How many years flying for the regionals?

[secks]

Hello,

Here's a question for you:

How many years of flying for a regional airline would be req'd to become competitive enough to apply to a major airline, assuming around 80 hours per month? I figure you'd have to factor in the time req'd to upgrade to captain and rack up PIC hours? Thanks for the info!

 

[flx757]

That question is virtually impossible to answer due to the cyclical nature of this business. The term "competitive" is a very fluid term, and changes (sometimes rapidly) with the cycles of the industry, which tends to follow the cycles of the economy, but is also affected by many outside factors---price of fuel, acts of war, terrorism, etc.

When times are tough, such as they are now, with thousands of pilots on furlough from virtually every major airline, with no recalls (let alone hiring) in sight, it could be decades of flying for a regional to become "competitive" to apply.

When things are going like they were in the mid '90s, when the regionals were hiring guys with less than 1000 hours, and virtually every major was hiring at the rate of 100 per month, then the time spent at the regional to become "competitive" would be minimal.

That's why it's so difficult to give any kind of reasonable prediction as to how many years of flying for a regional would be required to become competitive enough to apply to a major airline. So much is dependant upon timing.

 

[JJJ]

If you are refering to applying, then it depends on what airline. Some major airlines have very low requirements so that can hire interns and "special" people.

Others, like SWA, JBLU, Airtran, etc require turbine PIC.

Sometimes there isn't rhyme or reason as to why one pilot will get a call for an interview over another. Some or alotof it is more who you know and not how many 121 jet PIC hours you have.

 

[JayDub]

I was told one time, in Challenger ground school, it usually takes ten years to get your "big break" in most professions. I think I beat that by a year or two, but it seems to be pretty close from what I can gather. That would mean ten years from your first revenue flight with your commercial, not necessarily landing a job at an airline.

JayDub

 

[colored_airman]

Already flying in the regional airline industry for 3 years with a possible upgrade within in a year, just assuming it takes 2 years to build up 1000 hours of PIC being at the bottom of the captain list. Within a year just say to get called for an interview, and if they like you because I believe competitive time means crap as long as you have the mins, between scheldule the interview and getting a class date another year goes by. My friend thats a minium of 8 years of course it will be much longer than that, hopefully not. Plus it helps working for Pinnacle with all of the growth happening here. Some regionals out there your looking at 7-10 years just to upgrade.