saviboy

What if you have 1000 turboprop pic and you need jet time to be competitive at some of the majors. will a regional hire a guy with 1000 turbine pic?

rickair7777

That is a very good question. If it's 121 PIC, they would prefer not to because you're likely to leave soon, but if they are in a bind to get some guys online fast, I'm sure they would hire you.

A few regionals like SKW like to kid themselves into thinking they are a career destination. You could probably easily con them into believing that they are your ultimate dream job for life.

Savannahguy

It is my experience that PIC in a turbo prop is a good thing, but... You can have too much of a good thing.

Meaning this. If you have a choice right now, get PIC time, Jet time in a right seat is not that hard to find, if you are willinng to take the hit on the payscales. But it is real difficult to just walk into any operation and start making PIC time.

Now, the thing is, when it comes to a resume, you get few points IMO for having remained in the same place for more than say... Three years. So plan accordingly.

So if you can get a year to a year and a half of turboprop PIC time, cool. That should land you more than 1500 Hours of PIC time, plus I assume a decent amount of total time in the aircraft.

After that point, try to get some jet time (hopefully with Glass cockpit). Next on the list would be something larger than an RJ, it seems like many employers are not crediting RJ time in the same way they might have in the past. It is not bad to have, but time in something larger is better.

Good luck

Freightpuppy

Savannahguy: I couldn't have said it better myself.

Free Flyer

If you are guaranteed to get PIC in a turboprop go that route. However, look at it like this. Who are you targeting for your future employment? Is it the majors, cargo, or what? The only reason I say this is that you want to look at the requirements for hiring at your target (wish list) employer. Some of them require turbojet vs. turboprop time. What they want is listed on their hiring applications which are viewable on the internet.

Here's another hoop for you to jump through. Look at some regionals for an RJ slot. My last employer, Chautauqua, was upgrading people within 2 years on the EMB-145 and 2 1/2 years on the EMB-170. In my experience, Chautauqua has the fastest upgrade RJ time out of all of the regionals, and they are hiring! The quickest upgrade I ever trained over there did it in 15 months. So think hard about it and do what you have to do to get the PIC time, just make sure it's turbine!

rickair7777

Mesa ERJ upgrades are slightly over one year at this time.

Savannahguy

I remembered something else to add. If you have your heart set on working for a certain major, then avoid working for it's subsidiary. Meaning that IMO it is hard to go from from a regional that Major owns, up into the mainline operation.

They will never admit it, but the precentage of people hired at the mainline from that carrier's own express carrier(s) is small. On the other hand, they seem "ok" hiring from the express carriers that they do not own. (even the ones that are affiliates)

Now, here is a note of caution. Things change. The advent of the "Mainline Express" operations at US Airways, Northwest (and in a way jetBlue) means that starting positions (and how you get into them) at many majors might be VERY different in the future. It is real hard to tell how this is all going to play out, so just keep an eye on things. You might very well want to get on with Eagle if it is the only way to get on with AAL for example. But if you are busy in the meantime getting PIC in a turboprop, you can plan accordingly.

Remember, what "worked" in the recent past might not work in the future.

So do NOT count on the past history of fast upgrades at many of the regionals to supply you with the PIC time you will need to move on. Those places will always need F/O's, but I have seen many a regional in the past go from lightining fast upgrades to a crawl. IMO if you already come in with a chunk of PIC time, you are better off. You can still get your jet time and move on along.

It is a sure bet that a chunk of Captain time on your resume will never hurt, if all you have ever been is right seat (even in a jet), then it is a question if you can even hack the left (any kid with 250 hrs can be trained to fly a jet nowadays, but becoming a decent captain is something you have to learn with time in the seat).

I came to my current position from the right seat of a jet, but I was able to easy recount years of experience from having been a turboprop captain beforehand. Of the three airlines I interviewed with (three offers extended), all three really liked my PIC experience. But I will tell you that years ago I did lose out on two jobs I interviewed for, because all I had at the time was turboprop time (w/o glass). IMO they do not seem to care of your PIC was turboprop or regional jet (they seem to lump the two kinds of regional flying into one). They just want to see "some" jet time so they know you can handle what they operate.

So, go 'git sum PIC, but once you have a decent amount, go get into something else, regional or otherwise...

Good Luck either way.

dojetdriver

Because if the crap hits the fan, about the only other job that RJ FO with no PIC time is competitve for is another RJ job. In other words, he will have to go back down to year one pay at whatever company hires him to build more worthless jet SIC time.

If you don't need the money or have a sugar mama, you may not care. If you want career progression, get the PIC time.