It can't be too much of a waste of bandwidth, can it now, mate? After all, I'm just quoting YOU.
Let's do it some more...
...instead of grinding it out for 1500 hours in the left seat of a DHC-8, I chose to come fly a 737 ... Well, things changed, and I'm stuck in the right seat for years and years to come. I don't think I'll see the left seat here for at least another 8 years or so and I'm in my 5th year...despite 2000+ hours in a 737, I can't apply to SWA or Alaska for that matter because I didn't grind out a few hundred more hours in the left seat of a DHC-8. On the other hand, a guy flying a Beech 99 at Ameriflight or Alpine can meet the mins.
The guy coming from Ameriflight or Alpine can meat the minimums because he holds the qualifications, you see. He has the Pilot in Command experience that you do not. You see this as unfair exactly how?
Minimums are minimm experience levels...which is why they're called minimums. See the connection, there?
You say "because I didn't grind out a few hundred more hours" and therefore clearly show that you elected to forego obtaining the necessary pilot in command time--you gave up obtaining the qualification--to grab the brass ring and get in the B737. You've got the ring. You made your choice. Perhaps the Oracle had it right...now you need to understand that choice.
You can go get more PIC time if you feel the need, but you telll us you don't feel the need. So why lament? Why complain that you can't apply elsewhere (because you're not qualified), when you don't want to apply elsewhere?
I'm not looking to leave anywhere,
No, you're not looking to "leave anywhere," though you tell us you feel stuck in a position that requires thirteen years to upgrade in a B737. Are you therefore not looing because you're stuck?
Sort of bears out the point that one should seek as much experience as PIC as possible...because of course employers want to see PIC experience...no firm worth their salt intentionally hires a SIC to stay a SIC. Companies hire PIC's into SIC positions, with the full intent of getting the most bang for their buck by upgrading them to captain positions. PIC experience is most valueable, SIC experience is borderline valueless...because it's command experience that an employer wants to see. SIC time is only marking time until you can uprgrade and be more than captain's helper.
In the 121 world and in places where crews change off regularly, duties from one seat to the other are very similiar, but the bottom line is that a prospective employer wants to see experience showing that the applicant has signed for the airplane, and has been responsible for the airplane, and this time is called PIC. Gotta have it, and your comments clearly show it.
Take a guy who has 1,300 hours PIC in a Beech 99, no type ratings, zero jet time, zero Part 121 experience. That person meets the hiring requirements of SWA or Alaska for example to sling gear in a 737 for 5-10 years or whatever the upgrade time goes for at those airlines.
Take another guy who has 600 hours of turbine PIC flying Part 121, several type ratings, a couple thousand hours in the right seat of a 737 flown under the same rules as Alaska or SWA. This guy is *NOT* qualified.
I call that shallow.
You call it what you want, but the companies that do the hiring call it "unqualified." You see, bottom line, one pilot has 1,300 hours of PIC, and the other has half of that. If the minimums are a thousand hours of PIC...then the 600 hour pilot falls four hundred hours short, and the 1,300 hour pilot is three hundred hours to the good. You can call it "shallow" all you like, but whining about it won't get you hired, whereas obtaining the necessary qualifications will.
What about this...go do some flying on the side, seeing as you have thirteen years of waiting for that upgrade to do, and in short order you'll have the necessary qualifications as PIC to meet the hiring reqirements.
Remember that by definition, minimums are the bottom rung of what is required. No regulation or policy has been created that says you can't exceed those numbers.
While you chew on that, reflect on the fact that helicopter pilots often have many hours they can't count, as it's in another category and class...even if it's multi engine turbine PIC. Many of these companies don't count single engine time as anything but single engine, even if it's turbine PIC. How about this one...my time in four engine large radial powered piston bombers is counted by most firms in the came category as a Cessna 310, even though it's a night and day difference. Who cares? Bottom line is that a company establishes a policy, and you either meet the criteria, or you don't. If you don't, and you want the job, it's very simple. Find a way to meet the criteria, or move on!!
