2026 Hiring Outlook

[Kingairer]

You nailed it. There are many great singers that never get a record deal and basketball players that never make it to the NBA. Many of them are better than the people that did make it.

My way of dealing with the system is to take my talents elsewhere if they don't want me and do my best at the other place to prove to myself that they missed out on a great candidate.

I think pro sports is one of the last bastions of pure meritocracy. Bronny James may be a rare exception, but if you arent good enough, you wont continue and if you are you will. Doesnt matter race, background, $, etc..if youre talented enough is all that matters.

 

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

This is the process required to get hired at a legacy airline. It’s spelled out and there’s plenty of gouge out there for it. Prepare for it, execute it, and get the job… or do not and remain an RJ CA or 73 CA for the rest of your career. (Again, nothing wrong with that)

It’s really not that difficult. If freight trash like myself can get a United/Delta interview and be successful enough to get both CJO’s, anyone can.

Do some skills required for a successful interview not translate directly to flying an airplane? Sure. At this point in the game however, everyone can fly the airplane. Learn the skills required, it shows that you can step out of your comfort zone and better yourself. It shows that you’re teachable. It also shows dedication and work ethic. Do you need these skills to fly an airplane? No, but they’re skills I’d like in my FO’s when they come on the line.

Did you just throw a remain a 73 CA jab? I guess that legacy blue hue got to your head fast. *insert rolleyes*



“At this point in the game however, everyone can fly the airplane.”


That’s the point. No, not all can. At VX there was an ex-GoJet guy who was hired, passed training, and hit the line. And he absolutely sucked at flying. Scared several CAs, and it was enough to get him sent back into training. They gave him several chances, in the end he couldn’t hack it and was forced to resign. He went back to GoJets last I heard.

Unlike 2021-2023, hopefully the hiring is competitive now and a guy who’s busted numerous times like that Colgan CA and Atlas FO are now not seen as competitive.

Please. For the sake of current Captains and most importantly, the paying public who deserve better.

 

[jhugz]

Did you just throw a remain a 73 CA jab? I guess that legacy blue hue got to your head fast. *insert rolleyes*

It wasn't a jab, it's a statement of fact. Do the work or stay where you're at. You're happy where you are though...right? So why so insecure?

“At this point in the game however, everyone can fly the airplane.”


That’s the point. No, not all can. At VX there was an ex-GoJet guy who was hired, passed training, and hit the line. And he absolutely sucked at flying. Scared several CAs, and it was enough to get him sent back into training. They gave him several chances, in the end he couldn’t hack it and was forced to resign. He went back to GoJets last I heard.

You have 1.5 hours to determine if a candidate is a fit or not. Some sneak by no matter how good your interview system is. Training & Standards should be able to pick up on those issues that sneak by and resolve them one way or the other. Sounds like the system worked exactly as intended at your shop.

Unlike 2021-2023, hopefully the hiring is competitive now and a guy who’s busted numerous times like that Colgan CA and Atlas FO are now not seen as competitive.

Please. For the sake of current Captains and most importantly, the paying public who deserve better.

This just goes to show you how out of touch you are with pilot recruiting. If you're trying to compare a Delta/United/American/UPS/FedEx interview with a Colgan/Atlas interview, you just have no credibility. I still to this day remember Chuck Colgan yelling at me on the phone about a year after the Colgan crash. My Kalitta Interview that is probably not all that different from an Atlas interview was an absolute joke.

Here you are raging against Legacy Interview practices when really you should be ranting about regional/lcc/acmi interviews. Aviation is the safest it has ever been and that's with exponential growth. Is the a current interview process a perfect system, no, but couple it up with a robust safety system and it's proven to be safe and effective.

Now I'll say it again, go sit in the corner and color...let the adults talk about adult topics.

 

[mwflyer]

Sounds like the system worked exactly as intended at your shop.

I disagree. If they guy was as bad as CC claims, he should have never made it to the line.

 

[jhugz]

I disagree. If they guy was as bad as CC claims, he should have never made it to the line.

That's a big if...

 

[mwflyer]

That's a big if...

Ha ha. Good point!

 

[tcco94]

Apparently we are properly staffed despite my February 84 hour average line value and phone ringing a minimum of 3-4x a day or middle of the night for premium flying I do not want to be called for. Or bidding reserve in September only to be called to fly every single day of reserve for the first time in my airline career.

Not to worry though! I was told we are properly staffed, actually staffed more than 2019 so even better! But hey don’t award more captains - why would we do that. We are adequately staffed!

 

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

Apparently we are properly staffed despite my February 84 hour average line value and phone ringing a minimum of 3-4x a day or middle of the night for premium flying I do not want to be called for. Or bidding reserve in September only to be called to fly every single day of reserve for the first time in my airline career.

Not to worry though! I was told we are properly staffed, actually staffed more than 2019 so even better! But hey don’t award more captains - why would we do that. We are adequately staffed!

Is this SLC?

 

[🦈💜]

Apparently we are properly staffed despite my February 84 hour average line value and phone ringing a minimum of 3-4x a day or middle of the night for premium flying I do not want to be called for. Or bidding reserve in September only to be called to fly every single day of reserve for the first time in my airline career.

Not to worry though! I was told we are properly staffed, actually staffed more than 2019 so even better! But hey don’t award more captains - why would we do that. We are adequately staffed!

You could 100% be describing my airline.

Flying every reserve day sucks. Been doing it more than three years now with no break.

It's destructive.

 

[derg]

I am not! HR people are the great Satan generally. Never, ever trust them. Treat them like cops and you're the prime suspect at all times.

HR's just another victim of "Talent Acquisition"

 

[tcco94]

Is this SLC?

Yup - 220 left seat

 

[Karnage]

Apparently we are properly staffed despite my February 84 hour average line value and phone ringing a minimum of 3-4x a day or middle of the night for premium flying I do not want to be called for. Or bidding reserve in September only to be called to fly every single day of reserve for the first time in my airline career.

Not to worry though! I was told we are properly staffed, actually staffed more than 2019 so even better! But hey don’t award more captains - why would we do that. We are adequately staffed!

Meanwhile in SEA Guppy land I get maybe 2 or 3 IA calls a week, and that's at 88%. Though a lot of that I think simply comes from the fact that a lot of our trips leave base on leg one and don't come back until the last leg so there's not a lot of broken trip in base for them to cover and when it breaks in other bases, while they're supposed to try and cover with our base, can't because the crew is stuck somewhere on the east coast and there are no DH options so they farm it out to ATL homies.

Of course I say this knowing my next trip is literally nothing but out and backs to base... anyone wanna take my 25 hours in Fairbanks?

 

[zmiller4]

Accident history speaks for itself. Atlas, Colgan. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to prevent that from happening again.

Colgan *hasn’t* happened again.

And while there’s not necessarily any causation that I’m aware of, the sharp drop in US airline accidents corresponds pretty well with the prohibition on 250hr pilots buying their way to an airline job.

 

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

Colgan *hasn’t* happened again.

And while there’s not necessarily any causation that I’m aware of, the sharp drop in US airline accidents corresponds pretty well with the prohibition on 250hr pilots buying their way to an airline job.

Atlas was similar to Colgan in terms of backgrounds and lying on apps.

PRIA was flawed. It relies on pilots being honest, and not all are. PRD should be better.

As for your 250 hr commentary, correlation does not mean causation.

 

[🦈💜]

Meanwhile in SEA Guppy land I get maybe 2 or 3 IA calls a week, and that's at 88%. Though a lot of that I think simply comes from the fact that a lot of our trips leave base on leg one and don't come back until the last leg so there's not a lot of broken trip in base for them to cover and when it breaks in other bases, while they're supposed to try and cover with our base, can't because the crew is stuck somewhere on the east coast and there are no DH options so they farm it out to ATL homies.

Of course I say this knowing my next trip is literally nothing but out and backs to base... anyone wanna take my 25 hours in Fairbanks?

I'd kill for that flying and overnight.

 

[Karnage]

I'd kill for that flying and overnight.

Too cold for me, thankfully a Cancun trip popped up and I swapped out of Fairbanks. Of course, now I don't come back to base until the end so no more pass throughs, oh well. I could use landings elsewhere anyways, the ILS to 16R is getting boring.

 

[I_Money]

Colgan *hasn’t* happened again.

And while there’s not necessarily any causation that I’m aware of, the sharp drop in US airline accidents corresponds pretty well with the prohibition on 250hr pilots buying their way to an airline job.

I would argue Toronto was the same formula - they just got luckier with their crash.

On the other hand Europe doesn’t seem to have junior guys crashing.

Not throwing shade, but commentary on what I see.

 

[Inverted]

That’s the point. No, not all can. At VX there was an ex-GoJet guy who was hired, passed training, and hit the line. And he absolutely sucked at flying. Scared several CAs, and it was enough to get him sent back into training. They gave him several chances, in the end he couldn’t hack it and was forced to resign. He went back to GoJets last I heard.

I remember that case. There was also another pilot who lied about her hours, made it all the way to IOE, was fired, went to Gojet and crashed a jet, so that's fun.

This is something that happens and will continue to happen. If I can offer a bit of insight from the training side of the house, it's that so many people can "turn it on" or "hold it together" in training long enough to check every box and hit every metric, all the way though training. Converseley I have been part of the process several times when either new hires or piltos in recurrent, are going down the admin path to remediation or worse. It is extremely hard to gauge or find bad habits when they have learned to keep it together just long enough to make it through. I try to fly pretty by the book so I don't have to unscrew myself for line checks and CQ. We can catch the eggregeous offenders in the schoolhouse but again if they can squeak though just well enough for AQP to not trap and alert anyone, often times it shoes in IOE or even more common, the 6 month CQ.

 

[luke3]

I try not to go deeper into one of CC's usual tangents that derail a thread, but let's not forget that all the people that cry about HR only prioritizing DEI were perfectly fine with the "good ol boy's club" that it was before. People with decision-making power were hiring their kids, buddies, and squadron mates since the Behnke times, often regardless of qualifications or skill. A handful will always slip through, that's why good training and checking is so important. Even with that people will still slip through, it's unfortunately part of the business.