So you want to be a major airline pilot...

Cheechako

Cheechako

Well-Known Member
I pulled this off the airlinepilotcentral website. Here is what you're up against. These are the stats for the latest Alaska Airlines new hire class:

NEW HIRE PILOTS ALASKA
October 17th. Class . More classes to follow in November and December.

#1 DHC-8-400 Captain, Horizon Air – 8406 TT
#2 C-17 Examiner Aircraft Commander, USAF – 6513 TT
#3 DC-9 Aircraft Commander, USN – 3852 TT
#4 EMB-120 Captain, SkyWest – 8443 TT
#5 F-18, DC-9 Left-Seat Pilot, USNR – 2649 TT
#6 CRJ – 200/900, ERJ-145 Captain, Mesa– 8076 TT
#7 C-141, C-17 Instructor Pilot, USAFR – 3303 TT
#8 CL 65 Captain, Skywest – 4925 TT
#9 SF-340 Captain, Mesaba– 5380 TT
#10 C-17 Aircraft Commander, USAFR – 2228 TT
#11 DHC-8-200 Captain, Horizon Air – 6553 TT
#12 EMB-120 Captain, Great Lakes– 6209 TT
#13 EMB-145/135 Captain, ExpressJet – 5340 TT
#14 Captain, Great Lakes – 5262 TT
#15 EMB-145 Captain, Continental Express – 5453 TT
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(and, no, #8 is not me!)

The bar is a lot higher than the pre-9/11 days. These are all pilots who were just under the requirements during the last hiring wave. They've all been captains flying 600-800 hours a year since that time just waiting for their chance. I know #4 interviewed and was hired pre-9/11 and has just been waiting around for this class!!
 
kinda neat to see Great Lakes on there. I hear alot of people say they wouldn't work for them because it doesn't look good on a resume flying a prop compared to all the jet jobs out there. I figured there would be a few more Hoizon guys in there though.
 
I thought Alaska is hiring some people for next year class. SkyWChris, you may get your wish - move back to Alaska
 
Silver bullet

Alaska has a pilot recommendation program, too. No chance of an interview unless somebody within the pilot group gives you a recommendation.

It would be interesting to see a "number of years from college to Alaska class" figure. It was 9 years from end of college to a good major airline for me. I bet that number has gone up quite a bit. Yet we have these flight academies saying how great things are in the industry....
 
It's not Great Lakes flying props I have a probem with. Hell, I'd almost RATHER fly a TP than a jet. It's the low pay for the FOs that I have a problem with.
 
kellwolf said:
It's not Great Lakes flying props I have a probem with. Hell, I'd almost RATHER fly a TP than a jet. It's the low pay for the FOs that I have a problem with.
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Also, look at the hours they've got. We're talking 4-5 years at Lakes. The people that say "go there for a quick upgrade" are right, you get a quick upgrade, but what they don't mention is you still have to sit for a couple thousand hours as captain, and still only make mid-30's. I'll take more pay sitting F/O in a jet (call it SJS if you want). But again, that's my own opinion.

I really want to fly something single pilot IFR for a bit while I'm still young with just a dog that depends on me. When I get furlouged, I think I might try it out...

~wheelsup
 
kellwolf said:
It's not Great Lakes flying props I have a probem with. Hell, I'd almost RATHER fly a TP than a jet. It's the low pay for the FOs that I have a problem with.
Click to expand...

Also, look at the hours they've got. We're talking 4-5 years at Lakes. The people that say "go there for a quick upgrade" are right, you get a quick upgrade, but what they don't mention is you still have to sit for a couple thousand hours. I'll take more pay sitting F/O in a comfy jet, with good work rules (call it SJS if you want) thank you. But again, that's my own opinion.

I really want to fly something single pilot IFR for a bit while I'm still young with just a dog that depends on me. When I get furlouged, I think I might try it out...

~wheelsup
 
Yeah, I agree with the pay issue for sure!

One of the things I would be afraid of with them is that there is no FA and I think the FO ends up doubling as the gear actuator/FA. Another thing that would not be so glamours is there is no lav on that thing... How many times do you think the FO ends up being the one who gets to clean up the seat when some drunk pax forgets to hit the can before he climbs aboard?

I do think the places they fly to would be pretty neat though, and I am sure you will never be a better pilot than your last flight as a Lakes pilot.
 
Timbuff10 said:
kinda neat to see Great Lakes on there. I hear alot of people say they wouldn't work for them because it doesn't look good on a resume flying a prop compared to all the jet jobs out there. I figured there would be a few more Hoizon guys in there though.
Click to expand...

i've actually heard just the opposite, tim. some airlines (airtran in particular) like lakers because they know that the pilots are actually FLYING the 1900, not pushing buttons at predetermined times like in a CRJ.
 
Timbuff10 said:
Yeah, I agree with the pay issue for sure!

One of the things I would be afraid of with them is that there is no FA and I think the FO ends up doubling as the gear actuator/FA. Another thing that would not be so glamours is there is no lav on that thing... How many times do you think the FO ends up being the one who gets to clean up the seat when some drunk pax forgets to hit the can before he climbs aboard?

I do think the places they fly to would be pretty neat though, and I am sure you will never be a better pilot than your last flight as a Lakes pilot.
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Actually the captain is the professional gear slinger in the 1900. Being an FO at lakes isn't so bad. Your only FA duties are to give a quick brief before each flight to the pax and afterwards you do have to make a quick run through of the cabin to pick up trash newspapers and such. The no lav thing isn't much of an issue(although I can tell you that there are some damn hilarious stories about this too) and you're not required to clean any of that up since its considered hazmat.

Yeah the pay sucks as an FO and the company sucks but damn i'm having the time of my life right now flying the 1900 around. This truely is a "fraternity" of sorts and pilot group is probably best group you'll ever fly with. That being said, it's really all about your perspective. You can either sit and dwell on the bad things while being miserable here or you can make the most of it and enjoy it while you can since it'll probably be the last time you get to truely hand fly a plane in your career.
 
wheelsup said:
Also, look at the hours they've got. We're talking 4-5 years at Lakes. The people that say "go there for a quick upgrade" are right, you get a quick upgrade, but what they don't mention is you still have to sit for a couple thousand hours as captain, and still only make mid-30's. I'll take more pay sitting F/O in a jet (call it SJS if you want). But again, that's my own opinion.

I really want to fly something single pilot IFR for a bit while I'm still young with just a dog that depends on me. When I get furlouged, I think I might try it out...

~wheelsup
Click to expand...

The quick upgrade is just what it is. A quick upgrade. Alot of people choose to bail after about 1500-2000 hours pic turbine and head for a more comfortable place sitting in the right seat of an rj knowing that they've got that one big requirement met if/when the lcc's or majors ever start hiring again. Others choose to stay, get two type ratings or work on becomming a line check airman(I believe most check airmans make about 40-45k a year with the rapid turnover here), build time and work on their connections before leaving. That's pretty much what the newhires at Alaska did.

Either way, to each his/her own. My plan is to get atleast 2000 hours pic and then see what the industry is like at that time. And hopefully Frontier will hire plenty of lakers in this next round of hiring so that the flood gates may open later on for the rest of us. :)
 
You can either sit and dwell on the bad things while being miserable here or you can make the most of it and enjoy it while you can since it'll probably be the last time you get to truely hand fly a plane in your career.
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We can hand fly the RJ as much as we want. Sure our Manual says the Autopilot "should be engaged while in level flight in RVSM airspace" but it's doesn't say it has to be. I hand fly the thing from takeoff to FL 360 raw data every once in a while if I get bored enough. Same thing on the way down. I usually get bored again after holding it straight in level in cruise for about 10 minutes, break down and turn the AP back on.
 
Alchemy said:
We can hand fly the RJ as much as we want. Sure our Manual says the Autopilot "should be engaged while in level flight in RVSM airspace" but it's doesn't say it has to be. I hand fly the thing from takeoff to FL 360 raw data every once in a while if I get bored enough. Same thing on the way down. I usually get bored again after holding it straight in level in cruise for about 10 minutes, break down and turn the AP back on.
Click to expand...

Sorry, my apologies if I gave anyone the wrong impression about what I meant by "truely hand flying a plane".

Basically what I was referring to was the type of flying that's similar to what you can do in your 172. We get to do stuff like being put on a close downwind at DEN and being cleared for the "laker" visual approach once we're abeam the numbers at 10,000 ft (power levers to idle, crank it over for the base to short final turn after losing 5000ft and put it down ahead of the 757 on a 5 mile final), the incredible over the top approaches into Telluride, those damn full procedure dme approaches out in Nebraska, riding the barber pole to the outermarker and all the other type of visual approaches we get to do because we don't necessarily need a stabilized approach. And for us 1900 guys we get the pleasure of doing it all without an autopilot and most likely a flight director if you're an FO.

Don't get me wrong though, as much as I like hand flying the 1900 I look forward to the day when I can climb up to cruise and hit the autopilot for an hour or two. :p
 
Maaan, why does it take so much time and effort to become a major airline pilot? At 200 hours, still in college ... sure seems a long way off.

Screw it, I quit.
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