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How long to become captain

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It had been about a year and a half at TSA to upgrade to the J41 (Turbo-Prop), We are getting rid of them and now it is running about 3 years to the EMB-145. Of course it would be alot different here at TSA if the company didn't hire pilots off the street to fly G0JET CRJ's.
 
WSurf said:
Some no time, Others up to 6 years!
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And then there's Eagle.


No seriously, it all depends......does said regional have flow-through/flow-back agreement? Are they wholly-owned? Did they recently negotiate a great pilot contract and think they're the sh*t in regionals only to lose that flying to cheaper contract fee-for-departure regionals? Is there an associated PFT-type program associated with said regional?
The variables are endless.


Mesa's upgrade is quick! Pilots are always leaving for other jobs outside aviation.....namely fast-food service. (And I really dont mean that as a joke.....my wife is a Mesa CA and I'm not bashing it. I'm serious..........the attrition is astronomical, many to other airlines, but also a significant amount bailing on aviation!)
 
jetexas said:
At Eagle, it's just over 7 years now. That's for Turboprop Captain bottom reserve.
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How in the hell do you guys keep FO's then!!! Jeez, I thought Piedmont was bad for upgrade time!!!
 
At Comair, it was 1 1/2 - 2 years about 5 years ago. Still in the right seat, getting farther away every day. You never know, do your research, toss it in the garbage and flip a coin.
 
I hope it's soon for CHQ. Or we'll be using coupons forever.
(A pilots wife).
Lollie
 
I spent almost 5.5 years at ACA/FLYI. In late 2002/early 2003, I was extremely close to upgrading. Unfortunately the company started going backwards soon thereafter and when the company went bankrupty in early January, I had no PIC experience to show for my time there.

If I had it to do over again, I would go to the crappiest regional out there that promises a quick upgrade; be it Mesa, Gulfstream, Great Lakes, or whatever chic lowball operator it is. Then I'd get some PIC quick and get the heck out of there.

The ironic thing is that when I joined ACA in the late summer of 2000, I turned down a class date with Mesa. I thought I was doing my bit to uphold this profession, going to a proven operator with a leading contract at the regional level. Had I gone to Mesa, I could have lowballed this profession, but odds are I'd be sitting pretty at a major airline right now instead of in Africa.

Bottom line - you don't want to spend a minute more than you have to at a regional. Go somewhere where there is a quick upgrade, get it, and get on to the next level.
 
At Mesa, it is not a given that you will get the quick upgrade and the 1000 hours of PIC. A number of guys do not make it through initial training and an even larger number wind up resigning or being fired. Being fired or violated or even called on the carpet can destroy your career and it is all too common at Mesa. All I can say is it is much easier said than done to just go to Mesa and get a quick 1000 hours of PIC.
 
It's all about timing, when I got hired here at SYX it was less than two years. That was six years ago, but in we just had an upgrade class a few months ago and the guys in that class where here for only six or seven months. It took me three years flying in the right seat before I upgraded and I did have my chance pre 9/11 but I passed.
At the time it was a good move because the guys that where in the left seat were sent back to the right seat for two years.
Things started moving again and in 2003 I got the chance to get out of the right seat of the jet and into the left of the 1900. I flew the 1900 for two years as a Captain with only 65 hours in the right seat of the thing. It was fun and I honed my flying skills. No autopilot there boys!
In 2005 I got back into the jet and am now sitting on reserve. And coming up on my sixth year with SYX.
Timing all timing!
 
SYX = Skyway?
 
To become a Captain takes many, many years and 10,000 hours and beyond. To become a typed certificate holder at a regional. It's a matter of timing.
 
Your luck of timing and who you know when the time is right decides whether or not this career will be a success to you. I know crappy pilots who make $200,000 and amazing pilots who are on furlough. It has been my experience that 2 out of 5 pilots will make it, the other 3 will have wasted their careers. It doesn't matter how much time that person has, or if that person has a degree or not; they just got on with the right carrier at the right time.

Choose wisely, the strongest of the airlines can be the weakest in the time it took me to type this post.
 
It was a little under 2 years for me at Trans States. The only trouble is that now I'm going back to the right seat. Eight months after going to upgrade class, I am going back but luckily I'm still high mins!!!
 
greenpickle said:
How much money you got?
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To hell with whatever this thread is about...I just have to say, I almost piss myself everytime I see Greenpickle's avatar!!!:laugh:
 
Donsa320 said:
Yes, SYX is the ATC symbol for Skyway.

I guess maybe all you have flown are those weapons, eh?

DC
Click to expand...
Flown a plane or two, but none were as fun as THIS. :uzi:
 

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