That's exactly what I'd thought. Good point raised by Capt Nomad, if one was to apply at 1000+ hours, surely they would question why you didn't apply at the base prerequisite.

Guess it can be hard to differentiate between what they advertise, and what they really want.

Rod,
What they do consider is, if your total hours are commensurate with your age. 500 hours command is sufficient if you're aged in your teens but if you're a bit older with minimal hours, you'd have to have a bloody good 'Song and Dance' act to impress the panel.

500 hours command in your teens? Slight exaggeration there I would think!

As for being 'a bit older' with less hours, one would expect that most older pilots with hours on the lesser end of the spectrum would have such out there reasoning as, you know, having been working in a previous career :ugh:

Thankyou for your correction b_sta. I'll let the 19 year old with 900 hours that I had dinner with recently know that he is a superstar. Bye the bye, I was one of those late starters in QF at just over 30 years of age, but then I had 10,000+ hours by then. I can't think of too many QF drivers who joined with a low hours to age ratio after having a previous career (excepting military pilots). There may be a few but I guess they had a good 'Song and Dance' routine. (They probably didn't fail BAK TWICE either, hey b_sta. Here's one :ugh: just for you.)

Lesson 1: Anecdotal evidence does not constitute a population sample, Trent 972. Perhaps you should have spent a few of those years before you turned 30 getting a tertiary education. :rolleyes:

OK you win b_sta, your d!ck's bigger than mine.
Pity it's in the middle of your forehead.
????????? Try a little of your own advice.
*b_sta: It’s not sarcasm, it’s illiteracy, you knob.
**Now you're calling me "son". I didn't realise it was you mum, sorry.
*** Intelligent discussion -sure, just let me know when you're about to start.

If you read my post carefully, I was NOT suggesting that you would necessarily get into QF with 500hrs, only that one should probably APPLY when they meet the minimums.

I personally don't know anyone who DID get into QF with 500hrs but as I said I do know of a couple of pilots who did get in a number of years ago with not a whole lot more than that. One of them was an 'older' applicant who HADN'T put in an application when he first met minimums and was subsequently questioned on that point.

Information to be added to the thought process - that's all I'm offering. I'm more than willing to add emphasis to the point that you would have to be naive to think you will get an airline job with 500hrs as that is extremely rare and entirely dependant on the state of the industry and an individual's suitability and timing.

What recruiters do like to see though, is an application with susequent updates showing how you are advancing yourself even before you get a shot with them.

Captain Nomad - Gotcha...

I'm turning 23 this year, perhaps be 24/25 by the time I'd apply...

That quote of mine would be sarcasm, you idiot. Clearly most with a late start in accumulation of hours are likely to have been working in non-aviation careers previously, unless you're under the impression that the unemployed of 10+ years magically materialise the cash for flying training out of nowhere.

The point I was getting at is that although you may know some teens with hours in the high hundreds, that's certainly not the norm. And with regards to older age/lower hours acceptance into QF, I was not stating that it's a likely scenario - only that many 'older' pilots would have a very good reason for not having started flying fresh out of grade 10 (though that said, there have been a number of posts on this very forum as of late detailing pilots with late starts in the industry who, despite this, are now driving jets).

You would still be 5+ years younger at application than the 'older' applicant that I mentioned. Definitely not too old to have that as a goal. However, as other posters have pointed out, it can be tough and unfortunately, no matter how good you are, it also depends on a lot of other factors as to whether you 'get lucky' or not.

Have goals but also be realistic and have some other backup plans. You can also spend a very long time on 'hold' files too, so work on other ways to progress your career in the meantime.

Rod, The average 24/25 year old that started in QF in the last round a couple of years ago, had, around 1,500 to 2,000 hours experience, but as others have said there is no hard and fast rule. It depends on the individual candidate and all their other attributes.
Good Luck

ps.
Go away b_sta, you're an annoying little twerp.

Appreciate the realistic advice guys, many thanks...

One thing I forgot to put out there is the nature of those hours...Single Instructional time? But I guess at anything below 1000hrs, it'd be unrealistic to expect more than Single time...

Well, it certainly is illiteracy on your behalf, I suppose.

Intelligent discussion a little too tough for your feeble mind, son?

Single time is fine Rod. QF spend a lot of time and money in the sims to give you the skills you'll need.
(There is not a single or light twin out there that will give you the feel for a 747/330/380.)

On second thought
A380 = Cessna 172
747 = Mack truck
A330 = a large bowl of jelly

For b-sta's benefit, by the time I was 20 I had 1600hrs, and was working with 6 guys who had over 2000 by their 20th! (and that was in 1988.)

Movement at QF
 

Two guys that I know have recently been called up by QantasLink for FO gigs. They didn't get the call by not putting in their applications!!! Go for it and good luck.

b_sta,
I had 1,000hrs when I turned 20, and I'm now 24 with over 3,000hrs. Know quite a few others who are in similar boats.

morno

Sorry to dig this one up again guys...

Just reviewing the QF Direct Entry criteria (They're not recruiting at the moment, I know, I know) and noticed there's no mention made of ATPL subjects. Is this no longer a pre-requisite?

do the time
 

My experience is that those that dont do the time and learn to fly planes before they get into an airline as an FO cant think for themselves. They then potentially become very incompetant Captains down the track! Being a very inexperienced FO in an airline is going to give you seniority over someone who went out in GA did the time and came in with a few thousand hours on top of you...

great thread guys .. enjoying and learning. :ok: