How PRIA Affects Foreign Pilot Applicants for Regional Positions
 

Hello Everyone,
I know I have been posting on this forum for quite some time for my husband. Well, thanks to this community and the helpful advice you all have been providing, he has finally made it to some second-round technical interviews with some regionals. And now another confusing thing has popped up. PRIA. Based on my understanding and some language shared from a fellow poster here (thanks!, see quotes below), it appears that PRIA protocol includes contacting the applicant's current employer, even if said employer is a foreign carrier. My husband is a little concerned about this, not because of some secret violations or a desire to hide his work history with his company. His company is not 'fully' aware of his plans to immigrate to the US and he, rightfully so, does not want to start the procedure of informing them and quitting until he has some certainty and stability concerning his job prospects in the US.

"5.7 Use of Foreign Pilots.
5.7.1 PRIA Check. If you want to hire a pilot/applicant who has worked as a pilot for a foreign air carrier, you should request that individual’s PRIA records from the foreign carrier. In some cases, the foreign pilot may not have a U.S. driver’s license, so make a note of that in his or her file. If the foreign pilot does hold a U.S. driver’s license, you must query the NDR. Use of foreign pilots may vary from permanent employees to seasonal work in which the foreign pilots return to their own country during the off season. This could also include U.S. pilots who previously worked for a foreign air carrier(s)."

Has anyone gone through this process before, as a foreign pilot? Do regionals actually follow through with this PRIA check and contact the foreign carrier before providing an official 'job offer' to the applicant. My husband trained as a cadet in the US and just received his FAA ATP license in Florida, so he does have some background and I believe some records with the FAA in his airman file. But, of course, this is just for his training records. Any performance-related records would obviously come from his current employer. This is what it is and he will deal with it in the best way possible. Right now his game plan is to be open and honest at the end of his interviews and explain the situation with his current employer to the interviewer. Any advice beyond that would be much appreciated.

Take care everyone. Happy flying!

I think your husband doesn’t need to worry. Usually the airlines don’t do any PRIA requests unless you have a CJO ( conditional job offer) and a starting date. I did the move too from Europe to the US and I don’t know if my previous airline ever responded to the PRIA request.

Interesting use of the word "should" in the passage quoted above: "...you should request that individual’s PRIA records from the foreign carrier."

Well, because the FAA thinks of everything, they have actually devoted time and effort to defining their use of the word:

Should = recommended
These are the only valid word choices to convey those meanings.

https://www.faa.gov/about/initiative...les/authority/



https://tfmlearning.faa.gov/publicat.../fss_0102.html

So he got some clarification from his first second-round interview yesterday. And you are correct Sunrig. At least for the regional he interviewed with yesterday, they claimed that they will not initiate PRIA until the applicant has been assigned a class date for training and it is close to said starting date. Which, as far as I am understanding it, is like this CJO. And if this is true, then yes, there is no need for concern. If my husband is getting class date offers for training (crossing our fingers), that is definitely some certainty and a sign of stability concerning his job prospects in the US. So he can finally inform his current employer of the situation. Thanks Sunrig!

And thanks bafanguy for the clarification on legal terminology. Now I know how to use it for (or against?) my husband. Ha!

Good to hear. I’m sure he will get a job offer. Right now basically all the airlines are hiring, so there should be a lot of movement at the regional level. Has your husband also applied to the Legacies or at least LCCs? Maybe he has a good chance at getting a job there too.

I didn't know regionals were doing two- (or more?) round interviews. When did that start and which regional (s) is (are) doing that? I'm genuinely curious.

Right now it is just PSA and Piedmont that my husband has experienced this 'two round' interview deal. It starts with an asynchronous video recording of him answering some HR-related questions. The first was in April I believe. Then waiting for a couple of months and a scheduled technical interview that's either on the phone or synchronous video conferencing. Maybe this is a pandemic-related change?

To answer your question Sunrig, my husband has applied to every airline. Literally every airline in the US. Even the newly-founded one from the JetBlue founder (Breeze Airways I believe?). So far he has been getting nibbles just from the regionals, but he certainly has the experience (a little low on flying hours) for the LCCs. The Legacies feel like a moonshot (though he has applied to them all), but hey, never say never. Any advice on how to make his resume and application more competitive for the LCCs would be much appreciated. He now has his FAA ATP with A330 type-rating.

Ok, that’s what I thought. But don’t give up on the top tier jobs. There’s still a lot of hiring ahead of us. What a lot of airlines like to see is jet PIC time, at least 500 hours, better yet 1000 hours. Then of course assignments like being a check airman, sim instructor or some kind of chief pilot position. The LCCs hire from a very wide background, so I can imagine your husband might have a shot there too. Unfortunately I don’t remember his total time, so that may be a problem. Another plus applying from a well known regional is that HR has an idea where you’re coming from. If you apply from a foreign carrier chances are nobody knows anything about them. So it might be a good thing to get some 121 time in the Regionals, increasing his total time and upgrading as soon as possible, maybe even taking a position in the trainings department.

My husband has around 2700+ hours. He's still pretty early in his career so he hasn't reached captainship with his current employer. Sadly no PIC hours (according to FAA Part 121 regulations; according to EASA, he does have around 1000 turbine PIC) and no diverse course assignments. Just FO. But like you said, the forecast is a mass hiring spree across the board and there's always that looming horizon of retiring captains. One step at a time and he will get to where he wants to be eventually.

No worries. He will have a good job coming here. If he starts at a Regional he will build up his total time and eventually PIC time.
I’m not sure about the EASA PIC time. I guess what you mean is the time he acted as PF. That would count as PICUS time ( under supervision). An easy way to figure out if you can log PIC time is to ask yourself- who is listed as PIC on the flight plan and who signs the tech log/acceptance sheet? If it’s not your name then you are not the PIC.

Correct Sunrig. He has so far only accrued PICUS hours (when pilot flying). I remember that was the major confusion he struggled with when he went through the initial stages of converting his EASA license to FAA. Figuring out what counted and didn't count. I'm so glad we are past that and on to bigger and better things. Thanks for your words of encouragement.

When I got hired at a US major (ish) airline they contacted my former employer in Oz for training history etc. Had to sign a voluntary disclosure form with former employer.

No biggie.

p.s. Why are posting for your husband? Seems kinda odd to me.

I’ve made the move from overseas back to the US and in my case, my current airline simply had to “ask” for my training records to meet the requirements of the PRIA. They don’t actually have to be provided with those records from a foreign employer and in many cases, foreign employment laws forbid it, anyway.

As an airline won’t apply for your records until after they’ve offered you a job, they’ll know from an interview, whether or not you have the experience you’ve claimed, simply by asking the right questions.