American Eagle internal Pilot Mins.

[Flyer1015]

I would agree with this, but just be aware that AE currently has one of, if not the longest upgrade time of any regional airline. Also be prepared to move down to SJU and sit right seat in an ATR for a while. Nothing against AE, but these were factors that I had to take into consideration during my job search as well, and I decided AE wasn't for me. Thats not to say it wouldn't be a good choice for you though. Best of luck.

I've got a while to go until I can apply to Eagle. But are you kidding ?!?!? SJU would be my FIRST CHOICE ! I've had it with the northeast winters. One day, 65 degrees. The next day 20 degrees. Then, 60 degrees. Day after, 25 degrees. My nuts can't take it anymore.

 

[labbats]

I would agree with this, but just be aware that AE currently has one of, if not the longest upgrade time of any regional airline. Also be prepared to move down to SJU and sit right seat in an ATR for a while. Nothing against AE, but these were factors that I had to take into consideration during my job search as well, and I decided AE wasn't for me. Thats not to say it wouldn't be a good choice for you though. Best of luck.

Only 2 of 17 in my class got SJU. None in the next class did.

Although, I hear that a lot of the guys that first went to SJU are now bidding up to jet, making vacancies down there. I'd say it's a good possibility of SJU or Miami in the ATR or Chicago in the CRJ.

I chose Eagle, because a long captain upgrade is what is happening in 2005. In 2010 I want to be certain I have a job, and QOL was higher for me here. I'd say that the next 5 years have a lot of changes coming, and if you think you can outsmart the trends, more power to you.

 

[Red Baron]

Something to ponder

I was at Eagle for 7 years, and upgraded at a year and 10 months. I was very fortunate. Though it looks bleak for Eagle now, you never know what will happen in the future. This industry is in constant change.

 

[EMB170Pilot]

Bandit60

I was an intern but had around 1700TT, sheesh. The battle will always continue of those who had a bazillion hours before they were hired versus those who had low time. I've flown with some high time captains who didn't know #$%@ about the airplane nor could fly it well. Then again, I know of many low time new hires who had difficulty in training.

What would you think of a new hire who had 3000TT but 99% of it was VFR flying or a 500TT pilot who had vast IFR experience? There are gripes to both sides of this issue. The fact remains that most regional pay/benefits/upgrade times are slow right now so when you can't attract many pilots with high mins, you lower them! Supply and demand...

Furthermore, at Eagle, sure everyone agrees that the flowback/upgrade times are terrible...7+ years. However, I also know many Eagle pilots who said Eagle used to be the place to go for upgrade time. All airlines go through growth/non growth modes. Eagle is currently in a bad rut, but the grass isn't always greener on the other side (as mentioned every other thread, it seems).

I remember that after choosing Eagle, I really liked ExpressJet. In fact I still love the product that ExpressJet offers....great interiors for a small jet, boarding music, etc. Friends kept saying "Come over!! We have all the flowbacks gone, 113 going up to CAL, and then hiring off the street; many are pref. interviews from XJT." Yet I read the 10K that CAL filed this week and realize that if they dont' get the concessions from CAL, airplanes cancelled and perhaps a furlough down the road... As a former intern for AA, I was right in the middle when Carty wanted 1B in concessions from the company. It will take many months before anything is resolved at any place that demands such conessions.

So in short, sorry for making this simple thread on hiring times so long and detailed, but there are some real whiners out there, myself included. But at the end of the day, with times as bad as they are for all airlines, at least I didn't have to fly around frieght in bad weather for a couple years till things turned around. At Eagle, my upgrade will be indefinte until the next major swing comes around, and for now I'm gonna deal with it.

Then quit your bitchin

 

[Pilot1625]

EMB170Pilot

Then quit your bitchin

Indeed.

 

[elcid]

Bandit60,

Have no fear. The kid in the right seat may be a young'n, but the Captain has been there for at least 15 years. The average pilot is eligible for social security (plus or minus a couple of years) before he can upgrade.

 

[Flyingdude]

Several things to keep in mind!

What would you think of a new hire who had 3000TT but 99% of it was VFR flying or a 500TT pilot who had vast IFR experience?

1) This is a very unrealistic example. A 500 hr pilot can't have extensive IFR experience simply because they don't have enough TT. CFII work is great experience and I learned alot doing it, yet it does not in any way constitute great IFR experience. My CFII time pails in comparison to what I learned latter on flying in real IMC day after day in ice, snow, and all weather. I have seen very few 3000tt instructors, meaning most of the 3000tt pilots probably do have atleast fair IFR experience. The reason is that many of these people have instructed and then moved on to some type of 135 outfit flying lots of IMC. I do agree that their are some great 500 hr pilots and some equally bad 3000 hr pilots. The debate is not your ability to just fly the plane at 500tt. Someone who has spent 6 times that much time in the air has flown in all conditions many times over. I am simply saying that they have delt with ice, thunderstorms, etc. many more times giving more experience. This does not make them skykings, only experienced pilots. Know one is calling a 500tt pilot a bad pilot only less experienced.
2) I was in the first class hired at EGL when they started hiring in 2004. The first 2 class were about 50% turboprop, yet since then about 95% of the classes have been jet. Usually the people who say you are going to SJU if you come to EGL are the ones who never worked here and only repeat rumors that they hear. Lesson? Just cause someone says it does not make it true.
3) To the guy who said he wanted to come to SJU. You have no idea what this place is like. I have been in SJU for over a year and fortunatly have only 1 week left. Operations in SJU is a joke at best, Most of the commutable lines are only worth min. gaurantee, non-rev fees are outrageous, and don't even get me started on the public tranportation to get to and from the extremely overpriced crashpad.

 

[Flightdawg]

Can you honestly look at an airline, and KNOW FOR SURE that you will make Captain in " a year or two ? " Absolutely not!

I concur, but won't you concur that anyone applying to Eagle will not upgrade for over 5 years? Probably 10?

Every airline can change for the worse, but very few will suddenly change for the better. Especially American Eagle upgrade opportunities.

 

[Flyer1015]

I concur, but won't you concur that anyone applying to Eagle will not upgrade for over 5 years? Probably 10?

Every airline can change for the worse, but very few will suddenly change for the better. Especially American Eagle upgrade opportunities.

I don't think anyone can tell. There are faaaaar too many factors. What if the flowbacks start to leave at a rate of 100/year starting next year ? It would take 5 years for them to get out, and them leaving alone would create almost 500 captain slots available. There could be more flowbacks, pushing the upgrade time up. There might be future aircraft orders, pushing the upgrade time down. There might be no aircraft, pushing the upgrade time up.

Cliche, maybe, but the ONLY thing you know for sure is that you know NOTHING for sure.


Right now, XJT upgrades are running at about 4 years. If you get hired with them NOW, you should be prepared to sit as a F/O for much longer than 4 years (maybe 6-7+ years) depending on what happens in 2007 and 2010 in terms of CAL's decisions. I would question anyone getting hired now into XJT, and can say FOR SURE that he/she will make captain in 4 years. But then again, CAL might choose to stick with only XJT in 2007, and extend contract further past 2010, and excercise options... we might get 2-3 year upgrades then. But who knows.

Too many 'sh*t' factors out there to predict stuff like that!