WHY WHY WHY..why R we hiring 210 hr pilots?

[FN FAL]

I think an ATP should be a minimum requirement fornew hires .

Hmmmm...yea, lets pay for what the airlines are supposed to give us...why not make the type a requirement? And for airlines with two types, make sure to require that the applicant has both.

 

[puddlejumper101]

The 800 to 1000 hour F/O's that I had WERE from Purdue and Riddle.....The early first wave of this trend. They could barely handle a 31000 pound Turboprop on a good day. They were severly lacking in any kind of real world judgment and IFR experience. Common errors on a good weather day included procedure errors in the IFR system, forgetting or missetting altimeters, altitude busts (at least tried to), couldn't interpret a radar picture, would call for flaps and gear way above placard speeds, couldn't figure out how to enter holds on the fly, would attempt to intercept a false localizer needle, missed or misinterpreted radio calls on a regular basis, misread performance charts and W/B figures and come up with bad numbers (off enough to kill you), would call completed checklists while the packs remained off and the A/C unpressurized. Etc.

The list goes on, everybody makes mistakes, but unless things have changed drastically in the last few years the Captain is having to do the job of both pilots, I know we were when we had our group of the "Program" newhires.

Safety suffered because of it.

i know that happens...i have been in your shoes too...babysitting fo's...but honestly, I have seen that gap in both guys and gals with tons of hours too. What it comes down to is this. I have noticed that the new hires that have no 121 or turbine experience for the most part have a steeper learning curve than the guys that have had previous airline or turbine experience. I have seen it in guys going from a Brasilia to a CRJ both left and right seat...new environment, new airplane will cause new problems for most of us. The difference is once you have played the 121 game...you kinda know what to expect in training. All I can say is this, if you are going to hire low time guys, just make sure they are sharp...well let me rephrase that...all new hires should be sharp. A sharp 200 hour pilot from a structured program will do ok...I have seen it. We all have growing pains...but I still think attitude, knowledge, and judgement is more important than 200, 2000, or 20000 hours. What we do isn't rocket science...you just need the right mind set to do it well. When a guy screws up and he has 5000 hours we don't think twice about the flight time...when the pilot only has 500 hours, we immediatly blame it on lack of experience. We all screw up...at some point or another.

 

[Goose Egg]

What we do isn't rocket science...you just need the right mind set to do it well.

That's the truth.

-Goose

 

[Midnight Flyer]

what regionals are hiring people with just over 200 hours?
Why????? I just can't comprehend.

Easy. It's all about money. Regionals don't pay crap, so they are forced to hire pilots willing to work for pennies. The only pilots willing to work for pennies are pilots with little or no experience. What experienced pilot would go to work for a regional and make under $20,000 per year? Not many. Like I said, it's all about the benjamins. If American Eagle decided to pay their captains $200,000 per year, I'd gladly end my career with 'em.

 

[RichardRambone]

What the hell is this airline hiring 200 hour guys? Ive got almost 800 and I havent heard a peep. Granted in the scheme of things I would prefer (all else not considered) to land a 135 twin piston job when I get my 135 mins, then get turboprop PIC time before moving on to the jets. That sounds like a natural progression to me but with 800 hours noones calling me and I feel I have more experience than a typical CFI with my same flight time. For the past year I've dealt with real world IFR flying ferrying airplanes around in all kinds of weather and in airplanes I dont know little about. Its exposed me to handling inflight malfunctions and near emergencies, all outside of a training environment. I defenitely have so much more to learn and experience and in the scheme of things Im a pup but I am more experienced than my number of hours show. Hire me damn you!!

 

[NYCPilot]

I agree that total time is only part of the factor in determining the success of an RJ transition. It is presumed that a higher amount of time consititues more experience, hence, the establishment of flight hour minimums. The normal progression during the accumulation of more flight hours usually entails the movment towards more complex aircraft, procedures, operating rules and weather scenarios. Based on this, we can assume that a greater amount of learning took place through the exposure of a varied flying background, all of which should have encompassed the required fundamentals required to be an effective and capable crewmember or F/O.

This is not necessarily the case. Many times the amount of hours flown does not reflect a vast amount of experience, especially if it's teaching in a 152, demonstrating the same maneuvers over and over again. Granted you learn a lot as a CFI, but after a few hundred hours of instructing, there is only so much that can be learned and tacted on as broadened experience. The ability to succeed and achieve a high learning curve has more to do with the individual. Being sharp and having good, structured training and sound judgment will allow them to demonstrate their competencies faster. A bad 500 hour pilot may very well be a bad 4000 pilot 3500 hours later. TT is not always indicative of being able to perform well. Having aptitude and above average intelligence will make more of a difference along with some pre-existing experience than having a few thousand hours of time.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

Having......above average intelligence will make more of a difference.

Uh-oh, I may be in trouble here.......

I'm not sure I ever met an airline pilot that meets the above quote!!!

 

[IHaveAPension]

This is what you get when you hire punks to fly RJ's...

http://community.webshots.com/photo/10445022/181262593CNYBYC

 

[SkyBoy1981]

This is not necessarily the case. Many times the amount of hours flown does not reflect a vast amount of experience, especially if it's teaching in a 152, demonstrating the same maneuvers over and over again. Granted you learn a lot as a CFI, but after a few hundred hours of instructing, there is only so much that can be learned and tacted on as broadened experience.

Exactly...this is why airlines should stop hiring CFI's altogether unless they have a substantial amount of multi time or other flying experience. Requiring pilots to fly frieght or charter for a while prior to getting an airline job will improve the skill and experience level of new hires. Of course, this will never happen because then the airlines would be limited to hiring a group of people that may actually insist on being paid more.

 

[alansmith23]

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