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Does prior 121 experience matter?

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BLing

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
Posts
462
I have a buddy with about 4500 hrs (many of it multi) as well as a CL65 type rating. He just has the type but no real life experience in it. He has an offer to fly a Challenger 800 for a part 135 gig and really wants to take it. The problem is that he wants to eventually make it to a major (SWA, America West, Jet Blue, FedEx, UPS....) but isnt sure if having no prior 121 time will hurt him. He can either go to a regional or to this 135 gig. The deal with this 135 gig is that it will pay over twice as much as any regional and he will upgrade fairly quick. I personally think he would be able to go anywhere that was hiring with that type of experience. However, there is a lot of competition out there for these jobs at the majors and it seems like this could be an issue. Any insight would be appreciated!
 
A lot of dudes with gigs wind up at Southwest, most of the cats with dillys get in at jet blue and most O.G. with dealios get in over at fedex.
 
Yo, FN FAL, my pal, you off da chain with that synop, yo....

Kit Darby, punk muthtrucker, shi........
 
BLing said:
I have a buddy with about 4500 hrs (many of it multi) as well as a CL65 type rating. He just has the type but no real life experience in it. He has an offer to fly a Challenger 800 for a part 135 gig and really wants to take it. The problem is that he wants to eventually make it to a major (SWA, America West, Jet Blue, FedEx, UPS....) but isnt sure if having no prior 121 time will hurt him. He can either go to a regional or to this 135 gig. The deal with this 135 gig is that it will pay over twice as much as any regional and he will upgrade fairly quick. I personally think he would be able to go anywhere that was hiring with that type of experience. However, there is a lot of competition out there for these jobs at the majors and it seems like this could be an issue. Any insight would be appreciated!

If it were me I would be looking at QOL and pay. Personally, I would go for the corporate gig. Nobody knows what the future holds as far as hiring and what companies will be requiring, so I would go for the pay and schedule. Also, being in corporate your friend may make some very good contacts on that side of the fence, and that could possibly lead to a very good job in the corporate sector.

As far as experience goes, I wouldn't worry at all about 121 experience or not. As long as one obtains valuable flying experience and keeps his/her records clean, there shouldn't be any problems.
 
A lot of corporate only pilots at the majors these days, me included. In this business, Turbo Jet PIC is the brass nutz so get as much as you can as quick as you can.

If your 'friend' can upgrade fairly quickly and the pay is good then go for the gig, but how many hours a month are you really going to get? You'll rack up a ton of hours at a regional but upgrades are slowing and SIC time isn't worth toilet paper.

Just a thought:D
 
Thanks for the helpful insights! Its amazing how much more civilized the majors forum is compared to the regionals!
 
BLing said:
I have a buddy with about 4500 hrs (many of it multi) as well as a CL65 type rating. He just has the type but no real life experience in it. He has an offer to fly a Challenger 800 for a part 135 gig and really wants to take it. The problem is that he wants to eventually make it to a major (SWA, America West, Jet Blue, FedEx, UPS....) but isnt sure if having no prior 121 time will hurt him. He can either go to a regional or to this 135 gig. The deal with this 135 gig is that it will pay over twice as much as any regional and he will upgrade fairly quick. I personally think he would be able to go anywhere that was hiring with that type of experience. However, there is a lot of competition out there for these jobs at the majors and it seems like this could be an issue. Any insight would be appreciated!

My opinion is that 121 is not as important as the entire package. The bottom line is will his experience convince the interviewer that they can trust him / her to depart at 2am out into Class II airspace, with 150 customers / passengers and a $65 million airplane into a underdeveloped airport.

Will he or she have the judgement needed. etc., considering how long the upgrade is at different airlines.

The type of regs you were working under is not as important as the plane, which seat, and where you were going.

For example, I would rather hire a G4 pilot who was flying all around the world, rather than a 737 pilot with an attitude who only flew one or two routes, and that's all they knew to do.

Your friend should first see where the experience gaps are in his / her logbook. Get those filled first so the applications will be accepted. Next start building up the important categores such as Jet PIC. Sometimes this can be done all at once, sometimes not.

Just my thoughts.

DW
 
I'd go for the 135 job. Pay and QOL will probably be 50million times better than any regional. Besides, regional airline jobs are a dime a dozen. He can get one of those anytime. Get some PIC turbine, then if the majors start wanting 121 experience, fine. Quit, go to a regional, and you're already ahead of the game. You've got the PIC time, and you're a current 121 pilot, even if you're just a 1st year FO. Win/Win.
 

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