79K10

I know I hardly post but the way this topic turned reminded me of something that bears repeating. You are always being watched. Whether you are Jumpseating or at work.

If you are a pilot for a regional hoping to move on just assume on every flight there is a passenger in the back that could have bearing on your future career goals. Remember to conduct yourself professionally when in the public eye and interacting with the passengers. You never know who you are interacting with and who they work for. I have had personal experience with this and the hiring personnel at a major. Fortunately it was not me, but it was eye opening. Since it is a public forum that is all I will say, but just keep that in the back of your mind when you are out on the line.

Cheers!

PowerShift

Great advice. I will add not burn nay bridges either. It’s a small world after all!

To the original poster, I had zero mil, jet or airline time when I got hired. Lots of other boxes filled though.

If you look at the recent hires, 28-29 yrs old seems to be the youngest, and there are only 1 or 2 per class. Average age in my class was 37. For the civ guys I would say 5500-6000 hrs TT was the average. I had 9K+. 1/3 of the class had been a check airman etc.

I don’t think we are at the point of hiring 23 yr olds with a wet ATP yet.

ZapBrannigan

My class was almost 5 years ago but at the time the civilian average was 10,000-11,000 hours plus former check airman or chief pilot or other management type role.


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at6d

Same in my class end of 2015.

Middle guy in class was 41. Average total time civilian was 7000. Half the class was military with a few of those as regional guys. A handfull of 737 guys from Sun Country, Swift type operators, handful of corporate. Most had check airman/management time of some kind.

Lowest time guy was F-16 with total at 1900.

All but six had the type.

ShyGuy

I still remember back when I thought I could train in Florida, fly a King Air for Tab Express and get the 1000 TPIC, and go to Southwest at 23. To be young, naiive, and stupid.

At least I’m not young anymore

PotatoChip

Tab?!
How stupid were you? Lol.

dustrpilot

[QUOTE=PotatoChip;
Deleted

ShyGuy

Like I said, at least I’m not young anymore

flensr

Spirit is a real player in the ULCC/LCC space. They have a big boy contract and their hiring teams absolutely hate the idea that pilots might be simply touching base there on the way to a legacy. They did it to themselves when they ****ed off so many ex-military pilots who gave spirit a try but were disgusted by the idiocy displayed by spirit management during the contract negotiations, but the sentiment is real. Any hint that spirit is just a touch and go and the application will likely get sorted to the circular file. Mil pilots spent their mil career with an incompetent leadership chain that has permitted work conditions and compensation to continuously degrade, and they're not willing to work for a company that is running the same playbook. Pilots with a purely civilian background who have a similar attitude might find it hard to get hired at spirit especially now.

For a pilot with 18 or less years remaining (ie. many retired mil), the career compensation (to age 65) at spirit and SWA are nearly identical, but the flying at spirit will be 2-3 leg days with a 5 year upgrade, vs. 4-5 leg days and a 10 year upgrade. An older pilot with 10-20 years remaining may actually get paid more for less work at Spirit than SWA. That may change with 2020 but it's shaping up to be a battle.

dawgdriver

SW may be facing hiring headwinds the likes it hasn't seen since it was a laughable bottom-dweller. Eventually the cinderella, the pedigree flocked there to experience the LUV, but most would say that's pretty much gone, along with the financial incentives to work there.

While legacies throw more money at their pilots, even prior to contract amendable dates, SW angers its pilots by dragging out negotiations for years (mechanic's contract expired 6 years ago) and then settles at rates that are uncompetitive by DOS (SW FOs with 1-4 years can now expect up to $30/hour less than their legacy counterparts). Unlike SW's 10 year upgrade, legacy FOs are more likely to be glancing over at the captain pay scales by year 4, unless they choose the lucrative QOL flying associated with wide bodies. It's not just the legacies they're losing candidates to either, as ULCCs now offer comparable rates with quick upgrades, better equipment, and, in some cases, zero overnights. Tough to argue.

Until recently, one could argue that the comparably overworked SW pilots, although behind in hourly rates, could make up the difference with overtime (premium) pay, but that appears to have dried up as well. Whether that's temporary while SW's prolonged ETOPs journey to Hawaii drags on or whether the staffing model is permanently changing to a more traditional, less lean/reactionary one is unclear. Some have even argued the possibility that SW has been on a hiring spree hoping to hoard the ever-dwindling number of applicants still out there.

Who knows, but to those researching their options, the data is a keystroke away and, on paper, looking better by the day. Sadly, despite dropping the ridiculous 737 type and hiring mins, SW leadership behavior continues to indicate the (mistaken) impression that they're still the destination of choice they once were.