f10a

On the other hand it seems that most who post are 1700 hr military with awards for this and that and squadron yada yada and safety bla bla and abc xyz accolades that only exist in the military world. This probably makes the civy feel inadequate and bitter after slaving away for 10000 hours flying for defunct acmi carrier after another flying said new hire to/from hell and back. Just a thought.

Redbird611

Delta CJO

6300 TT (all civilian)
1000 TPIC
9 years Part 121 Regional
B.S. degree, 4.0 GPA
5 internal LORs, 2 other
3 job fairs
Emerald Coast interview prep

Extremely honored and excited to be selected!

gloopy

Here we go again with all the angst over not getting hired in just over a year of a huge long lasting retirement based hiring wave.

Look, airlines like and will always like mil pilots. Neither mil or civ are any better than the other on average. Not even in the slightest. But what the mil applicant brings to the table from the POV of a legacy HR department is a very high level of consistency as a pilot. Not any better across the board at all, just more consistant on average. That's not just current stick and rudder skills, but more importantly the adaptability and trainability to be melted down and recast into the hiring airline's unique cultural and training style mold.

Again, this does NOT mean that mil pilots are more trainable or that they conform better to an airline's way of doing things than civilian pilots. Just that they are a more consistant product with a much flatter bell curve. Some civ pilots have more problems going from 121 to 121, even in the same plane, than most mil pilots going from single engine single seat to 121 crew. And, again, this is only the average. Mil pilots are consistent. That's all. But airlines love consistency. And yes the mil system is set up around awards and "saftey stank" and pretty much every mil pilot is going to have a degree of that. But so what. Oh, and they network VERY well too. Think about that.

Anyway airlines have hired a LOT of prior airline/regional pilots. A lot. Like around over half I think. At DL it just happens that a large percentage are flows and pref interviews, etc. But the numbers of mil to civ hardly point to unfairness against civ pilots. Civ pilots still have an excellent chance and always will. You will get the chance to earn the same opportunity many civ and mil pilots have earned, and you will get that opportunity ahead of many, many mil pilots still on the outside trying to get in.

asacimesp

It's one thing to have a "preference" but when 15/16 interviewees are mil... And the next day is 10/12 when they they make up a small subset of aviation it's a bias.

Harrier Dude

More of a preference than a bias. Is that preference grounded in fact? I don't know. I would agree with the consistency argument above.

But really what I think you're seeing is a small data set (two interview groups at 1 major airline) and not a conspiracy against any particular subset.

The only conspiracy I've heard that I think has any credence is the "we can't hire RJ guys because it'll drain our regional feed" theory, but that would be negated by hiring other mainline company's RJ Captains.

At most majors about half of each class is civilian background only. That still leaves the military guys overrepresented, but there are reasons for that. And it doesn't involve oppressing anybody.

plift

There has always been a preference or bias for mil pilots. Right or wrong, it at least should not be a surprise to anyone. There are currently a lot of mil pilots getting hired between those that delayed separating/retiring because of the outside job market, those that took the first job that came along and now looking to move up and those forced out from downsizing. That pool will dry up quick and you'll see mil/civ hiring #s even out.

Sliceback

Mil percentage is under 50%.

I remember reading an article in the early 1980's that 93% of the previous year's hiring had been prior military.

Military guys are almost guaranteed a major airline job. But it comes years after the opportunities of the civilian guys. Check out the seniority lists and the really impressive careers are going to the civilian guys who get hired young(er).

Realtalk

***......I hate this industry

E2CMaster

This guaranteed job. To whom do I apply for it?

ron kent

Yea, got to hate it when a minority like a white dude without a degree gets hired.