Originally Posted by
Intrance
I am not speaking in anyone's defense, but from reading here it sounds like they like hiring people with good manual flying skills, both in the past and now. The Jetstream 31/32 and Let 410 are not the easiest aircraft to fly (I speak from experience on the JS31/32). Basic six pack pretty much, no autopilot in most of them. Tricky to land well. The type of operations they usually fly will likely include a lot of visuals and non-precision approaches. I would generally trust pilots that have a year or two on a type like that to have some above average manual flying skills.
Likely they would prefer them to have the EFIS/FMS/FMA experience, but it usually takes more time and effort to add the skills to make a good pilot out of a good systems operator than the other way around. So if given the choice between someone with 500hrs EFIS/FMS aircraft experience but likely only disconnecting the autopilot in the last 1000ft, or someone with 500hrs of pure manual flying...
In the end it is the employer's prerogative I suppose, but it does not suit them to advertise one thing and act differently.
I find it funny (sarcasm) because I just came back from Canada with 2000h on the Jetstream 32 (FO and Captain) but I also have 500h PIC on the PC-12NG. A mix of handflying and FMS/Glass cockpit in a summary. But I have no feedback from airline who require jet experience most of the time. The total time requested is not so much but still jet experience... The CS-23 stuff is not valued by EU airlines at this time.
On the other hand, when I left Canada, I had the opportunity to get an interview with Air Canada with the same CV. Weird market.