Cant get hired

ClipperPilot

New Member
My flight instructor, who is also a very good friend of mine, were having a BBQ the other day discussing the airlines. He has, as of now a total time of 1,534 hours, just past the 1,500 mark, he has his CFII-ME and a total of 150 multi time. He has been applying every where but with no luck has not received any responses. When we talked about this, we thought at the least, he should try to get hired flying some sort of turbo prop i.e. kingair C90 or along those lines, ( he would probably settle for just regular multi to be honest) but it just seems a little odd to me that he cant land any type of charter airline or very small regional at all. maybe the industry is worse than what i thought. His goal right now would be honestly to land the right seat on a B1900 or brasilia (As if we couldnt guess that) But isnt anyone hiring someone with these kind of qualifications? let me know, maybe im wrong.
 
With the state of the economy being as it is now, few people are finding jobs, and the ones who are finding jobs are finding crappy ones that pay next to nothing, not just in flying but in all other fields.

The aviation industry in particular is either feast or famine. Yes, it will be very difficult if not impossible to land in the right seat of a regional airliner NOW, but things may be different later when the majors start hiring again and there aren't thousands of pilots on furlough. Aviation has been cyclical with the economy forever, and that'll likely never change.
 
Not odd at all; the market is flooded with highly qualified pilots with much greater flight experience. You can bet your boots that any flying job which doesn't require a furloughed airline pilot to resign their seniority number is inundated with resumes from pilots with credentials much better than your instructor's.

Now on to the constructive criticism...given today's market, he's light on multiengine time. Regionals ARE hiring, but they're looking for 1700-2000 TT and 250-500 ME. Tell him to hang in there, and consider the less glamorous jobs that offer multi time, like flying checks and other freight.
 
Netowrking in today's job market is paramount - without it landing a job will be tough if not impossible! Ask around if you can get a good reference then you will be well on your way!!
 
I had about 1800 hours when I was hired at a regional which, at the time, was fairly low time because I was competing with other candidates for a $14,000/year Beech 1900 FO job that had 2500 to 3000 hours.
 
Tell him to try Alaska. I went up there in February with 1100 hrs and 42 multi. I am now flying a B1900 and have 1300tt and just hit 150 multi. The pay isn't great, but better than some. Our minimum is $19,000 but with the amount of time they are flying us, it will be closer to $25,000.
 
Right now he might be better off being a flight instructor. I know several people who went to the regionals in the past year who are already furloughed.
 
Regionals are going to keep taking mainline routes, tell him to keep sending out the resumes, even to the places where he/she doesn't think they have a chance. There are plenty of pilots that have been hired on a Friday afternoon to start class on Monday morning because the class had been planned and filled months in advance, but someone had to cancel at the last second. They need to fill that seat, and they lost/threw out all of the hundreds of old resumes, and they only have 2 or 3 that came in that week to chose from. They might just say, "This guy is legal, and doesn't look like he's going to be a pain in the butt, let's call him."

It happens, sometimes. I wouldn't count on it, but I'd be ready if something good just falls in my lap. I've got resumes out there for everything from King Airs to 747's, in fact, for a time, I got a post card every 3 months from Gemini, a DC-10 outfit, telling me that they are not hiring at the moment, but they'll keep my info on file.
 
Well, it wasnt a day after i posted this thread that he was hired!! not by a regional, but a charter operation flying Aztec's and Navajo's. He will fly right seat starting in a month after a class. Thanks for support.
 
My instructor has just over 1200 TT with about 160 ME and leaves tomorrow for an interview with a Part 135 operation.

He doesn't know anyone with the company, so he was persistant. He applied early, updated his resume' constantly, called - a LOT and finally was granted an interview.

I, personally, am keeping my fingers crossed BIG TIME because, as the original poster indicated, there are a ton of guys just like that (1500TT+) out there still scrounging for a job.
 
My instructor has around 2500 hours now. He is a multi-engine and instrument instructor. He has also already taken the ATP written and scored a 98 on it.

This is really sad. He got hired by American Eagle and was 1 week into class when 9/11 happened. He got sent home. Then in November of last year, he got hired by ACA and was told he would be called for a class date in January. He is still waiting. Imagine passing two airline interviews and still not flying for one of them!

He now instructs and works at Best Buy. He has a really good attitude about it. He says that the industry is cyclic and his chance will come some day. His goals of being a Captain by a certain age are of course gone but he has not given up!

You can sort of tell he us burnt out from instructing. He only takes multiengine or commercial students now. Plus it doesn't help that he lives in downtown DC and has to drive 50 miles to my flight school in his car which breaks down everyday.

Mahesh
 
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