How many hours do i need to to start work for an airline??

[bg187]

Hi. i am currently training to get my PPL. Am now thinking into the future and i need to know how many hours i would need to start work for an airline. I phoned virgin and BA but they couldnt give me rough estimate.Does anybody know how many i would need?????

[Martin4]

Take a little look on www.ppjn.com :ok:

It will give you airline info such as pay, recuirment requirements, recruitment process, website of the airline, and a few more nice bits of info


Martin :cool:

[scroggs]

Try reading this thread: Archive Reference Threads - READ BEFORE YOU POST A QUESTION (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=131649). In it you will find links to several very informative threads.

Airlines have different hours requirements for different pilot entry levels. Some airlines (BA, easyJet, Monarch, Thomsonfly) take some of their pilots straight from training. Some, like Virgin (who are exclusively longhaul) require their pilots to have several thousand commercial hours before application.*

Scroggs


*Although there is a new broom at the top of Virgin's Flight Ops, and the possibility of SOs/cruise pilots is being mooted. Watch this space.

[VC10 Rib22]

Scroggs,

I remember walking into Oxford not that long ago and seeing a poster stating that Virgin were hosting a seminar that same day, and thinking to myself "what the **** are Virgin doing here when they can pick the best experienced guys/gals from MYT, JMC, First Choice, easy, etc?". This "new broom" reasoning assists in alleviating my confusion over their presence at what is, unquestionably, an ab-initio establishment. Not so much "back to the future" as "back to the past"?

May I kindly ask your own thoughts on the possibility of Virgin introducing the cruise pilot position, please, without leaving yourself open to an invitation from the management to discuss things over tea & biscuits?

VC10 Rib22
:ok:

[FFP]

2500 hrs. Quality time. As a rough starting guide.

[potkettleblack]

Sounds like a crying shame that Virgin are considering cruise/SO's. Whilst on the face of it it seems like great news for wannabees in reality they will be oversubscribed with 737 and Airbus typerated FO's with thousands of jet hours from the likes of Ryanair, Easy etc who are only to happy to jump ship for what will be similar or slightly less pay but well below what they would have gotten as a direct entry FO. Surely all it will serve to do is to reduce the overall T&C's in virgin for new entrants and keep you at a lower pecking order for 3 years or so until the company decides that you are ready for upgrade and coughs up the cash to type rate you. You only have to look at Cathay to see the likely effects and how it has in effect created different payscales.

Be interested for your views Scroggs and the general consensus of your fellow pilots?

[scroggs]

Direct entry FOs to Virgin currently need around 4000 hours, the vast majoriy of which must be in an airline (or military) environment. The minimum is 2500 hours, but I don't think we've recruited anyone with so few hours in a long time. The SO/cruise pilot arrangement, should it ever happen, will not be an alternative route for experienced 737 drivers to get into the company with fewer hours (which, to be fair, was what happened last time). However, it's no more than a discussion point at the moment.

The reason Virgin attends places like Oxford is that it wants people to remember that it exists, and because it's not only ab-initio OAT students that attend these seminars. I went to a seminar at Oxford when I was preparing to leave the RAF (with over 7000 hours), and that was my first informal contact with Virgin's recruiters.

Scroggs

[alexban]

depends on the airline you'll want to work for...
Maybe you need to shoot for the closer stars,not necesarry BA or...
For a LCC you'll need very few hrs,and you'll be able to raise your experience with them,gaining real flight experience (takeoffs and landings) not only cruise flight...
Then,when you'll gain some thsd hrs,you may jump to whatever big star company you dream of....