Hawaii Time?

[RJP]

I'm hoping for some input here. A friend recently interviewed with a couple of places on the mainland. During both interviews, he says that they asked, "you say you've got xxx hours of instrument time? In Hawaii? It's paradise out there....you don't fly IFR." That along with the "how much 'mainland' time do you have" question.

Maybe someone can explain what the possible difference could be between IFR in Hawaii and IFR in Texas. Who gives a **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** how much time you've got on the mainland or in the islands, it's not a foreign country and the time shouldn't be quantified as "Hawaii Time".

Is there a bias against pilots trained in Hawaii with mainland carriers? I just don't get it. Maybe the (edited) that pushed that angle in the interview should go shoot an MKK VOR-A at night in the rain and circle to land on a 3500' runway. Then they can try to say that there's no IFR in Hawaii.

 

[MLBWINGBORN]

RJP.

I would suspect that the reason for the question had nothing to do with his IFR time.Many times they are used to judge or"tap" into your personality.

In other words,The di@k in question was pushing a button to see what kind of responce he might get to a touchy subject.

Interviewers have "favorite"questions for folks of different backgrounds that historically have pushed their "buttons".

I hope your friend both knew and understood this in order to have a better prepared responce to such a silly question.

Im not aware of any bias other than not wanting to hire someone with a chip on their shoulder.

Think about it.

Mike

 

[chase]

Mike,

You're right Mike. Better to find the sensitive spots during an interview than having a blow up in cockpit. Better to keep the emotions in check and press on with one's stories.

Hope to see you soon Mike and that things are progressing well.

 

[MLBWINGBORN]

Roy..

Waiting..waiting..and more waiting...

 

[Freight Dog]

RJP.. I've flown Part 135 single pilot in the mainland on the West Coast prior to coming to Island Air. Let me explain something.

We were all "warned" as new-hires who weren't from around here that this is a busy Class B airspace, can't screw around here in HNL Class B. Having spent 4 years here, this place is a joke. EVERYTHING is simple here. This Class B airspace here is not worth even mentioning. You want real Class B experience, go fly in and out of places like LAX and SFO when the weather goes down. Hell, go even fair weather IFR outta there. Fly out of DFW in the winter time. Ever had a ground stop here in HNL? How about flow control? When was the last time you had to hold here?

I hate to break it to you, but Hawaii is REALLY REALLY simple, and when you start flying to the mainland, it's a big eye opener. Weather does go down here couple of times a year, but not nearly as often as it does in the mainland. IFR time here is mostly spent in cruise at WP due to altitudes flown, but how often do you fly an approach to minimums here? Ever had to deice out here? I hate to break it to you, but that MKK VOR-A approach is pretty simple. All it does it brings you in a little high and then you gotta circle. Big deal.. and oh yeah, when the weather goes down, WP is about all that's flying into MKK. There is just no traffic here like there is in the mainland.

You asked the difference between IFR here vs. IFR in Texas. Well, I've flown in Texas. Here are some terms you may hear in TX... RVR 1400. RVR 1600. RVR 1800. Braking action fair. Braking action poor. You have icing in TX. You have squall lines in TX. You have frontal systems in TX. You have embedded Level 5's with tops at FL600. Put it this way... you fly IFR in TX, you'll fly *REAL* IFR - ATC system, traffic, etc. Hawaii on the other hand? You fly under the RULES, but do you get real IFR experience here? Sorry, but no. Let's talk basics - how often do you get "Descend via XXX arrival over here? Here, you get a vector for visual approach via the channel. Granted, we don't have those things around here, and you just don't get exposed to the real ATC and IFR system here as you do in the mainland.

Believe me.. there's a HUUUUUUUGE difference. You just gotta go and experience it... until you've flown at both, you just can't appreciate how easy we have it in Hawaii.

I'm hoping for some input here. A friend recently interviewed with a couple of places on the mainland. During both interviews, he says that they asked, "you say you've got xxx hours of instrument time? In Hawaii? It's paradise out there....you don't fly IFR." That along with the "how much 'mainland' time do you have" question.

Maybe someone can explain what the possible difference could be between IFR in Hawaii and IFR in Texas. Who gives a **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** how much time you've got on the mainland or in the islands, it's not a foreign country and the time shouldn't be quantified as "Hawaii Time".

Is there a bias against pilots trained in Hawaii with mainland carriers? I just don't get it. Maybe the dicks that pushed that angle in the interview should go shoot an MKK VOR-A at night in the rain and circle to land on a 3500' runway. Then they can try to say that there's no IFR in Hawaii.

 

[igneousy2]

Having flown in the Northeast for the last few years, flying in Hawaii has definetly helped reduced my blood pressure. There are SOOO MANY operational considerations that just get thrown out the window when you operate in Hawaii. IT'S GREAT. When I was in ground school and I found out IA didn't have a waiver to do non-stand t/o's, I was filled with glee. Flying in the Northeast in the winter is like being in the simulator all day 4 days at a time. I still haven't been able to stop looking out at the wings everytime I get in some clouds. There were many days when we lost the ground as soon as we rotated and we didn't break out until we were at 100' at our destination.

This is the reason if AQ had gotten authority to go into DCA I probably would have waited a couple of winters before I would venture on one of their flights. When I would get a reserve captain from Dallas (not considered experienced in the wx) I would hold my breath. Many things that were second nature to Northeast crews were a distant memory from training for the dallas captains. AQ going to DC scared me because many of their captains have very little weather experience. Visions of Air Florida filled my thoughts. Not only did they not have any experience operating in the Northeast weather, they were going to start off learning in one of the most difficult airports. JFK, IAD, are easy compared to D.C. and probably would have been an easier place to get their feet wet (or frozen .

As far as your friend at the interview goes, knowing how Hawaii pilots log their actual instrument time (oh a puff... .1 ... oh another puff .2) I would bet that the quantity he had raised a flag. 5 years in the Northeast neted me about 500 hours of Actual Instrument time. After awhile, I wouldn't log any actual unless the flight terminated with an approach that was below VFR, many of the other pilots I flew with took this approach also. The interviewer probably saw northeast guy 1000 actual, midwest guy 800 actual, west coast guy 500 actual, hawaii guy 700 actual and went WTF.

The truth is if you try to compare your "weather" experience to the guys flying in the Northeast or just about anywhere on the mainland, you are going to loose the argument. Your arguments about the A into MKK and the short runways won't really hold up. There are airports on the mainland (i.e. DCA) with short runways and circles and snow. Doing the LDA to 19 at DCA down to mins is a hairy experience in any airplane as is the MKK VOR-A. The LDA 19 into DC breaks you out at about 400' over the river with the runway out to your right. It requires about a 45 degree (i'm guessing) heading change to get lined up with the runway which is also fairly short for a jet especially with snow on the ground.

What I would emphasize is the fact that IA does high cycle operations requiring extra diligence, blah blah more time in the "danger zone" blah blah. You could even turn the nice weather into a positive by saying "because we didnt' get too much bad weather I had to be extra diligent in keeping my proficiency" and I did blah blah. I spent a lot of time preparing for this interview by reviewing parts of the reg that don't concern Hawaii because I REALLY want to work here blah blah. I would also say that because it is a small airline as a captain it was necessary that I was more involved in the operation especially at the outstations and I stepped up, blah blah.

The airlines will train you. They know that once you spend a couple of winters on the line paried with experienced captains you will be caught up. I really believe that the interviewer was just doing a gut check of the applicant.

Later