rude to ask a fellow pilot their hours?

drunkenbeagle said:
Glad we all seem to be unanimous on this one!
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Agreed! I just don't see what the major OPSEC here is with this guy. We're talking one's flight time and/or ratings, not the launch codes for ICBMs. Shesh....

Someone asks my hours, ratings, past jobs or current job details; am happy to share.
 
Yeah, that guys got issues.

Hell, I'm 6,000-ish out of alost 15,000 with 20 years and I don't think I'm "senior".

Maybe 15,000 hours? I don't know. A good portion of that is sleeping, eating, or blithely staring at the other guy wishing he'd just STFU. :)
 
Wow, that's odd. I wonder how they're going to take being a junior pilot at this place their going?
Also, I wonder how it will affect them years from now when some " JR pilot " or god forbid " student " from their flight instructing days is senior to them someplace in the future?
 
Ya all missed a great opportunity to tell the OP all kinds of fool things.
"Of course, every hour worked is another hour you've given to the man!"
"He with the least hours wins"
"Anything over 10k is an embarassment"
"You young kids need to go back to the Minecraft and Flappybird"
"Don't ask a man about his pecker, his hours, or if he's ever seen a grown man naked."
"Man why can't you just be cool kid? Be like the Fonz!"

Such a disappointing thread.
 
jynxyjoe said:
Ya all missed a great opportunity to tell the OP all kinds of fool things.
"Of course, every hour worked is another hour you've given to the man!"
"He with the least hours wins"
"Anything over 10k is an embarassment"
"You young kids need to go back to the Minecraft and Flappybird"
"Don't ask a man about his pecker, his hours, or if he's ever seen a grown man naked."
"Man why can't you just be cool kid? Be like the Fonz!"

Such a disappointing thread.
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I pick the first one
 
Beep said:
or god forbid " student " from their flight instructing days is senior to them someplace in the future?
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There’s a pilot at SJI who is about 2000 numbers senior to me who was a student of mine. I did his ME, Instrument Commercial. He’s even younger than me.

I take great pride in what he achieved in a short timeframe. I like to think I played a small part in advancing his career. More power to him!
 
While not a rude question per se, it is customary to genuflect while asking any question of a “senior” pilot. Perhaps you omitted this important sign of servility?
 
Flyinhigh728 said:
I had a very shocking interaction with a fellow pilot today. I’m finishing up my Cfi now, but I have always been following the industry in many ways including multiple forums for over 10 years now.

Anyway, this person is a CFI and just got hired at a small airline in the northeast. I asked them what there hours were out of curiosity. It was a totally innocent question. This person then went off on me. I was told how asking a pilot their hours is like asking someone about their bank account. This person said all of the senior pilots they knew told them this. I was then told to never ask a senior pilot their hour out of respect. They were genuielly upset with me.

The interaction did not end well and I was completely shocked with that viewpoint. Am I wrong for asking a fellow pilot their hours?
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I hope he gets offended when the FA's call him "my FO"...then gets chided when he says "I got em" on frequency.
 
We are all assuming the conversation was civil right up until the time "Tool Bag" exploded. It's possible that the conversation was something along these lines:
OP: What did you train in?
TB: Cessna 172
OP: Oh yeah, I trained in a Cessna 172S! So, you built your multi time in Seminole, I had a Baron that I could use for FREE!
OP: When did you get your CFI?
TB: (facepalm) 2005.....
OP: Oh yeah? 2004.....pooyah!
OP: AND.............how many hours do YOU have?
TB: ****BOOM******

Not stating it happened like this. IF your intent was truly to determine if your qualifications were enough for TB's company you could always discuss the particulars without asking him "personal" questions. MAYBE sonthing along these lines:
"I am a CFI/CFII with "X" ratings and about "Y" flight hours. Do you think that would be enough for consideration with your company? I would really like to fly for this company..."

Just thinking out loud here..........
 
dustoff17 said:
We are all assuming the conversation was civil right up until the time "Tool Bag" exploded. It's possible that the conversation was something along these lines:
OP: What did you train in?
TB: Cessna 172
OP: Oh yeah, I trained in a Cessna 172S! So, you built your multi time in Seminole, I had a Baron that I could use for FREE!
OP: When did you get your CFI?
TB: (facepalm) 2005.....
OP: Oh yeah? 2004.....pooyah!
OP: AND.............how many hours do YOU have?
TB: ****BOOM******

Not stating it happened like this. IF your intent was truly to determine if your qualifications were enough for TB's company you could always discuss the particulars without asking him "personal" questions. MAYBE sonthing along these lines:
"I am a CFI/CFII with "X" ratings and about "Y" flight hours. Do you think that would be enough for consideration with your company? I would really like to fly for this company..."

Just thinking out loud here..........
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That’s very fair. It was actually a very friendly back and forth conversation about both of our goals in the industry, and flying in general. My intention in no way was to ask them about their new job. It just happened to come up, so I was genuinely curious about the hour requirement. It was very strange to say the least.
 
You could also say, "what were the experience levels like at your interview"
"Well i had 2k hours but a couple had more than 5k"

I don't know what the point of being circumspect is. We've all been there when you run across a mainline fo and after talking to him or her for a few minutes you realize they were never captains or anything. Takes all kind at all companies.
 
Don’t think it’s rude at all, especially asking someone who’s working where you eventually want to be employed. However, when I’m asked I genuinely have no idea since I haven’t filled out a logbook entry in about 13 yrs. I simply have to *ballpark* an answer. The company keeps all those records via the ACARS on each flight.

I did ask the records Dept to email all my times about a year ago with the intent of updating my logbooks. When I printed out all the pages over a 13 yr period my eyes glazed over and I lost my enthusiasm for that little project. I simply filed that paperwork in a drawer somewhere.

4 more years and it won’t really matter anymore.....
 
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I had a bit of a win when someone asked me how old my certificate number was. 'Mines 309... What's yours? `

267... (thanks to my pre plastic 2001 ppl)
 
BTW....asking about my total time or experience level and then telling them, isn’t near as irritating as someone asking, “So, do you ever want to become a commercial pilot....?”:confused2:

My brother's kid (college junior and generally very smart) was just at my house over Christmas. He asks, "So, are you like the main, ah..pilot dude or are you like the other, hmmm..copilot other guy?" I said, "Are you asking if I'm the Captain or first Officer?" He says, "Yea, yea..that's what I mean". I said, "I'm the main pilot dude!"
 
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Dude sounds like a massive tool.

It all depends on the context. If a pilot screws up and you ask him/her how many hours they have, yea that’s a bit condescending lol.

I’ve never felt weird answering that question, but I also don’t get wrapped up in the egoness of it either. Hours really don’t mean jack so I’ve never used that as a metric.
 
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