What's up with the Hours req's?

PGH Maverick

Well-Known Member
I keep looking around the internet to see the types of jobs out there. I continuously see places hiring A320 captains, and the mins are 3000 total, and 500 PIC on type.

My question is, how in the heck do you get 500 jet PIC, let alone A320 PIC with that low of hours!

I would love to move on to bigger and better things in my career, but seriously how do you get that type of quality time so early in a career ? I don't want to be stuck at a regional when others are flying 737 or the A319/320/321 with the same experience level.
 
A lot of those mins are insurance driven, so there is that.

There are guys out there (a very few) that have that kind of time, they decided to leave the good ole US of A go overseas and fly the big iron of there. I know a few that did it and loved it, and others that downright hated it and couldn't wait for their contracts to end.
 
A lot of those mins are insurance driven, so there is that.

There are guys out there (a very few) that have that kind of time, they decided to leave the good ole US of A go overseas and fly the big iron of there. I know a few that did it and loved it, and others that downright hated it and couldn't wait for their contracts to end.
I would do a year of overseas flying to get some A320 time, or the like. A year of awful commuting and missing loved ones would be worth it for a guaranteed career boost... But there is no guarantee I would get picked up by a major when I came back!

I am just having a rough time figuring out the best route for career progression right now. I am new to the 121 world,so I am trying to navigate the 121 career jungle.
 
I think that the real question is should someone with only 3000 hours be flying an Airbus 320?

In the current system, aviation is very much an "apprentice" based system, where you start with smaller airplanes while "apprenticing" under senior captains. As you improve and have more experience, you move up. Start with a 172, pay some dues in a Seminole, move on to a Beech 99, maybe an RJ next for a few years, and then up to a big shiny jeeeetttt.

I'm sure that some skip steps along the way, but from what I have seen on here, it seems to be mostly true.
 
Enjoying RAH that much eh?

Some of those guys that are interested in these jobs and qualify, are interested because they have had a bad roll of the career dice, not an end-around.
 
Connections. I have a friend/ former student that was around 1,700TT with about 500 MTPIC when he went for his ATP checkride.

Unfortunately 121 flying makes those opportunities far and few between. Seniority based upgrades, insurance and regulatory requirements...
 
I think that the real question is should someone with only 3000 hours be flying an Airbus 320?

In the current system, aviation is very much an "apprentice" based system, where you start with smaller airplanes while "apprenticing" under senior captains. As you improve and have more experience, you move up. Start with a 172, pay some dues in a Seminole, move on to a Beech 99, maybe an RJ next for a few years, and then up to a big shiny jeeeetttt.

I'm sure that some skip steps along the way, but from what I have seen on here, it seems to be mostly true.

I don't think the type of aircraft has much to do with it. An A320 isn't somehow crazy different from a CRJ. It's just not. If you can learn to fly one modern jet, you can fly another.
 
I don't think the type of aircraft has much to do with it. An A320 isn't somehow crazy different from a CRJ. It's just not. If you can learn to fly one modern jet, you can fly another.
I agree a jet is a jet, I had students that went straight into the right seat of a 747 for Saudi Airways. If someone with 250 hours can do it over there, why is the consensus that someone over here needs 5000 hours to fly it? I don't think we are any less of pilots here, I mean we are the ones that trained those guys in the first place. With the proper training any airplane can be flown regardless of total time.
 
I agree a jet is a jet, I had students that went straight into the right seat of a 747 for Saudi Airways. If someone with 250 hours can do it over there, why is the consensus that someone over here needs 5000 hours to fly it? I don't think we are any less of pilots here, I mean we are the ones that trained those guys in the first place. With the proper training any airplane can be flown regardless of total time.
Tell that to US airlines...
 
I agree a jet is a jet, I had students that went straight into the right seat of a 747 for Saudi Airways. If someone with 250 hours can do it over there, why is the consensus that someone over here needs 5000 hours to fly it? I don't think we are any less of pilots here, I mean we are the ones that trained those guys in the first place. With the proper training any airplane can be flown regardless of total time.
Any airplane is easy to fly when things are going well. Experience (hours) comes into play at the other (much more important) times.
 
I had students that went straight into the right seat of a 747 for Saudi Airways. If someone with 250 hours can do it over there, why is the consensus that someone over here needs 5000 hours to fly it.

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I keep looking around the internet to see the types of jobs out there. I continuously see places hiring A320 captains, and the mins are 3000 total, and 500 PIC on type.

Do you actually know the people getting hired? There can be a big difference between posted mins and what someone is getting hired with.
 
I agree a jet is a jet, I had students that went straight into the right seat of a 747 for Saudi Airways. If someone with 250 hours can do it over there, why is the consensus that someone over here needs 5000 hours to fly it? I don't think we are any less of pilots here, I mean we are the ones that trained those guys in the first place. With the proper training any airplane can be flown regardless of total time.

Because a guy with 250 hours doesn't have as much experience, and is therefor more likely to make mistakes. In reality, yeah, any one of us could be trained to fly that thing around, but the likelihood of us low time guys doing something stupid is too big of a risk to take.

It's simple risk management. You want the guy with a million hours in his book because he's done more stupid stuff and lived through it than we have! Hours can be arbitrary, but it's the best way we have of determining someones ability because it would take too much money to really get to know each and every pilot that gets hired.


Then you have to consider what kind of experience those guys really have. They train for 250 hours in small aircraft, actually flying. Then they sit right seat in a jet, which is mostly automated, and by most companies ops specs the autopilot is on most of the flight. They basically take-off, land, and that's it. Not much actual stick-and-rudder experience happening there. So in the end, you get a 10,000 captain who might only have about 500 hours of actual stick and rudder flying. I realize folks in the states only have to get 1500 total before they can hop into a jet and that isn't much stick and rudder experience either, but we have to pick a number and frankly, 250 doesn't tickle my fancy.
 
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