Minimum flight time for jobs

[jtrain609]

It's terrible when your a graduate of a 141 program, so you've got your Commercial SEL MEL Instrument and only 220 hours

Western Michigan eh?

Go Bronco's! TEXAS BOWL BABY!

Or if you went to Eastern, good job shutting down Central.

 

[Blip16]

Well commercial for a 141 graduate only requires 190 hours .

depends. i put a student in for his final stage last week who has 170

 

[Adler]

Western Michigan eh?

Go Bronco's! TEXAS BOWL BABY!

Or if you went to Eastern, good job shutting down Central.

western

depends. i put a student in for his final stage last week who has 170

Doesn't he need to build time after the stage then?

 

[Blip16]

western



Doesn't he need to build time after the stage then?

nope our program here requires 35 for private. then the commercial course only requires 122 hours. so you can actually get done in around 160. final stage check in the commercial course is in AMEL, but you get ASEL+AMEL Commercial with IR all in one checkride, and you don't get any other ratings inbetween private and commercial final stage check

 

[jtrain609]

western



Doesn't he need to build time after the stage then?

Baller. I graduated in December 2005! I miss Kalamazoo a lot.

 

[Lee D]

Everyone here finished their training with sub 300 hours plus or minus 50. Aviation is a marathon, not a race.

:yeahthat: I 2nd or 3rd that. All good suggestions. . . . CFIing. Military if you can. Traffic planes or pipeline patrol. It all takes effort and patience.

 

[Boris Badenov]

I'm going to be That Guy and throw the old "a 160 hour commercial pilot is ridiculous" grenade in the room.

But it is. Ridiculous I mean, not a grenade. Granted, I'm unusually slow, but I could barely count the wings at 160 hours.

 

[Roger, Roger]

Granted, I'm unusually slow, but I could barely count the wings at 160 hours.

Good, there's still hope for me then!

 

[Boris Badenov]

Good, there's still hope for me then!

But you want to fly freight. There's no hope for you, you'll wind up just like the rest of us.

 

[Blip16]

I'm going to be That Guy and throw the old "a 160 hour commercial pilot is ridiculous" grenade in the room.

But it is. Ridiculous I mean, not a grenade. Granted, I'm unusually slow, but I could barely count the wings at 160 hours.

i'm not disagreeing, but i agree. they also have probably around 45-50 hours in the FTD's as well, but FTD's aren't airplanes.

i finished with i think around 215, but i also did 3 extra courses and flying away from school, otherwise i would have had probably 175ish

 

[Blip16]

But you want to fly freight. There's no hope for you, you'll wind up just like the rest of us.

me too! just need to find someone hiring

 

[jtrain609]

But you want to fly freight. There's no hope for you, you'll wind up just like the rest of us.

Hey I wanted to fly too, and look at me now!

 

[Adler]

But you want to fly freight. There's no hope for you, you'll wind up just like the rest of us.

I just want to fly!

 

[jtrain609]

I just want to fly!

Don't just want to fly, desire to get paid well to fly.

I know it doesn't make much sense right now, and you'll ignore this piece of advice, and in 3 years you'll think about how correct it was, but don't sell yourself short man. The first time I got paid to fly an airplane I thought, "Man I can't believe they pay me to do this!"

I made $7,000 that year.

The next job I thought, "Wow, I can't believe they pay me to fly an airplane THIS BIG!"

It was a Piper Chieftain, though I was paid much better.

By the time I got my last job flying an RJ, and the job that furloughed me, all I could think was, "Are you serious? This is all they're paying me to do all this work and handle this much responsibility? This is some kind of a sick joke, right?"

And would you believe it, I was at training for my new job and the guy next to me says, "I can't believe they're paying me to do this."

It wears off fast.

And don't get me wrong, because a lot of people that don't know me at all do, I love airplanes. I love flying airplanes. I love challenging airplanes, and challenging approaches with fun crews and good overnights and all that other jazz. It's just that life is not as simple as that, at least not for me. Life has complexities that make it what it is, and therefor I can't look at this career as black and white. I can't say, "Well as long as I love what I'm doing!" because if I love what I'm doing but my wife is being neglected or my bills can't be paid, then the job worthless to me no matter how much happiness it brings me.

But desire to get paid well to fly. Hold yourself to a high standard and the hours will come.

 

[Hacker15e]

And would you believe it, I was at training for my new job and the guy next to me says, "I can't believe they're paying me to do this."

It wears off fast.

While your point is valid and I agree, the question I'm always left with after hearing such an argument is, where do you draw that line? What IS enough realistic compensation?

There are definitely times in my job when I say "I can't believe they're paying me to do this", and other times when I say "they're not paying me NEARLY ENOUGH to do this"....and I make six figures.

 

[WalterSobchak]

You could accumulate those ours through.....Flight instructing, Fire Patrol/Spotting, Aerial Photography, Ferrying Airplanes, Sky divers, Banner Towing, and the list could go on. It really is not hard to get 1200 hours if you are willing to look.

 

[t-cart]

You could accumulate those ours through.....Flight instructing, Fire Patrol/Spotting, Aerial Photography, Ferrying Airplanes, Sky divers, Banner Towing, and the list could go on. It really is not hard to get 1200 hours if you are willing to look.

Welcome back WalterSobchak, It's all good.

 

[Adler]

WalterSobchak - your signature is incorrect.

I was taught that he four forces that make an airplane fly is $ $ $ $

 

[Turbo Mcfloat]

While your point is valid and I agree, the question I'm always left with after hearing such an argument is, where do you draw that line? What IS enough realistic compensation?

There are definitely times in my job when I say "I can't believe they're paying me to do this", and other times when I say "they're not paying me NEARLY ENOUGH to do this"....and I make six figures.

I can say it is well above the first year FO pay level, where bills are hard to pay and saving money is impossible. Never mind the inability to afford to go to the doctor if you get sick or fix your car if it breaks. If everything went perfect and nothing needed replacing I could manage, maybe. It is a really good thing for my wallet that I don't have a girlfriend or eat out or I'd live off of credit cards. 30k would give a lot more breathing room to start with.

 

[Boris Badenov]

I have no idea how anyone survives on first year F/O wages. I make more than double the "average" first year F/O, have modest student debt, own and do most of my own work on my car, live in a cheap apartment in a cheap city, and while I confess that a significant chunk goes to stupidity (drinking, smoking, you know...fun), even if I lived like a monk, I wouldn't be putting aside much. $30k doesn't seem unreasonable for SIC on a turbine aircraft to me.

That said, the market pays what the market will bear. I just hope the regionals are populated by people with iron fiscal discipline, not kids running up their debt to unsustainable levels in order to "live the dream".