teamflyer

Greetings from the north,

I'm a Canadian skipper on the King air 200 with 800hrs, 21 yrs old, and a associate aviation degree.

Now my hours are still short, but my goal was to get into Air Canada or WestJet who usually hire at like 3000-4000hrs, ATP, MEI, Multi-crew, turbine, etc.....

However, since I just got my green card, I'm getting more interested in the big legacy carriers of the US, such as United, or American, etc.

I was also going to write my AA's here in Canada, but now I would need to convert my licence to FAA, so can I write my AA's and then Convert to FAA ATP or convert to a FAA CPL first?

I know many people from my company move onto Air Canada, Sky Regional, Porter, which are all Canadian carriers.

I want to know if United or American hire people with just King air time since it only weighs 12500TOW. I'm pretty sure the regionals like American Eagle hire King air time, but I've heard a lot of horror stories from US regionals.

Could I get into mainline United or American?

If yes, how many hours do they usually hire at?

and, anything else you think I should know?

Thanks in advance!

TF

rickair7777

Once you meet US ATP requirements, you could get hired at US regionals with King Air time.

For the majors, pretty much no way unless you are very well connected (ie family in senior management). They like internal references, 121, glass, and turbojet experience. 5000+ hours and 121 check airman experience seems to be the ticket these days.

In your shoes (assuming you don't have friends at US majors) a regional would be the fastest path to the majors...you'll have the opportunity to get the kind of experience they look for as well as meet people who may be in a position to provide references later.

galaxy flyer

Most US mainlines have some Canadians flyng for them. We had several at Eastern; I've met Canadians at American and Delta. I work with, and know some, in business aviation. If you have a green card, being Canadian isn't a "killer".

The problem is being sorted out from the huge multitude and 800 hours with a 2-year degree is a long ways from competitive. ATPL, 4-year degree and some jet time is the current "competitive" mins.

GF

rcfd13

You're going to have a hard time getting hired by a US major with just king air time. Most of them want 121 crew experience. The majors haven't hired in so long that you'll also be in the application pool with a lot of 10,000 hour RJ or military captains. You'll need a way to make your resume stick out.

Most people start at the regionals or in the military and move on to a major. It's pretty difficult to skip the regionals and go straight to a major.

teamflyer

Thanks for the input folks, I think I'll convert my license to FAA and continue working at my company for now and see what happens...