Southwest?

[LetsFlyAKite]

Hey all...

This is one of my first posts so I apologize and encourage someone to relocate this post if it is out of place!

I was hanging out at a local US airport trying to find opportunities for my first pilot job with a low TT and heard a really cool rumor about Southwest hiring pilots. 200 Multi with no regards to TT and you could get into a training program?!?!

Looking for someone to confirm / deny this rumor. Also, if you know someone or a company that is looking for a low TT pilot, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks for your time!

[v1r8]

Haha :) Flame bait?

Anyway, you need the right to work and live in the us.. Also atleast 2500 TT or 1500 Turbine PIC to aply..

Most new hires average about 3000/4000 TT + a 737 type rating..

V1

[non sched]

Sounds like an apprentice program which some airlines have. I'm not sure how they work but think they're tied to aviation programs at Universities. It's very limited. Otherwise, your experience requirements will be quite high.

There's a glut of pilots looking for jobs in the US and it's very competitive. The airline I work for hasn't hired anyone near the minimum requirements in some time. All new hires have way more than the minimum. Good luck.

[Ignition Override]

LetsFlyAKite: My crew just shared a hotel shuttle with a Southwest crew early (0545) Wednesday morning. The FO probably had eight years of flying experience, or more. He flew Continental 737s right before he joined Southwest. I've never heard of US major airlines sponsoring any pilot for actual training. Numerous foreign guys who work for a regional were somehow sponsored by the airline, and the "sponsoring" has something to do with a work permit in the US. There were always too many pilots available for the US airlines to even consider a program which pays for basic flight ratings. But-in 1965 it was a bit different, and a unique, very rare exception.

Not only have Southwest's new-hires always been quite experienced, thay also have the 737 type rating when they begin groundschool, and probably still require three written, positive recomendations from pilots with whom they have worked.

From an operational viewpoint, not personal, considering that some US airlines have furloughed over 1,000 pilots each (many of whom had 5,000 hours experience, if not much more- some of these ex-pilots were hired before 1988!) it is very difficult to imagine an airline nowadays needing to recruit pilots who have much less than 4-5,000 hours. US airlines place much more emphasis on real world flight experience than useless academic training, i.e. how are clearways engineered, how are weather forecasts created, which burner cans have the ignition excitors etc. Cathay hired a young pilot for a foreign base, having much less experience than the other two, reportedly because the young pilot was totally naiive about airline/union poilitics and other realities. One of the applicants is a buddy of mine.

It always surprises me that so many young pilots in other parts of the world have no familiarity with the terrible situation here. They seem to never get their information firsthand from US flightcrews (some furloughed pilots from my company work for a branch of either ANA or JAL, possibly others), unless it is mis-communicated or taken totally out of context, possibly distorted by a chain of people retelling what was an accurate depiction of the really bad scene here. Sure, a few airlines have done some hiring, but against a background scene of at least 10,000 or so very experienced pilots floating around, most of whom were forced to find totally different work, not including the thousands of younger pilots with various, more modest experience, many of whom would have been hired by US majors, if the 9/11 shocks, economic recession and recent fuel price increases (to any small extent "artificially" inflated?) had not happened. It is not my intention to discourage anyone from applying wherever, but being blissfully unaware can lead to misdirecting limited resources amd time.
:ugh:

Good luck out there.

[Flyrr100]

There are many university programs here that have guaranteed interviews with regional airlines.
Also the Delta Connection Academy in Sanford, FL has a program where you are guaranteed an interview with an established regional. But you gotta spend a bunch of money there first. I recently flew with an FO who has over $80k in loans. All for the Delta Connection Academy. Don't take that as knocking the academy. All the guys we have from there are compitent pilots.

[Flybet3]

Well guys, 200 hours to get in with southwest.....HAHAHAHA! no way, most guys average 3000 to 5000 hours total, with a good amount of turbine PIC. Not to say that they all must have a 737 type. In the US you guys major airlines dont hire low timers. The only airline I know that hired some 1500 hr guys was American Airlines, and it was becuase the guy was a military pilot that had 1500 of pure Jet experience. Anyway, most of the academies that train some pilots here guarantee an interview. But an interview does not mean a job, alot of guys interview and dont get hired. Plus alot of regionals are turning away from 500 hour academy pilots. :}

[Flyrr100]

We'll hire acadamy pilots, but you gotta have at least 1500 hours. And with the large number of out of work pilots knocking on our doors now, and the size of the avarage regional jet getting bigger (70 seats, soon to be 90 seats), 3000 hours with some 121 time is a big plus.