Regional Jet Flying

Getting that first Jet Job

2007-11-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

So you have thought about it , worked the numbers and you want that job, Fine go for it. Right now your chances of landing a job at a regional Airline is greater than it has ever been before. The whole industry is recoiling from the days of 9-11 and the fact that very few began this career path as a result.
So here you are with an incredible opportunity to start down the road of "Living The Dream". Pardon me while i puke....just kidding it is better than a REAL job. OK enough of that the facts are that ALL REGIONALS are hiring although they are not doing that good of a job at it . They want twice as many new-hires as they are getting. The truth is if you have a license and a pulse you will get hired, not since the mid sixties has it been sooooo easy to get a job in this industry.
Back in 1994 (i know the stone age) you absolutely had to have 2 to 3 thousand hours a college degree and a ATP to even get an interview. But now as in many industries there are cycles some good years some bad for hiring , right now the industry is in a very good year(s) for hiring.
Using my airline as an example we only require 500 total and 100 multi. To me this is insane but its what the industry is down to. I fault NO_ONE for trying to get a job with little or no time , i would have tried.......and failed if i had gotton a job with that little of time. But everyone is different and i wish everybody success.
The best thing you can do is take the entire process VERY seriously......please do not have the attitude , if i fail out of training at airline A.......airline B will hire me and i will do better. Have ALL your ducks in a row before during and after your interview training.
I actually had this guy as a sim partner, He was very sharp.....sat next to him in ground school and could answer nearly every question or problem during class.......but then came the sim.
Now this guy was no young kid. He was looking for a career change. He had spent the last several years working for NASA......no crap i asked to see his badge. His job was an engineer analyst for the shuttle crews and the problems they reported after a mission . OK sharp guy.
But this guy had spent the last few years tooling around in some aero club baron/bonanza VFR
and not really working within the ATC/IFR system.
We start the first day of SIM and everybody is nervous that first session at their first job so no big deal. Then day two came and it became obvious that the guy could keep the wings level and wasnt going to crash but as far as working the FLIGHT GUIDANCE PANEL and The autopilot this guy was clueless..........and alot of instructors will say this at this level, THIS AINT DUAL you had better know how to fly an approach shoot a miss go to a hold and so on.
I tried to work with this guy but you have to have some basic concepts down or it just gets to be too much at one time....sort of like drinking from a fire hose. This guy went along three then four sim sessions then i took him aside and say "look man i do not mean to bust your bubble but you need to resign BEFORE they fire you" I just wanted him to understand it would be ALOT better to resign and make up some excuse so he could get some more real experience in the ATC/IFR system so he could get a job later. He didnt listen, they fired him the next morning and now he has that on his record for life.
The point of this is , appreciate that you can get the chance to fly for a living with so little experience, but take it seriously and be ready and sharp. Do not mess up and party your way thru new hire training thinking they can not afford to let you go.
Now do not get me wrong, if you are out there flying freight, IFR in some piece of crap twin you will do fine and not have any problem....it aint hard. But it does take some experience.

Crappy Schedules

2007-10-31T20:28:00.001-07:00

I have been flying for this Airline for over 14 yrs and the quality of schedules has taken a severe nosedive over the past year. I refuse at this stage to do a 4 day trip, just my preference i dont commute so two days or daily's are what i bid. But you would think that after all this time i could hold the weekends off, WRONG!
At one time i had absolutely no problem holding the type of schedule i wanted but that has become a thing of the past. Now those at my sen. are forced to fly the most horrible schedules ever devised , 5 leg days getting off at 9pm after a 14hr duty day. This is a direct result of not being able to hire at the same as the attrition rate. And there seems to be no end in site. So for those of you who think that after a few years you will be flying choice trips and enjoying life please think again because in this industry there are no guarantees.

Checkride......the every 6mos. torture session

2007-10-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

I had my normal 6mos. justify my job simulator check yesterday. This one was a PC. They TRY to rotate PC ,recurrent ride, PC but this does not always happen. But this particular ride was a PC (for those who do not yet speak the lingo a PC is a test a recurrent ride is just that ,Training and as long as you dont just sit there and drool on the yoke there is no pass or fail for recurrent just a completed check in some box) At my perticular airline all recurrent and PC's are done on the weekend since all simulator time during the week is used to abuse all the new hires.
My PREFERED sim time is 10pm til2am this pretty much is a guarantee that your local FAA guy will not show up and make the Check Airman and YOU nervous and forget to put the gear down or some stupid mistake like that. But this time my show time was 0730am Sunday morn for a 10am till 2pm sim, No feds so that was good.
I learned a long time ago after many years of getting so stressed out about a checkride that I would down a bottle of malox just to keep my stomach in place the nite before, that there is NO such thing as a perfect ride, and over the years i have more or less made peace with the whole process and while i do not enjoy it i dont get as stressed as i once did. I simply know ALL the acft limitations and ALL the memory items, Everything else if i know it i will say so but i have no problem what so ever in telling the Check Airman i dont have a clue . I do not recommend this course of action if you are a new hire.
We spent the first 45 minutes talking about the war in Iraq (both of us were ex ARMY) then we moved on with a discussion on scuba diving, This is an important key to a good oral exam if you instructor engages you in ANY conversation outside of airplanes take it as far as he will let it go act interested in whatever he wants to talk about because EVERY minute he talks is a minute less he has time to find out what you really dont know about the acft you are flying. The simulator time is rigorously scheduled so time is your friend. Remember NO ONE knows it all and any one who thinks they do is fooling their self. I have 4000 hours on my current acft and 5000 on the last one and any new hire fresh off of IOE could probably stump me on something.
Now with my 15minutes of oral time left he did get around to asking me some(not all ) memory items and a few limits as well as a few first flight of the day items , no sweat, there wasnt enough time left to dig myself a hole. This wasnt my first Rodeo.
The other guy shows up and its his turn now who knows how his oral goes and its not for you to worry about.
Now as most instructors will do they will let the students decide who goes first, I always make sure the instructor knows that i could care less who goes first, one it makes me look more confident, second there are advantages to both. Some people make the stupid mistake as voiceing their desire to go second. This is stupid for obvious reasons, you look scared and unsure of yourself.
The advantage of going first is that you be done alot sooner and you can sit back and watch the other guy sweat as the instructor watches his watch to see if they will get all the required maneuvers complete before they have to give the sim to the next guy. Going second in my opinion is BETTER but i would never let the instructor know that, The advantage of going second is that you will have a feel for how the instructor runs his sim while you play non flying pilot for the other guy. You also rarely start back at the gate when its your turn your usually sitting lined up on the runway both engines running and ready to go. This prevents you from making some lame eng. start mistake or getting lost in the simulator make believe world trying to find the runway as you taxi out.
Ok so we take off climb to our make believe altitude and go thru a couple of stall series, most instructors thing this is a waste of time so they really are not paying attention , because if at this level you cant recognize a stall you need to be somewhere else. He is busy setting up the approach for your first ILS( mins wind etc.)
Now here is a tidbit for all you potential new FO's. A simulator has many airports within its data base for you to practice your flying as you will see during initial training. BUT for checking events such as a type ride or PC the sim is almost certainly only certified at one airports approaches, ours happens to be MEM. So dont stress about not knowing where your approaches will be you will know far ahead of time which ones there will be. I have been shooting the same 3 approaches at MEM for 14 years and while i pretend to look at the jepp i know them in my sleep. I know this doesnt seem right but i didnt write the rulebook.
Now last year they did throw us a curve and certify FMS approaches but they are really the same ones just using the fms.
Ok stall series done , desend for the ILS 36. Know you KNOW that you are going to go miss out of this so dont stress go thru it in your head think about the miss and you will be shooting the published miss no big deal. Most of the time we get close to the hold and he asks which way are you gonna turn. Tell him confidently which way dont studder and he will turn you out before you ever get there. Now back for another ILS but somewhere in route you will loose and engine big deal. Fly the plane let the other guy deal with it. As you come in for a landing you KNOW that you will go miss here to because thats the standard to be able to go miss single engine without crashing. Now he vectors you around after restarting the failed eng for some sort of non-precision you will land here so dont go around. You will roll to the end turn around and be cleared for take off. Now one of two things will happen, either an abort ....big deal....or a V1 cut so whichever you get first the next one you will know whats coming.
I did forget the ILS 27 circle 18r some airlines have stopped circling so it just depends what your will do its an easy manv. once you have seen it done so just remember the profile its a CAPT manv so FO's dont do it so you will see it done alot before you ever do it.
Abort V1 cut then you are done. no big deal.
A checkride isnt something to fear , tell them what you know fly to the best of your ability and leave it at that. There is no reason to get all stressed out and make stupid mistakes because you are nervous. The instructor was once in your position as well and he didnt fly a perfect ride either.

Recoil from 9-11

2007-10-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

Right now the industry is in a recoil state caused by the tragedy of the September 11th.
Everyone knows that you do not create an Airline Pilot overnite. It takes YEARS to get to the level so that someone will hire you. Granted sometimes the industry is actively looking for pilots to fill their cockpit seats( LIKE NOW) and other years the hiring is scarse to a trickle. The time it takes to get to the level of experience to get hired varies with the industry. Right now if you have a commercial license and about 1000 hrs with a couple of hundred multi you a pretty much marketable. Although the more time you have the better your chances are and no matter what someone tells you all time is NOT created equal. For instance if you have been dropping bombs on iraq in your F-16 for the past 5 years you probably have somewhere in the neiborhood of 800 hrs total time and UPS wants you now! But if you have 800 hrs single engine in your cessna over Iowa you are far from marketable in the airline industry. And HONESTLY thats the way it should be . Those that have served and flown should go to the front of the line simply because without them there would be no Country such as this where you can get to an Airline cockpit with being VERY RICH (ever fly in Europe?) or spending years in the military. Thats just the facts of life.
So assuming you don't have a class ring from the Air Force academy (Although my FO did the other day) and you have @ 1200hrs start filling out the apps TODAY. Now its just my opinion but the Kit Darby Air inc. Thing is a HUGE waste of money. And seriously dont pay someone for an interview prep. Most interviewers see right thru that . Just be yourself and be honest and answer all the questions to the best of your ability, No one has all the answers and alot of time the interviewer will keep asking you things until he see how you act when stumped. Just dont get stumped on a simply question like whats the standard ILS mins.
Remember the Airliner you are wanting to fly is an automated machine. so whatever you are flying now use the automation it has (if it has any) and get used to PUSHING BUTTONS. Because when u do get into that simulator the instructor could give a flip how well you hand fly the NDB, he wants to know whether you can program the Flight Guidance Panel to fly it the way the book says. This is very important know how to configure the automation and make it work for you.

The Honestly Positive side of Regional jet life

2007-10-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Have I discouraged you yet? I hope not because HONESTLY there is alot of upside to this industry, i.e. flying for a living. It is alot better than digging a ditch for a living or answering the phone all day for someone else.
I do get the privilege (yes i do mean that) of Flying a multi-million dollar jet all around the country for a living. And on occasion some of the destinations are nice. I do make a decent salary by my standards (and this varies with every individual)(just depends on how you were raised).
And at least at my Airline i can sleep pretty soundly that we will still be in business for many years to come. Trust me this is a concern for alot of pilots out there.
I cannot understate this at all your quality of life will greatly depend on timing at the time you are hired. If you are hired soon after the hiring starts your trek up the seniority ladder will be quicker (VERY IMPORTANT) but if you are one off those that hit the tail end of a hiring time your life can be down right miserable......you could be PERMANENTLY on reserve and have the pleasure of working every weekend and every holiday. This is no exaggeration someone has to be on the bottom of the list and when the music stops over at the recruitment department the last ones thru the door have signed up for YEARS of reserve and abuse by the diabolical lords of Crew Scheduling.

The Honest description of daily life

2007-10-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

I created this so You as a potential future First Officer can really know what you are getting into. If you think you are going to be jetting around to exotic destinations with young Flight Attendants on both arms , Think again.
I plan on covering a broad range of subjects, from training (everything you need to know and alot of things you never thought of) To flying the line on a daily basis.
The internet wasnt even around way back in the stone age when i started flying (as my Children remind me of often) so all the knowledge i recieved was from asking questions and reading books about the industry. Who knew the wealth of information that would become available to ANYONE just by searching the internet. Questions like, What are they gonna ask on the interview? Is there a written test to get hired? What is it like flying the Simulator? How long will i be on Reserve?. The list is endless.
So if you are considering this career path, please take the time to reasearch the truth, Not what the recruiter is telling you.
So that I may remain employed at my perticular Airline all the information i will provide will be generic and not associated IN ANY WAY to a specific carrier. All Airlines are different and at the same time all are the same . All have to comply with the same regulations and all are governed by the same union contracts with the exception of a couple.
Right now you are probably saying, yada yada yada enough with all this i just want to get hired and then I will worry about all that stuff. This is where ALOT of pilots make a serious mistake and spend years of their life in an industry that is neither satisfying or rewarding to them before they come to the conclusion that this career isnt for them.
Honestly some people love the industry and some do not. That is a choice all must make for themselves, but given the right HONEST information you will be able to make the choice for yourself.

Regional Jet Life

2007-10-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

So You want to be a commercial Airline Pilot.

Are you sure you know what your getting into?
Think what you getting into? Are you sure? You may have a glamor image of jetting around the country in your leather jacket and staying at exotic destinations. But to be HONEST you would be mostly wrong. Right now the Airlines are severly hurting to hire pilots, HONESTLY no joke. And with that goes the quality of life for the average line pilot. Meaning they loose alot of control over their trips because of the lack of staffing. Simply more work and less time off. As a new hire you can expect to ride the reserve pony for 3 years or more depending on the airline of choice. And with that reserve line you can be limited to just 11 days off. I hear you saying 11 days off thats 4 more than i get at my current job. But you must consider thats an average of 19 days away from home. So if you have a wife or kids this is something that YOU must consider.
Imagine this you start your week on reserve with a 4-day trip out of ORD. lets say that 4 day trip has a 0530am sign in your first leg is to Flint MI. (a real garden spot) back to ORD with a 25 min turn to MKE with another 25min turn back to ORD. Now you have a 3hr sit until you go to your overnight at MQT. Sounds Fun, It should that is the short day and you have three more to go.
After your fun filled 4 day trip just as you pull up to the gate salivating at the prospect of sleeping in your own bed you recieve a message that you have been extended for a two day trip. 4+2=6days......I hope you brought that much underwear.
In reality all trips at this level are similar to this. 5 legs 5legs 3legs 3legs. With duty days reaching 14 scheduled hours legaly and another 2 hours that can be used in the case of weather or operational mishaps(acft Broke).
But you say there are legal rest requirements......i have heard of those as well. sure you can have 8hours off but dont assume that 8 hours is spent ALL in the hotel. Thats 8hrs from the time the brake was set. And you have two whellchair pax that seemingly take 30min to deplane, followed by your trip to the curb to wait for the hotel van that is NEVER there on time now you drive for 30 mins to the hotel, check in. and magic your 8hr legal rest is now 6 and a half.