par8head

I gotta buddy at AWAC got hired at 280 TT!! Bunch of guys from UND (over 30) got hired to Pinnacle with low time a few months ago, and the guy in my new hire class with the most flight time is 1400 tt and the lowest is 600/50

Cubdriver

It's conceivable someone could have enough skills with 190/30 or so to at least start their training to become an FO but it would seem to mean they were smart, motivated, freshly trained, and supervised for a long time afterwards. Wartime pilots can be like that, it is not unheard of during war for nations to send fresh pilots to the line in fast complicated aircraft with hardly a dozen hours of ground school, flight sim time, and maybe a dozen hours of dual. WWI fighter pilots had only ten hours of flight time before they were done ask them. Of course no one but them dies if they don't do everything right but if someone is taught to do a narrow, limited range of tasks it is possible to cover the basics pretty fast. What's more, such pilots will encounter the same type of flying on the same routes in the same aircraft with similar (better) flight crew, so it doesn't surprise me it is done from time to time. And Skyhigh likes to say you can make ski instructor into an FO in about 6 months.

flynavyj

not gonna get into that "they don't have enough experience" argument, its overplayed.

But, i don't think a saab, beech, or RJ is quite a jenny. And i don't believe military pilots have been being released into combat with only a couple hours of flying time since about the first world war, i'd be scared to death to see a guy with 5 hrs of sim time hop into an F-18 and blast away into the skies...he'd probably say..."hmmm, what's this button do?"

XJPILOT1

I really think being a CFI opens up the world of flying for you. I'm glad I did it and I'm still allowed to do it. It's great fun!!

ehaeckercfi

I got hired by pinnacle a few weeks ago, but got a call back the next day saying that I couldn't start until I turn 21 (i'm only 20). I have 1200 TT and 200 ME. There are 200 hour ATP guys that are over 21 who actually GOT the job. THAT is stupid. Without going into details, apparently they can waive all the time min. but not the age min. They said that at such a young age, a jet would "eat your lunch". No more than it would eat some 200 hour guy's lunch

surfnfly

Doing steep turns in the practice area? Never even got the CFI and don't regret it - Alll my CFI buddies hated life...I ferried ariplanes for 1200 hours - that was good times and really opened the "world" of flyin for me..

rickair7777

Worls war II fighter pilots produced safety numbers that are, shall we say, somewhat lower than modern domestic 121 numbers...by orders of magnitude.

Modern military training takes years (3-4) before a new pilot is released for operational duty in an F/A-18...the pilot's flight time may be relatively low, but he has spent those years busting his hump learning academics and procedures. A brand-new fighter pilot does NOT fumble through his flows and radio calls like a 500 hour brand-new-to-the-jet FO

shanejj

Talk about a drop in excitement level in less than 24hrs

Sry though!

C152driver

Eric,

I heard from a couple of different sources about what happened with you and Pinnacle. That sucks! Hang in there, it will happen for you before you know it.

I hope you turned down the scheduling gig...

--Andy

ImperialxRat

I know a guy who got hired with Colgan when he was 19. The guy is now 20, almost 21. Bummer is he cannot even upgrade until he's 23. =)

Some people just have their head on straight, and have their goals in sight. I took the longer slower route of fumbling around after HS.

Just for the record, my buddy instructed since he first turned 19. He had some decent times when he got hired at colgan. He got his PPL at 16 and flew a bunch.

/shrug