any questions you would like answered, email me and I will answer any and all questions.
