Originally Posted by
bafanguy
G'burg,
Nope, can't imagine Aussies being recruited for DEC at legacy US carriers because (1) We have strong unions with contracts precluding that, (2) FAA FARs require 1000 hours FAA Part 121 SIC time to fly as PIC in Part 121.
And US regionals are steppingstones and not designed to be career destinations. Of course most people just make touch and goes at regionals. But the E3 gave a number of young Aussies their first step up into airline flying with all their training paid for. This is a positive for those who got the opportunity allowing them to parlay this experience in other places (maybe even in the US in some cases).
It's difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison between the two directions at play in the E3 story. 100% of it is beyond the control of any of us Little People. But maybe there's a small positive for a few young Aussies ?
The moment in time Gnadenburg refers to was an extraordinary one (I had family involved so am well aware of what happened).
In Australia the union didn't help matters but, in the unlikely event something similar happened in the US, I'm sure the airlines in question would place extraordinary pressure on the politicians in Washington to change the FAR requirement for 1000 SIC on 121 so Aussies and anyone else who wants a job can get one with the minimum of fuss.