Any one hired at the majors under 23?

[Ty Webb]

AirTran has a fair number of Captains in their late 20's. I have flown with quite a few of them, and they were all very sharp guys.

The majority of the guys in our training department are crusty old codgers that spent 14-18 years in the right seat of a DC9 getting "seasoning" before they made captain, so they really put upgrades through the wringer before they hand you the keys to the car.

 

[jetexas]

youngest guy in my newhire class at SWA was 24

I know a guy hired there at age 24. Had 1000 PIC turbine before coming to Eagle. Upgraded, briefly, and then went to SWA.
He had a golden spoon, a lot of help and some good luck.

 

[ScRaMJeT]

My Two Cents

I would much rather fly with a captain that earned his way to the left seat, then one who got all the breaks, because of who he knew. I'll admit a little jealousy too, but I wouldn't give up all of my flying adventures for anything. And it seems to me that a lot of those young upgrades, are really bored with there job, when they get within about 10 years of retirement.

I feel confident when I fly with an old crusty captain, that built his time flying night cargo in a DC3, through the nastiest weather, that mother nature had to offer. I know that when the chit hits the fan, all I have to do is follow his instructions, and as long as the plane is doing what its supposed to do, we will come out on top. With a young captain that isn't weathered, I feel I have watch every move he makes.

Bottom Line I wouldn't trade my experience for anything.

ScramJet

 

[Flying Freddie]

The UPS guy you are talking about has a unique past. When he was at Rosenbalm he was too young to be an F/E. He was checked out at F/O. He then left and went to IPX which later became UPS. I think he was #6 when UPS took over. I think he was rated in the DC-8 before he came to Rosie. His father was an 8 Captain at Flying Tigers. Even though he was "young", he was a good pilot with a good flying background.

 

[MW44]

There are a lot of those stories from the late sixties. My father was hired at UAL when he was 20 years old with 600 hrs tt and without instrument or multi-engine ratings. Although it did take him 22 years to upgrade due to the stagnation after de-regulation. He was hired as a FE on the dc-7 and is going to retire as cap on the 744. It's all timing and dumb luck in this industry. I'm looking forward to my third furlough from a regional at the age of 26.

 

[AirBoard]

I would never question someone's skills because of their age - unless they were really bad! We always look back and see how we could have possibly ended up in the left seat of some heavy earlier if we had only have....but there's nothing we can do. Admire their luck etc. I didn't even enter aviation until 25 yrs old because the market was crap in the early-mid 90's. I wanted a real job not a layoff notice so waited till things heated up and now stuck in a regional BUT at least I have a job that's somewhat safe.

 

[Trash8Mofo]

Re: My Two Cents

I would much rather fly with a captain that earned his way to the left seat, then one who got all the breaks, because of who he knew. I'll admit a little jealousy too, but I wouldn't give up all of my flying adventures for anything. And it seems to me that a lot of those young upgrades, are really bored with there job, when they get within about 10 years of retirement.

I feel confident when I fly with an old crusty captain, that built his time flying night cargo in a DC3, through the nastiest weather, that mother nature had to offer. I know that when the chit hits the fan, all I have to do is follow his instructions, and as long as the plane is doing what its supposed to do, we will come out on top. With a young captain that isn't weathered, I feel I have watch every move he makes.

Bottom Line I wouldn't trade my experience for anything.

ScramJet

You have pinpointed the misconception. Who says that being young captain and having experience is mutually exclusive? The 747 capt did exactly what everybody else did (read earlier posts). My expeerience is that alot of these older captains didnt even become a pilot until their late 20s. With a late start, and a couple bad moves, they are upgarding in their 40s and are mkaing the misconception that they some how got more experinece that the younger guys who starting flying right away and that everybody else have had a silver spoon.

 

[Citationkid]

Any one get hired at a major with no ATP?

 

[Hagar17]

Hired by a major airline at 25? 23? 21?

BFD.

We had this J-O in my reserve unit that got hired at USAir at 25. He would never shut up about how he was going to be #3 there. Didn't work out so well.

Point being, it's all about luck, timing, and who you know. Nothing more. I used to fly with an old 727 capt at AA that would ask a new FE in his initial crew briefing, "Why am I the captain?"

The answer was, "Because I was hired before you!"

Hag

 

[Diesel]

citation kid are you really in high school? Jeeze when I was your age I was chasing tail. Not coming up with whacky questions on a message board.

Hag- That's a great line. I've never heard that.

 

[Citationkid]

Haha, I've never had much of a problem in that area

 

[dondk]

Back in the late 90's.. I was in the PIT FSDO for some CFI stuff...

There was talk about a USAirways FO who just finished the type ride in the 767 and he was not old enough to hold a ATP. They mentioned he was 22 and he had a relative who "helped" him into the company.

These FSDO guys were pretty pi$$ed off over the fact a "youngster" (thier words not mine) got a shot at a major.. They sat in on his ride and said he did well, but they were still pi$$ed.

 

[ScRaMJeT]

I met the kid

I think I met this guy, he's now in his early 40's, and still flying captain at airways.

As a matter of fact, when I met him (at Lax), I thought he was a captain at one of the wholly owned regionals. I was surprised that he was a captain at the mainline. I asked him did he know whether he would get bumped back down to FO and he said as long as USairways exists, he will still be a captain. Talk about getting hired at the beginning of a hiring cycle, he was hired before the hiring cycle started.

 

[ILStoMinimums]

How long has it been since Airways hired last? And how long did it take before the "newhires" were furloughed?

 

[KCSO780]

A little off the subject, But what's the age of the youngest left seater at Southwest............Just curious.....

 

[ILStoMinimums]

A little off the subject, But what's the age of the youngest left seater at Southwest............Just curious.....

Don't know any facts, but the guy hired at 24 will probably be Captain at 29 or so.

 

[Duke of Ale]

I know Mobie and being hired at 22 means you cannot have an ATP since you need to be 23. Mohawk Airlines hired Tom Block of Flying Magazine at 19. Piedmont also had someone hired at 19. I think it was Al Williams. Allegheny had Frank Petee who had to wait until his 23rd birthday to fly as Captain. There are lots of these stories around. These are just a few. I hired on at 25 and flew my first captains trip one month before my 30th birthday. That was in 1969. Things are a lot different now. I could not get a job today with the experience I had in 1965 when I hired on to an airline.
I still love flying and you can see by my profile that I'm a frac capt on the Citation X.

 

[MW44]

I remember hearing about a guy several years back who was hired at Ual when he was 20 and could hold captain at 25. Back then it sounded like he was set for life with 35 years in the left seat at united, now I'm not so sure.

 

[WhiteCloud]

it sounded like he was set for life with 35 years in the left seat at united, now I'm not so sure.

We have to be carefull getting too comfortable at any airline. Airlines like Jet Blue and SWA are pretty good places to work now but that could change with a buyout of some kind or financial troubles that make nickle and dimeing the employees the only way to stay afloat.

 

[Hawker rider]

i got hired by a non-US major at 19 years old, getting ready to fly right seat as a typerated First officer.

Age was no problem, the fat that I was short of 200 hours total time was a bigger deal. needless to say the deal didn't get to fruition, but I really don't see the big deal with the age thing.

If you start early, you'll get a chance earlier on too. The bad thing is that for a post like this there will be quite a few posts that will start calling me names because I got a break through my daddy or something about not paying your dues...

Well I am the first pilot in the whole family, didn't know of any established pilots when I went through flight school. The major just invited me to enter their selction process, and I passed all the psycholigical tests and simulater rides. So i got offered a job, just for it to be retracted after a few days of basic training.

nobody for me to give me a piggy back ride into ANY company. If you have what they are looking for at that time, they'll probably want you in their company too.