[Maximillian_Jenius]

Originally Posted by ready2fly

K. Just read most of this thread and here are my $0.02:

Jtrain is spot on. Regardless how he said it - he's correct.

Some examples:

In the past week, I've flown with the following captains:
- Former F4, F5, F16 driver with a degree in engineering from Clemson
- Former F15, F111 driver with a degree from the Air Force Academy

These two, in particular, awaiting class dates at a legacy. Their counterparts at my regional with no degree and more time - will remain at the regional. Why? No degree.

On the flip side of that is the extremely low time hiring that's going on.

I just finished recurrent ground and this was a very large topic of conversation. The check airman who did the class commented that he was flying with a new-hire two weeks ago. The guy had something like 350 TT. They shot an approach into LIT down to mins and the FO zoned. Got so far behind the checklist to the point where he just stopped making any callouts whatsoever.

So, here is the captain, with 70 pax in the back - basically flying single pilot IFR down to minimums.

After landing, the FO said "That was COOL! That was my first approach in the real stuff!"

Captain: In this plane?

FO: Ever!

Do you think the passengers deserve that? Is that what you pay for as a pax when YOU fly?

Right now, my regional has a 270 TT pilot in training. That, my friends, is downright scary!

The Check Airman also said he had to Un-Sat a captain (eventually got it changed to an Incomplete) and his FO on a checkride ....because the 400TT new-hire couldn't read an emergency checklist, let alone a normal one...spent almost three minutes looking for a bleed air switch on the overhead......

...and when the check airman went before the board the next day to explain - they overturned the un-sat on the FO too and let the kid slide.

Why? Because they need warm bodies in the right seat.

Unbelieveable!!

I was hired in 2006 with 1300TT/115ME/5turbine and had something like 10 hours of actual and had shot numerous approaches down to minimums.........and still felt like (and was) a "low time pilot."

I'm two years into my airline career now and have learned enough to know that I still don't know squat.

It's the sense of entitlement that we're seeing coming out of flight training that is also scary. Kids from Riddle, NDU, Purdue, FSI, Delta Connection Academy....etc. are coming in with barely their commercial and acting as if it's their RIGHT to be in the left seat TOMORROW!

As for getting to a legacy any time soon if you're not sitting in the left seat of a regional right now - forget about it.

I meet the mins for DAL, but won't be receiving an invite to interview until I get some PIC - and as far as I've heard, most regionals are either not upgrading or their upgrades are sitting at anywhere between 3-8 years.

In short - to echo Jtrain's sentiment: There are no shortcuts in this industry!

To sum it all up and hopefully put it in perspective - my buddy who I went through new-hire training with, left my regional after a year to fly for a fractional where he upgraded to captain in 4 months.

His ultimate goal is to get back to the airlines.

He currently has just over 3000 TT/1500ME/300TPIC ........ and cannot get a reply from a legacy. Why?

Read carefully.

He has no college degree. Period.

He went to a job fair where United, CAL & NW were present. Every single one of them said he'd need a college degree to be considered.

You may not like how Jtrain said it, but his frustration is warranted and if you can't take it when somebody leaves off the candy coat - perhaps this whole airline thing isn't for you.

Just my $0.02. Spend it wisely.

R2F

...yea, whatever Stan, I don't need a four year degree to fly for a major!*