When does minimum hours mean minumum hours?
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When does minimum hours mean minumum hours?
Armed with my new CPL/IR and a whopping 250hrs, I am looking through the lists of airlines who specify a minimum number of hours before they will consider applications for flight deck positions 
Clearly there are good reasons they do this but has anybody been successful and got through the front door anywhere with anything less that the "official" minimum requirements?
I can't help thinking that these limitations are flexible if you're in the right place at the right time and I want to send my humble "please can I have a job" letter to as many people as possible!
I'm sure they just raise and lower the barrier depending on who and what they need at any given time.......
Thanks
Hufty.
Clearly there are good reasons they do this but has anybody been successful and got through the front door anywhere with anything less that the "official" minimum requirements?
I can't help thinking that these limitations are flexible if you're in the right place at the right time and I want to send my humble "please can I have a job" letter to as many people as possible!
I'm sure they just raise and lower the barrier depending on who and what they need at any given time.......
Thanks
Hufty.
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Right place at the right time....
Many moons ago I was in your shoes with about 700 hours when I had enquired with the chief pilot of a DC6 freighter outfit about a copilot job. He said that there was no way that I could get hired because of "insurance" requirements. But as a courtesy he had kept my resume "on file."
Well, it was about a week later when my phone rang: "Would you be available this afternoon to fly a trip?" It just so happened that one of his copilots was sick and a replacement copilot was out of town. So here I was in the right seat of a big DC6 piston banger! ...And I didn't even know how to open the window.
Well, it was about a week later when my phone rang: "Would you be available this afternoon to fly a trip?" It just so happened that one of his copilots was sick and a replacement copilot was out of town. So here I was in the right seat of a big DC6 piston banger! ...And I didn't even know how to open the window.
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Sometimes circumstance dictates minimum hours doesn't mean minimum hours.
For example, AN Other airline has a new aircraft arriving at short notice, and has X places on a 737 course to fill. Ideally these places would be filled with pilots from turboprop operators, who are looking for some career progression. These guys have already passed a type rating course and have proved they can fly to the standard required by an airline; they're a good bet to pass a 737 course without undue difficulty.
Unfortunately the turboprop guys are all on 3 month notice periods - pretty much the industry standard as far as I'm aware. The Training Dept starts to panic as the Chief Pilot has decreed that this course can't be delayed, as his boss told him the airline can't afford to have the new aircraft sat on the tarmac waiting for these guys' notice periods to expire.
Training Dept makes a frantic call to HR, saying we need bodies and we need them yesterday!! HR Dept says fine, but they might have to be raw recruits just out of flight school. Training Dept reluctantly agrees and YOU get your big break. QED.
No matter what the airline is asking for, it's always worth bothering to fill in an online application form or sending a CV.
For example, AN Other airline has a new aircraft arriving at short notice, and has X places on a 737 course to fill. Ideally these places would be filled with pilots from turboprop operators, who are looking for some career progression. These guys have already passed a type rating course and have proved they can fly to the standard required by an airline; they're a good bet to pass a 737 course without undue difficulty.
Unfortunately the turboprop guys are all on 3 month notice periods - pretty much the industry standard as far as I'm aware. The Training Dept starts to panic as the Chief Pilot has decreed that this course can't be delayed, as his boss told him the airline can't afford to have the new aircraft sat on the tarmac waiting for these guys' notice periods to expire.
Training Dept makes a frantic call to HR, saying we need bodies and we need them yesterday!! HR Dept says fine, but they might have to be raw recruits just out of flight school. Training Dept reluctantly agrees and YOU get your big break. QED.
No matter what the airline is asking for, it's always worth bothering to fill in an online application form or sending a CV.
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Well worth banging it out to everybody, although when some companies advertise a vacancy with a specified minimum of a type rating and x number of hours, they do get a little cheesed off when they receive a million cv's with nothing like the experience required.
However, that said I have a number of friends in jobs where they had less than the specified minimum - lucky them.
I wouldn't worry too much about operators who only have larger jets (767, A300 and the like), as you are unlikely to have any chance of getting in at all. Turboprops are your best bet, and some 737/scarebus operators will occasionally take pity on low hours guys too. I even know of one 757 operator who recruited someone recently in roughly your position.
However, that said I have a number of friends in jobs where they had less than the specified minimum - lucky them.
I wouldn't worry too much about operators who only have larger jets (767, A300 and the like), as you are unlikely to have any chance of getting in at all. Turboprops are your best bet, and some 737/scarebus operators will occasionally take pity on low hours guys too. I even know of one 757 operator who recruited someone recently in roughly your position.
