Look an aviation Post Regarding flight times!

Eagle

New Member
Flight times:

Every now and then the question comes up here about the minimum times for different things. One I noticed that has not come up much and some folks have made incorrect conclusions from the limited information already provided..

Specifically.. The flight time required for flying part FAR part 135.

The exact wording is:
Sec. 135.243 - Pilot in command qualifications.
No certificate holder may use a person, nor may any person serve, as pilot in command in passenger-carrying operations unless the pic “Has had at least 1,200 hours of flight time as a pilot, including 500 hours of cross country flight time, 100 hours of night flight time, and 75 hours of actual or simulated instrument time at least 50 hours of which were in actual flight”

The SIC regs state…

Sec. 135.245 - Second in command qualifications.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), no certificate holder may use any person, nor may any person serve, as second in command of an aircraft unless that person holds at least a commercial pilot certificate with appropriate category and class ratings and an instrument rating. For flight under IFR, that person must meet the recent instrument experience requirements of part 61 of this chapter.


So in theory you could fly under part 135, with the minimum flight time to be a commercial instrument pilot. (200 hours?)
Granted there are not many operations that will hire a pilot with under 1000hrs. BUT it does happen. Like everything to do with aviation, some of the prime ingredients to get that position include but are not limited to:
1. Type of flying done.
2. Personality of the applicant
3. Professionalism
4. Appearance
5. References
6. Demeanor
 
Eagle, you are correct. According to the FARs, all you need to act as SIC in a Part 135 operation is a commercial certificate with the appropriate ratings. In the late 90's, many Part 135 freight operations were hiring low-time guys into the right seat. Pay was lousy, but it was good experience (generally in turbine equipment). One of my friends was hired into the right seat of a Shorts at 300 hours.

In your list of "prime ingredients to get that position", you left out the most important one - it's "How bad does the company need someone to fill that right seat?" With the current glut of unemployed pilots, nobody's going to rush out and hire a 300-hour pilot when they can get a 2000-hour pilot for the same price. Even worse, some of the companies that used to HIRE people to fill the right seat are now SELLING it to pilot wannabe's that need the experience. (Don't get me started.)

FFFI
(Former Part 135 Blue-Collar Pilot)
 
[ QUOTE ]
In your list of "prime ingredients to get that position", you left out the most important one - it's "How bad does the company need someone to fill that right seat?"

[/ QUOTE ]Excellent point. For both seats. It also answers the often tossed around question about logging those 20 NM hamburger hops as cross country time even though it doesn't count toward most certificates or ratings.

No, no one will be impressed with it, but if it gets you over the 500 hours of cross country time hump for a job they want to give you, it's nice to be able to point to it.
 
Worthwhile thread--thanks for posting this, Eagle. Quick question, tho: those mins apply to IFR or night VFR, correct? I was under the (possibly mistaken) impression that the mins for 135 day VFR PIC werer lower (not that there's a whole lot of demand for that other than maybe sightseeing flights I guess, but still).
 
[ QUOTE ]
Worthwhile thread--thanks for posting this, Eagle. Quick question, tho: those mins apply to IFR or night VFR, correct? I was under the (possibly mistaken) impression that the mins for 135 day VFR PIC werer lower (not that there's a whole lot of demand for that other than maybe sightseeing flights I guess, but still).

[/ QUOTE ]

Believe it was 500 TT needed for 135 VFR. That's what I seem to remember from my cargo days.
 
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