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[lowtimedriver]

Flight Careers ran the following advertisement:

"Mesa Air Group hired 92% of our 2005 graduates with less than 300 hours of flight time. In 2006, it could happen to you."

Personally, I don't feel that some one with less than 300 hours should be flying PAX, but that's just my opinion. What's yours?

 

[skybert]

Let mesa put that in their advertising.....

 

[SIG600]

I've got plenty of friends in the left seat at various regionals that consider themselves more as baby sitters than anything else when it comes to these 300 hour wonders. Gear up, flaps up, shut up.

 

[Murdoughnut]

Don't many military pilots have about the same amount of time? I wonder why no one ever complains about that.

 

[Diesel]

because an cessna and a fighter aren't the same.

 

[SCT]

It looks like amunition for lawayers after a crash (god forbid) and the lawsuits start coming..........

 

[Trogdor]

I agree that sometimes I feel like a baby sitter. Honestly it needs to be taken on a case by case basis. I have flown with some of these 300 hour wonder pilots who were horrible and just making everyone in the back sick. I have also flown with some 300 hour guys that were great pilots and knew their stuff. Now there has been those with 1200 hours who don't know east from west as well. You just never know what you are going to get. I guess there needs to be a better interview process, perhaps more indepth simulator evals or something.

 

[dseagrav]

Just yesterday a co-worker was describing his flight in a (Name removed to protect the guilty) regional jet. He said the airplane was nice, clean, new seats, etc etc, he just didn't understand why they were bobbing and weaving like a roller coaster for the descent and landing. The landing was a real crusher and the elderly lady next to him pulled out her puke bag during the descent but didn't use it. His diagnosis was it was a "cheap brazilian airplane and they put more into the looks than the flying."

 

[The_Russian]

We were all 300 hour wonder pilots at one point. Don't you remember?

 

[AirBadger]

Maybe if someone wrote an article and called it the "Deadly Express" it wouldn't be a problem anymore.

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Navy fighter pilots are making their first carrier landings with around 250 hours. Single pilot. Not sure what the Air Force program is.

 

[IP076]

Somebody go find a dead horse.....

I think this topic comes up about once a month around here. Like someone mentioned, there's lots of 300 hour worthless pilots, and there are lots of good ones....the same could be said for 1200 hour pilots, or even 10000 hour pilots....

I think the comparison of fighter to cessna is off, the comparison should be to fighter and RJ. Both are being flown by 300 hour pilots. The fighter most often single pilot.

Its all in the training and selection process...

 

[SuperKooter]

Don't many military pilots have about the same amount of time? I wonder why no one ever complains about that.

People in the Military are smarter and more fit than 90% of the population. An AirForce pilot with 300 hours is 100 times better than an rj pilot with 10000

 

[The_Russian]

People in the Military are smarter and more fit than 90% of the population.

That is absolutely not true.

 

[SkykingC310]

Case-in-point...A friend of mine was hired last month to sit right seat in a CRJ. His totals were 300 hours including 23 multi. Pay = $15/hr.

 

[SCT]

"An AirForce pilot with 300 hours is 100 times better than an rj pilot with 10000".....Super

That is a pretty bold statement, Super.

 

[AerroMatt]

Case-in-point...A friend of mine was hired last month to sit right seat in a CRJ. His totals were 300 hours including 23 multi. Pay = $15/hr.

15 Bucks an Hour to fly a 25 million dollar airliner with 50-90 paying passengers? Wish I could say YGBSM on this one! Now I understand his desire to fly heavy iron, but why on earth do it for peanuts? Who's paying his bills, Mom and Dad? That's way below a living wage. I'm certain he qualifies for food stamps. Harrumph!

 

[Murdoughnut]

People in the Military are smarter and more fit than 90% of the population. An AirForce pilot with 300 hours is 100 times better than an rj pilot with 10000

Pretty strong generalization. I have two graduate degrees and have been teaching college since I was 21, but I still took off on a hot Florida day with the carb heat on by mistake. A large buddy next to me and we'd both be dead. I think there's something to be said for experience over mere intelligence (or fisique).

 

[Gorilla]

Argh, here we go again.

One of my AT-38B sorties in the Air Force, when I instructed at Fighter Lead-in training way back when, consisted of the following:

- Roughly 2 hour brief, where the flight and the objectives are thoroughly covered.
- Parachute, suit up, formation start-up and taxi
- formation TO in burner, or a staggered TO followed by a formation rejoin
- Fingertip, route, and/or tactical formations + turns out to the area
- 4G guns tracking exercise for both AC
- Close, medium, and long range perch offensive and defensive BFM setups, almost continual afterburner use, 7G
- Formation rejoin; FENCE out, damage check, which is a formation visual inspection of both AC for any visual problems
- Fingertip, route, tactical formations back to base
- Initial at 300-450 knots, pitch out, low approach, go around as fuel permits with a closed pattern, then full stop.
- 2 hour debrief

Time: 50 minutes to 1 hour max of flying

Here is the other side, let's say an RJ flight from DFW to Oklahoma City
-Show up, get coffee, program the FMS
-taxi for 15 minutes
- TO, follow the pretty magenta line. AP on
- drone
- drone
- drone; AP off
- Gear down, flaps down, land
- 15 minute taxi in; wait for gate, kick feet up on panel and complain
- Go on to next flight

My whole point with this ridiculous exercise is to demonstrate that the military flyer packs a LOT of very challenging and technical flying into a very short time frame, including multiple approaches. No autopilot. Very little droning along. Taxi time is not included, all military time is TO to land. It took me over three years to barely get 700 hours and that was doing it full time.

I have never maintained one group is any better than the other. I will always maintain that a fighter guy gets a LOT of intense flying done at all extremes of AOA, and many more landing cycles, than his civilian counterpart, in a similar timeframe.

In the military, a C-141 guy with 3000 hours was seen as an experienced heavy driver. A fighter guy with 1200 hours, also experienced. Let it go. Don't begrudge the fighter guy with 1000 hours his hiring. Both groups bring unique skills to the table. Peace.

 

[Andy Neill]

Navy fighter pilots are making their first carrier landings with around 250 hours. Single pilot. Not sure what the Air Force program is.

They (USAF) don't do the carrier landings till MUUUCHH later.