Originally Posted by
aviation_enthus
This comment right here sums it up. Doesn’t matter what type you’ve flown before, if the culture and standards of your previous employer aren’t great then you’ll struggle (either in the interview or training). I’ve seen plenty of people with lots of hours fail because what they thought was ok in the current job, wasn’t good enough in the next one.
Yes someone one will say we’re all professionals and you should do a good job regardless, but if all you’ve seen is rubbish, what do you have to compare too?
Personally I’ve found the Captains who have just flown jets (especially 747’s) seem to look down on previous TP time the most. The guys that have flown TP at some point in their careers are better.
At the end of day, I’d regard previous command time as more useful than whether you’ve flown a jet or a TP. If you’ve jumped through the hoops and become a captain, you’ll have a better understanding of the management side of a flight. I think the problem with a ‘lack of experience’ is that most applicants are f/o’s, not necessarily from TP. From the group I joined with, all but two ‘jet pilots’ were f/o’s. out of the TP guys, all captains, one former F-4 pilot, two ex TRE/Trainers.
Well said. As a guy that went from TP straight into heavy jet, I think my best prep was my command time. The transition was reasonably simple from small type LHS to big type RHS. To date, the only jets I have flown are heavies, without incident. The advice I would give to any up-and-coming is... Get your command, on anything. Command time opens doors. If one is close, stay and get at least 500h preferably 1k command on what you are on, then shop your cv.
ie: Do328 to MD11 to B777