Almost fell on the floor laughing...

Seggy

Well-Known Member
Was talking to a First Officer at my airline the other day, one that did his training at Gulf•stream. Anyway, we talked about upgrades and said he has a big problem. You see for your ATP you need at least 250 hours of PIC, he only had 120 after 'graduating' their program! He doesn't know how he will get the time needed he needs to upgrade!

Pretty darn funny if you ask me!
 
I believe it also says something about being of good moral character. (nothing about spelling thankfully)
 
Wow, that's crazy. He's gonna have to rent a 152 for 130 hrs * 60/hr!!! There goes another 8 grand.:pirate:
 
So how do they typically upgrade? These guys seem to be at most airlines... Do they all have that low of PIC time? Maybe I can sell him some of mine :)
 
i believe that you can substitute a certain number of sic hours towards the pic requirement but i think its quite a bit above 1500 yet im too lazy to actually look it up
 
Companies can ask the FAA to allow SIC time in the type of aircraft in the company to count. Mesa was allowed to use 1500 hrs SIC as long as the applicant had 2500 hrs.

I believe Pinnacle had the same problem. Just before 9-11 they were hiring street captains (me for example) because the Gulfstream grads did not have the 2500 hrs required.
 
Yes Pinnacle did have this problem. Most of the pilots went out and rented a plane so they could upgrade.
 
A suspected ex-Gulfstreamer posted about this dilemna on Republicpilots.org. Supposedly he/she is at Pinncale, wants to come to CHQ but lacks PIC time and wants to know if CHQ has the same deal Pinnacle does (ie- let some 121 SIC time count towards PIC time). If I remember correctly, the answer was no.

Kinda scary to think that after some of these guys manage to upgrade, it'll be their first time flying as PIC since their commercial long solo x-country!
 
Seggy said:
You see for your ATP you need at least 250 hours of PIC, he only had 120
I'm not sure what scares me more. Upgrading at 250 hours or the fact that he got HIRED with only 120 PIC!!!!! Amtrak is starting to ook better and better for the family vacation.
 
The GIA guys that didn't have the 250 PIC at Pinnacle originally did not have a chance to upgrade. We've recently gotten a waiver to give them 50 hours of OE before their fed ride for the upgrade- We do not have the SIC time waiver. It seems to come and go though. There was a guy in my upgrade class that had 249.8 PIC... had to go rent a cessna before he could take his oral, haha.


I had something like 1650 PIC when I upgraded... its sickening seeing guys buy their jobs. We've got a few ERAU CAPT people and now this stupid Jet University thing. ugh.
 
Foxcow said:
Who has the money to rent? I would instruct.

Can't, it counts against your available flight time at the airline. The employer wants all your time.
 
pilot602 said:
Can't, it counts against your available flight time at the airline. The employer wants all your time.

Nope, pleasure flying not included. Only Commercial.
 
NJA_Capt said:
I'm not sure what scares me more. Upgrading at 250 hours or the fact that he got HIRED with only 120 PIC!!!!! Amtrak is starting to ook better and better for the family vacation.
You would probably make more money as an Amtrak conductor then a regional pilot too.
 
Killtron2000 said:
You would probably make more money as an Amtrak conductor then a regional pilot too.

When the group that I got laid off with at the big D, Mechanics, were looking for jobs, several went to work for Norfolk Southern. I think they started at $40k/yr, and could upgrade to engineer within a year and jump up to $60k/yr.
 
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