Twin Turbine PIC or Regionals?

[TIS]

And now, on a different but related subject...

Someone else wrote this:

"That turbo prop argument is a crock. Anyone that tells you a jet is any more difficult to fly that a T.P is just wrong. ANd any interviewer that views Roger Ramjet a better pilot just because he has CRJ time probably isn't worth a crap anyway."

Actually, it's not a crock. It depends on what you mean by "harder to fly." While I agree that the physical monkey-motion of manipulating the controls is the same in all airplanes, the finesse and judgment behind the control applications is potentially VERY different.

In this world there are people. Some of those people would like to learn to fly. Of those who would like to learn nearly all can be taught to be a private pilot. A certain percentage of those however, should NEVER attempt anything more.

The same is true of high performance flying. Some multi-engine pilots can learn to fly a Bandeirante or a King Air because they can learn to think faster as the aircraft requires. Some CANNOT! Of those that can however, only a fraction can move on to the performance level that a jet yields. Now, while that fraction i speak of might be large, it is still a FRACTION. The reason that not everyone can fly a jet safely is because not everyone can think at 10 miles a minute. Some should just STAY HOME! That's just a fact that I have have gleened from many years of experience training people to behave well in large aircraft.

So when an interviewer wants to know what kind of airplane you've been flying and the jet/truboprop thing matters, there's a reason for it. It doesn't matter whether you agree with it or not. That's not for you to decide. The fact is that someone, somewhere thinks it matters - based on their experience.

Personally, I wouldn't discount a person's ability to rise to the occasion based solely on the fact that they had no jet time but I'd be sure to put 'em in a jet simulator and see if the pieces are there. You can tell a lot in just a few minutes of watching a person adapt to a flying situation. Not everything, but a lot!

TIS

 

[Indigo]

Awhile back a guy I knew applied to SWA with thousands of hours of turbine PIC in 99s, 227s, and LR35s under 135. SWA told him to go away. The reason? No MULTI-PILOT crew time.

So he was flying a LR35 single pilot?

 

[TIS]

Sorry, didn't mean to be confusing

I could have said that better.

The only crew experience he had was as an SIC in the Lear. The rest of his time was single pilot, turbo-prop time and THAT wasn't very impressive to SWA. They told him to go get more. They added that they would rather see passenger time so they recommended that he pursue a commuter.

TIS

 

[Indigo]

I could have said that better.

LOL, I knew there had to be some sort of misunderstanding.

 

[lamppost]

i was recently in this situation.

I opted for the regional
for me everything was about quality of life. I was tired of living in a small town in the middle of nowhere. I was on call 24/7. The airplane saftey was sometimes an issue. Now im in a big city where there is always something to do, and im flying a bigger better airplane. Sure the pay sucks but for me there were more important factors. i.e. my happiness. I used to being poor anyway.
id much rather be happy.

 

[pilotyip]

2 eng Douglas

The orginal twin engine doug product known as the DC-3 is much harder to fly than its older brother the DC-9, both are fly to fly, but the 9 is easier to handle. Jets are harder to learn but easier to fly. No doubt about it.

 

[Scube3]

In your case I might understand...in my case....I leave in a big city, with decent schedule, with ok CPT pay, and getting my 60 to 75 a month. That should make it a no brain decision for some of us, but, would the hiring boom be here in 10 months from now? Wouldn't I be overqualified in many regionals?
I am opting now for good pay, big city, good schedule and PIC time. For me the easy pick, but I hope is the right one!

Scube.