American Eagle, Part Two
By Robert Mark on March 14th, 2007And hot off the presses is an update from my friends at FLTops.com that the numbers I quoted in the piece below about qualifying for a pilot job at American Eagle are now incorrect.
Interestingly, they were correct when I printed them, but that was on Monday and well, things change.
The original story below showed 800 total time and 100 multi-engine to apply at American Eagle. Today, FLTops.com is reporting that total time figure has dropped again to 500 hours.
You flight instructors had better begin polishing up those resumes and your interviewing skills once you reach that magic 100 hour multi time figure.
Of course, if everyone starts flying for the regionals, who will be left to teach new students how to fly and eventually fill in the holes in the system?
Technorati tags: Pilots, American+eagle, regional+airline, flight+training
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March 14th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Rob,
What would you say defines that bottom line in experience requirements in the US?
Insurance minimums, training costs or just the market? Maybe a combination of all three?
March 14th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
From the comment a reader posted yesterday about a pilot getting hired at Pinnacle with 285 hours, the amount of experience seems to be almost meaningless.
The problem is that no matter how astounding the training program before they put someone in the right seat of an RJ, I doubt it covers much beyond being able to get the airplane down in VFR conditions if the person in the left seat became incapacitated.
The insurance companies must be talking to these airlines about this sort of thing. My guess is the airlines tell them that without these kind of minimums, they’ll shut down. It’s an ever-evolving risk management case study.
As long as the safety wall isn’t breached, the airlines will continue business as usual I bet.
So I guess we just keep our fingers crossed.
March 15th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
[…] There is a lot of talk (some of it here) about the shortage of trained and experienced pilots across the globe. The small, feeder carriers […]
March 16th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Rob,
It looks like the much-ballyhood pilot shortage is upon us. No wonder, given the state of the profession (low wages, destroyed retirements, too much work).
I remember when United was hiring zero-time pilots back in the late 1960s. The only thing that saved the airline industry then (in my opinion) was the early 1970s recession that halted pilot hiring.
March 20th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Rob, the 285-hour Pinnacle hire is, according to some guys who know him, an ace in the CRJ – we’ve got CRJ systems and simulator courses as a required part of our Commercial Aviation major here at UND. Most likely he was hired with a class date that left him enough time to log the 15 hours left to what is apparently a 300 hour minimum.