80ktsClamp

There are various levels of "captain" and based on days at sea and equipment operated. It goes by tonnage.... all the way up to the "unlimited tonnage" license.

forgot to bid

That was so funny.

I am with you 100% about the board.

If not a board, I'm very open to an MCL in lieu of an ATP as long as the FAA allows the pilot industry to develop the MCL.

There should also be an aircraft recognition test for all pilots during their medical.

CommutR4Life

Yeah. Just trying to point out that you shouldn't be able to go from a C-172 (1,100lb or so) to an Airbus (145,000+) overnight. You should earn your way up the ladder. Some of us did; others had the mean'$ to bypass that. I came up through flight instructing, flying jumpers, turbo-pros, RJ's ect...But some kid with cash can just go from SE piston pusher to jet, and not because he has logged any real world experience. it was just an idea I tossed out, not that it would even be practical for our world.

Silver2Gold

As much as this forum may mean to some of you, it has little significance beyond the screens it's viewed from.

Please take a few moments to drop a note to your congressman about how you want to see this thing become law, as well as to your union rep - who should be using our dues to lobby for this.

Window_Seat

I think the guy did PFT at Gulfstream. Prob didn't have 1500 hours at that time. Would have forced him to get his own time and experience instead of being a w&b for the 250 hours or whatever he got paid to pretend to be an airline pilot. He missed the fundamentals somewhere and Colgan was so desperate to hire that they looked over everything about the guy.

HSLD

This bill has a long way to go, as the pilot experience portion is not stand alone. You can bet that FedEx is pulling out all the stops to block the employee unionizing bit, supported by the rest of the ATA. ATA is also fighting the the modernization tax (anyone remember the aviation trist fund?), so there's that too.

It was good to see a 93-0 vote, but the house reconciliation is going to be a high hurtle.

Now is the time: U.S. Senate: Senators Home

Moose

In the Air Force, many pilots are getting a tour in the mighty Predator/Global Hawk. This loss of hours/currency will put pressure on them to stay in for another tour. After that tour, they only have 7 or less years to go to get the pension so a lot less will leave. Its easy to leave with 10+ years to go before one gets the pension but it gets a lot harder the closer you get.

RU4692

Military pilots only log "flight" time vs. civilian pilots being able to log time "as long as there are intentions of flight." Meaning that military guys are not allowed to log time for taxi, maint issues on initial start up, etc...

Just a guestimate, but I probably have in the area of 200-300 hours logged on the ground, however the "intentions of flight" were present.

This is why military pilots are allowed the courtesy of 1.1-1.2 multiple to their TT logged, and rightfully so.

Semaphore Sam

Some can do the job much sooner...others, no matter how much time they accumulate, will NEVER be able to do the job. I know a pilot who, having never flown, went from a C-152, and after 30 days, to a twin jet, and 90 days later, to a supersonic jet. 1.5 years after starting from scratch, he went to a F/O position on a 4-engine jet, and a year and 3 months later, made the equivalent of Captain. Total time from never having flown, to a 'Captain's' position on a 4-engine international transport jet, 2.9 years. 10 months later he was a line IP on same jet, with total time of, maybe, 1350 hours, and 6 months later was a sim/local training IP.

The point is, this 1500 limit may be good, but NOT for maintaining quality...the benefit is to limit entry to the 121 job market. Pure and simple, it is the Guild system. With F/O's making $16,000, and having to commute across the country before starting a duty day, some system to limit eligible starting pilots is probably necessary, to maintain a minimum QOL for Regional entry pilots, and their Captains. Otherwise, Colgan. To maintain quality, you MUST depend on a good monitoring/training program, not just the accumulation of time. Sam

rdneckpilot

This is a role the Union's should take at each airline. The FAA already licenses pilots to work at an airline. It is up to each airline (management and pilots) to determine what other qualifications they desire new hires to possess. Having yet another layer of global oversight, whether it is a professional board or some type of government entity, would be overly invasive in a private industry.

In my opinion the root cause of our issue here is the deregulation of the industry. Once the government subsidies and control were removed the airlines had to compete in a free market. It has driven profit margins so low that airlines are forced to look to save money anywhere possible. Labor cost reduction is low hanging fruit for management. It has reduced entry level job pay to the point that, I believe, the most important qualification to management is whether or not the applicant will be willing to tolerate the low QOL and pay that is dictated by their business model.

There was a time not to long ago in this country that major airlines hired pilots with zero time. They were hiring professionals that had the base foundation to be trained to fly airplanes. That standard of hiring has been thrown away. Now all it takes is willingness to put up with their poor work environment and the FAA minimum qualifications.

It takes way more than numbers in a book to have what it takes to be PIC of an airplane. The base issue here is that regionals are not able to consistently recruit true professionals into their ranks because of the pay and work rules.

I personally believe that a much more effective legislative action would have been to prohibit the liability protection of majors from actions of the regional and force the regional airline to fly its own paint. If the major was on the hook for liability at the regional and they were prevented from making the regional look like a mainline aircraft there would be a lot of CPA contracts not getting renewed.

Another way to help us legislatively would be to pass a minimum fare requirement. If the airlines were forced to charge a minimum fare to prevent the impact of LCC's and support the legacy airlines we would see a positive trend in the industry.

Just my humble opinion.