1500 hour mark

[izzydogg]

I realize the 1500 hr mark as a requirement for most flying jobs is driven by the insurance companies. When I was a student pilot, back in 2006, I recall 300-500 hour pilots obtaining jobs with regional airline companies. I've also read or heard that the 1500 hr requirement has made it more difficult to fill positions. I talked to a pipeline pilot who said that they also had the 1500 hour mark and that most of the "time building" jobs had gone to the way side due to the requirement. What are the chances of these time building pilot positions becoming available to us 300-500 hour pilots in the future.

 

[ronnieh]

Other than instructing, it is difficult. Even if you choose instructing you may need a real job to be able to afford food.

 

[DavidWhite]

Sorry, we are boned unless we get our CFIs. You can get a VFR pt 135 job if you can find one at 500 hours and a few other reqs.

 

[EdFred]

It will swing the other way, when the airlines say there aren't enough pilots.

 

[Threefingeredjack]

All depends on what you want to do with your life. I got a job that paid room and board as well as a decent wage, and was flying really nice helicopters for a while before I moved into transport category turboprops. AND I started with zero time.

 

[taters]

become a CFI...you will need these skills anyway when a fresh off IOE First Officer is sitting to your right...CFI ratings can pay you back in spades

 

[tmyers]

It will swing the other way, when the airlines say there aren't enough pilots.

I really need to read these posts more accurately. I thought Ed had said "I will swing the other way"

Had me worried there for a minute Ed

 

[GCA319]

Other than instructing, it is difficult. Even if you choose instructing you may need a real job to be able to afford food.

That's my current situation.

 

[GCA319]

become a CFI...you will need these skills anyway when a fresh off IOE First Officer is sitting to your right...CFI ratings can pay you back in spades

A guy I once talked to who worked in a regional airline's training department told me he could always tell who was a CFI and who wasn't based on how they did in training and how they worked in a crew environment.

 

[Everskyward]

become a CFI...you will need these skills anyway when a fresh off IOE First Officer is sitting to your right...CFI ratings can pay you back in spades

Interesting to sit through someone's first few flights in a jet.

 

[flyingmoose]

It may swing the other way, but its not impossible now. Just keep looking. Its not easy, but you can make it happen with the right opportunities. You don't have to become a CFI to make it (I did), but if that is what you have to do then fine.

 

[alfadog]

You can always marry rich.

 

[weilke]

I realize the 1500 hr mark as a requirement for most flying jobs is driven by the insurance companies. When I was a student pilot, back in 2006, I recall 300-500 hour pilots obtaining jobs with regional airline companies.

It is also driven by the law and the market. To be PIC in part 135 IFR, you need 1200, pretty soon you will need 1500 to sit right seat in at those regionals that hired lower in the past. Until the current good supply of 1500-2000hr pilots is used up, there will be little incentive to go lower.

 

[Inverted]

There will most likely be a legal reason to NOT go lower than 1500 pretty soon. If the ATP rule goes through, part 121 operators will not be able to hire anyone lower than 1500. I believe there are certain exceptions like graduating from an accredited aeronautical university.

 

[EdFred]

There will most likely be a legal reason to NOT go lower than 1500 pretty soon. If the ATP rule goes through, part 121 operators will not be able to hire anyone lower than 1500. I believe there are certain exceptions like graduating from an accredited aeronautical university.

Yeah, but when ticket prices go high and flights get cut back because there aren't enough with 1500hrs, I can definitely see the lobbyists get it waived for more than what there be initially.

 

[weilke]

Yeah, but when ticket prices go high and flights get cut back because there aren't enough with 1500hrs, I can definitely see the lobbyists get it waived for more than what there be initially.

Pilot salaries are a small percentage of airline operating expenses, first year FO salaries are a tiny share of that line item. If they doubled starting pay into the 40s, it would make almost no difference for the ticket prices they charge. They pay that little because they want to and so far are able to get away with it.

 

[EdFred]

Pilot salaries are a small percentage of airline operating expenses, first year FO salaries are a tiny share of that line item. If they doubled starting pay into the 40s, it would make almost no difference for the ticket prices they charge. They pay that little because they want to and so far are able to get away with it.

I didn't say anything about pilot salaries.

 

[weilke]

I didn't say anything about pilot salaries.

Hours/salaries/entry-jobs are just three different sides of the same coin. More money--> more pilots. The issue of money removed, there will never be a shortage of 1500hr entry level pilots.

 

[EdFred]

Hours/salaries/entry-jobs are just three different sides of the same coin. More money--> more pilots. The issue of money removed, there will never be a shortage of 1500hr entry level pilots.

Less pilots with 1500hrs ===> Less flights available ===> higher demand ===> higher prices ===> bitching to congress

 

[weilke]

Less pilots with 1500hrs ===> Less flights available ===> higher demand ===> higher prices ===> bitching to congress

Do you honestly believe that the airlines will have to cancel a single flight because of a shortage of entry level FOs ??

 

[EdFred]

Do you honestly believe that the airlines will have to cancel a single flight because of a shortage of entry level FOs ??

I believe it is possible, yes. Less people going into flying for careers.

 

[RotorAndWing]

Do you honestly believe that the airlines will have to cancel a single flight because of a shortage of entry level FOs ??

Here in Asia it's the other way around. There are plenty of 200 hour FO's walking around but few Captains, and the carriers here are hiring Captains off the street and actually "poaching" Captains from other carriers.

In the US there are carriers paying bonuses now to get FO's to sign on. With the decline of pilots from flight schools and the military the supply is slowly drying up, along with foreign carriers with more attractive job offers luring applicants overseas.

Stay tuned.

 

[EdFred]

Hey, IM MEL commercial, maybe I should head to Bangkok.

 

[RotorAndWing]

Hey, IM MEL commercial, maybe I should head to Bangkok.

Get an ATP, an A320 type with 300 to 500 hours in type and you have a chance.

 

[EdFred]

I thought they were hiring 200HR FOs???

I have a pen and a logbook.

 

[RotorAndWing]

I thought they were hiring 200HR FOs???

I have a pen and a logbook.

200 hours FO's, if you are a National. It's extremely rare to see an Expat FO.

The parker pen deal doesn't work over here. It's been tried one too many times. Every six months I have to "renew" my ATPL and in the process I have to present my logbook for a stamp and verification. Get caught with a forged logbook means immediate deportation if not jail time beforehand.