Morbid curiosity. Upgrade times?

bLizZuE said:
I don’t think anyone that gets hired at united needs more than the year required to upgrade.
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As someone who upgraded early on in my charter career, there were a ton of moments I had to make due on the fly. Luckily I didn't screw the pooch and end up in the news or something. But Ill tell you, experience counts. Looking back, I was lucky, and probably should have had more time before diving in and doing things, but I made it work.

Having inexperienced captains , even at a Major level, because sometimes that 2 year captain may have only been PIC somewhere for a short time... We operate at a high level, where the stakes are up there. Be it weather related, systems related, etc. I believe you are correct, anyone hired after 2 years should be able to operate the machine and the system when everything works correctly. When the proverbial crap hits the fan, that'd when having a bit of experience definitely pays off and you can reach into that bag, that you have accrued.
 
As somebody that did a street Captain gig at a regional, it sucks. Even six months in the right seat would have been a big help.

Once you get out of the regionals, the money is no nice in the right seat that there should be no major push to upgrade if you aren't ready.
 
There’s a pilot shortage coming. The number now is 8,000 pilots a year at the majors.


Where have I heard that before?


Oh that’s right…



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Crockrocket94 said:
As someone who upgraded early on in my charter career, there were a ton of moments I had to make due on the fly. Luckily I didn't screw the pooch and end up in the news or something. But Ill tell you, experience counts. Looking back, I was lucky, and probably should have had more time before diving in and doing things, but I made it work.

Having inexperienced captains , even at a Major level, because sometimes that 2 year captain may have only been PIC somewhere for a short time... We operate at a high level, where the stakes are up there. Be it weather related, systems related, etc. I believe you are correct, anyone hired after 2 years should be able to operate the machine and the system when everything works correctly. When the proverbial crap hits the fan, that'd when having a bit of experience definitely pays off and you can reach into that bag, that you have accrued.
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“First upgrade?”
“Yup.”
“Ah, okay.”
 
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Crockrocket94 said:
As someone who upgraded early on in my charter career, there were a ton of moments I had to make due on the fly. Luckily I didn't screw the pooch and end up in the news or something. But Ill tell you, experience counts. Looking back, I was lucky, and probably should have had more time before diving in and doing things, but I made it work.

Having inexperienced captains , even at a Major level, because sometimes that 2 year captain may have only been PIC somewhere for a short time... We operate at a high level, where the stakes are up there. Be it weather related, systems related, etc. I believe you are correct, anyone hired after 2 years should be able to operate the machine and the system when everything works correctly. When the proverbial crap hits the fan, that'd when having a bit of experience definitely pays off and you can reach into that bag, that you have accrued.
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I get that you didn't spend any time at the regionals, but I've got some bad news for you.

Regional pilots are out there in the same weather as mainline pilots, flying 4-5 legs per day, with aircraft that aren't as capable, with maintenance controllers who are less knowledgeable, and dispatchers who are less experienced. They have less support, are pushed harder, and are expected to do more with less.

They still get the job done.

I'm not saying this is the way it should be, just that it's the way it is.
 
jtrain609 said:
I get that you didn't spend any time at the regionals, but I've got some bad news for you.

Regional pilots are out there in the same weather as mainline pilots, flying 4-5 legs per day, with aircraft that aren't as capable, with maintenance controllers who are less knowledgeable, and dispatchers who are less experienced. They have less support, are pushed harder, and are expected to do more with less.

They still get the job done.

I'm not saying this is the way it should be, just that it's the way it is.
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EXCEPT! Those regional guys didn't take a 757 from KIAD to EGGL.
 
jtrain609 said:
Regional pilots are out there in the same weather as mainline pilots, flying 4-5 legs per day, with aircraft that aren't as capable, with maintenance controllers who are less knowledgeable, and dispatchers who are less experienced. They have less support, are pushed harder, and are expected to do more with less.
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I once dutifully called the duty pilot (sorry, that construction is just horrid) whose exact words when neither I, nor a dispatch supervisor, nor the dispatcher could figure out if we were legal to go were “do whatever you want.”

Which is not why one calls the duty pilot. Granted, I wasn’t going to do anything dumb, but I wanted what we were doing to be legal. Which was why I was calling.
 
GypsyPilot said:
No, but they did take fully loaded CRJs into places like EGE, ASE, JAC, etc.
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Aspen pilots: Safe at those stations, dangerous everywhere else! ;)

GypsyPilot said:
The years I spent flying at SkyWest were WAY more challenging than what I do now. Absolutely no comparison. I can’t help but laugh at what some of my current colleagues think of as challenging.
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I think my exact words at the end of my first day of IOE here were “that’s it?” after we parked in FLL.
 
GypsyPilot said:
No, but they did take fully loaded CRJs into places like EGE, ASE, JAC, etc.

The years I spent flying at SkyWest were WAY more challenging than what I do now. Absolutely no comparison. I can’t help but laugh at what some of my current colleagues think of as challenging.
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Maybe, or maybe they flew for Silver out of FLL to Grand something and back 4 times a day...

its not a one size fits all thing, im just saying, the lower the time the less experience, it all comes down to pointing and saying "hey, maybe there is a higher risk factor there" Will it work out, most likely.


And Jtrain- its not like I just joined the pilots club last week.
 
Crockrocket94 said:
Maybe, or maybe they flew for Silver out of FLL to Grand something and back 4 times a day...
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The flying I did at Silver (then called Gulfstream in the pre-9/11 days) was the hardest flying of my fourteen year airline career. Flying beat up turboprops at max gross with engines that temp out before the torque out while flying to "garden spots" like Havana and Haiti isn't exactly as leisurely as an Airbus trip to one of the world's largest airports.
 
SlumTodd_Millionaire said:
The flying I did at Silver (then called Gulfstream in the pre-9/11 days) was the hardest flying of my fourteen year airline career. Flying beat up turboprops at max gross with engines that temp out before the torque out while flying to "garden spots" like Havana and Haiti isn't exactly as leisurely as an Airbus trip to one of the world's largest airports.
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Oh god. you were a GA guy? How much did you pay to do that?
 
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