deltajuliet

I think so. We had several unprecedented events in the 2000's that prevented those traditionally accurate chants from coming true. Now we have an economy on the rebound, Congress has no plans to extend retirement to 70 (legacy guys will HAVE to make way now), and numerous brand new factors are in play to lessen the pilot supply if not create a full blown domestic shortage.

The 2000's were an unfortunate fluke, but we're on the upswing.

worstpilotever

Small sample size, but my class at Ual was 11 newhires. 8 from regionals immediately prior, and 2 from regionals at some point and 1 military. But believe what you want I guess.

80ktsClamp

We pretty much take as much military as we can get, but there just isn't the output from the military that there used to be. 60/40 is about as military as you can get with the class sizes we're running.

Name User

I wasn't around in the late 90's to see the massive hiring but it seems nowadays is similar. UAL, DAL, AA hiring in ridiculously large amounts. Good times. Hope it continues.

Bzzt

The point is they're not average guys and never have been. Great connections, minority status, etc. average regional line pilots don't get calls.

CptGSXR

OK, well I'll try not to be such a negative Nancy, but does all this growth take into account that all 3 of the Legacy Carriers have stated that regional flying be cut in half within 5 years? Where will the lift come from? In house?

With these mega-mergers and parking of planes, it still means fewer total pilots needed (tho you could make an argument that mandatory retirements still outpace this pullback)

worstpilotever

You are right...average guys wont get called. The guys (and gals) getting called do something to make themselves above average.

Went to job fairs, networked, took on extra responsibility at work or in the community to make them above average. If you just put in an app and update it once every months you probably wont get called. If you put in an app and update it constantly and have stuff on there that makes you above average, you will get a call at some point.

And frankly that is what I want. I want people that go the extra mile to come here and want to be here. I like it here and want good people who like it also to come here.

OnCenterline

This is spot on. In my new-hire class at UA, every single person brought something to the table that made them a step above "average." One had flown in Viet Nam for a few years, all of us had been check airmen of some sort, except one, and that one had been heavily involved in ASAP work. Most of us also had some sort of community service on our resume, and ALL of us had been to at least one job fair, and most to two, and all of us had a 4 year degree. When the (then) head of hiring came in to say hello to us, he made it clear that those standards will stay in place--and they have. Special emphasis was placed on attending job fairs, so that recruiters can get some face time with you and see beyond what is on the resume.

Also, only 1 person in my class was military. The rest of the 11 off-the-streeters like myself were civilian (there were 5 furloughees returning as well).

Average flight time was over 12,000 hours.

As for importance of TPIC....it's still there. I know of one person who was hired without it, and that individual had at least 1,000 hours of wide-body international time flying cargo. Another friend of mine with thousands of DC-8 and 767 FO time also got invited for the interview, but didn't get past the Hogan test. If he had, I'm sure he would have gotten hired. So, either have a competitive amount of TPIC or some wide-body international time.

Bzzt

I fundamentally disagree with the scam that is a job fair, I refused to attend one before I decided to quit this career and I wouldn't have attended one if I had stuck to it. Job fairs are held on weekends so if you're not senior you can't attend. The most prestigious job fairs are for organizations I am not a member of as a white male, and I think it's absolutely assanine how many white males go to those. Finally I'm a regional FO and I'm supposed to drop a few hundred just to hand someone my resume?

I do volunteer work where I live, I have a 4 year degree, and I update my apps weekly. My total time is nowhere near 12,000 and I wouldn't have been there for another 12 years at least. I checked all the boxes I could, including getting recommendations from a few guys at all the majors, to no avail. I gave it a shot, I would have liked to fly at a major just to see what it was like compared to a regional, but I guess it wasn't in the cards. Sorry for being bitter, I'm glad for my health and sanity I'm quitting this career.

deltajuliet

Centerline, would you mind sharing your thoughts on working for United and your impressions of the company's outlook? Everybody speaks of Delta as a gold standard and of American as having a greedy CEO, but UAL typically gets ignored in any meaningful discussion.