Have heard this is a low time alternative to CFI. Are these just jobs you luck into with the right connections? Or are their companies that accept applications that are known about. Thanks guys.
90% of the them will definitely not be low-time positions, as you have to meet the IFR PIC requirements of Part 135, ie 1200 hrs tt and some other specific experience levels. Those that legally could hire a low timer are first officer positions on aircraft that legitimately need them, ie B1900, F27, etc. Mountain Air Cargo operates the Fokker, Alpine operates the Beech (if you wish to be a pilot whore). AirNet Systems also has an SIC program, but the legitimacy of the time logged could be debated.
Airnet will hire people that do not meet the minimums and let them sit SIC until they meet the requirements. The tough part about the 135 IFR requirements is the 50 hrs of actual IFR
Flydog,
I think you misread the reg. For 135 Instrument PIC. You need 75 hours of instrument. 50 of which must be in actual flight, meaning sim time doesn't count towards the 50. Hood time does.
The airnet SIC time IS NOT questionable at all. There are plenty of people that might think so, but it isn't. Op's specs and an FAA explanation directed specifically to us explains it is all perfectly legal.
1200 Total
500 Cross Country
100 Night
75 Instrument
50 Instrument (Actual Flight) -- Includes Hood
This is what you need to qualify as a FAR 135 PIC. Some 135 Operators have an SIC program, but for most, you need to have the numbers. Some on this board trash SIC programs, but some, like Airnet are well respected and sanctioned by the FAA.
So, you could have the 135 minimums without having ever been in a cloud. If they required 50 hours of actual weather, people who do all of their flying in the Southwest would never make the minimums. Pilots alway worry about the 50 instrument, but I think most reach that before they get even close to the 500 cross country.
A year ago when the Regional Airlines were hiring low time guys, no one cared about 135 minimums, because the Regionals were more interested in your interview skills than your time on the gauges. And you could get an Airline interview long before you reached minimums for a 135 job.
Someone said something about Alpine and the SIC program for the 1900. Alpine has FO's in the Beech 1900 and Beech 99. Alpine's program is a pay for training one where you pay x amount of 1000's of dollars to get 250 hours as an SIC in either Beech, so you could say it is PFT. There really aren't any low time freight jobs out there where you will fly PIC. The low time ones are where you get hired with 1200TT and fly a Lance, Charokee Six, or Cessna 206/207 for a couple hundred hours so you can then move into a Cessna 402, 310, or Beech Barron then up to a Beech 99 or Metro.
Just to sum up the topic, accept this - There is now way to beat the system. Really there isn't. You might get lucky, of course, but there just is no reliable end-run around those first thousand hours. I spent the past 5 years trying to figure out a way to beat the system. And ya know what? I surrendered. Now I'm a CFI, and beleive me, I didn't get into it for the girls or the money. I'm already starting to sound like an old codger, but at some point we all have to get used to the concept of paying our dues.
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