121 Flighttime requirements for a foreign airline pilot?
 

Hi there!

Hope this isn’t too inappropriate to ask. We’re having a discussion in an EU pilot forum and some of the FAA regs are baffling us. (FAR 135.243, 121.436 among others). Some of us are close to our retirement age (which is under 60) and wouldn’t mind helping out in a possible scenario where US airlines are having trouble finding experienced crew.

If I wanted to apply for a 121 captain’s job in the United States with Southwest Airlines or something similar, would I be eligible under the current FARs (just ignoring anything else, like Greencards or visas)?

Let’s say I’m under 60 and have:
4600 hours in US registered aircraft mostly as PIC, of which 800 FAR 135, and a valid FAA ATPL
12000 hours of B737NG under JAA (EU) regs, of which 10000 as PIC, and a valid JAA ATPL with B737 rating

The FARs were changed around 2013(?) to require SIC time and there all kind of exceptions that are slightly confusing.

If anyone is familiar with this material and feels like sharing their knowledge that would be great.

Thanks all 👋

P.

edit: I only just noticed that there’s a whole thread devoted to roughly this subject here 😬

The short answer is no. For two reasons: Your part 135 PIC hours will count if they were flown before 2013 but you're still short, and US Airlines generally are seniority based and don't tend to take DECs anyway.

Thanks for that!

Not even sure that the FAR135 stuff counts, because it wasn’t >10 seats?

👋

Sorry, I can’t speak to the 135 hours. But I was in similar situation regarding hours and experience.
You will most certainly have to fly 1000 hours in the right seat to get your required 121 hours.
That shouldn’t be a problem since the good/better companies don’t offer DEC positions anyway. Like it was said before everything is seniority driven. Once you are hired your previous experience doesn’t matter. They will upgrade the 25 year old with 3000 hours total time before you if he’s ahead on the seniority list.
Hope that helps and good luck. I’m enjoying the move.

Not sure if I’d be willing to go back to the right seat after all these years…captains are insufferable 😉

And the newer requirements are because of the Colgan incident or similar? Doesn’t seem like the best remedy if you’re keeping out highly experienced pilots with verifiable well-documented airline histories. But probably best not to get into all that 😬.

These regs were imposed by the US federal government and politicians. US pilots and airlines had no control over this.

I hear ya. 😁 But if you’re not ready to fly in the right seat for at least 1000 hours, then the US is not for you. The upside is that you will most probably make more money in the right seat here than what you made on the 737 in Europe.

So think long and hard about it before making the move. I have a friend who came over recently. He’s also been a long time Captain and he’s struggling to be in the right seat again and not being in control anymore. He’s at a point that he’s evaluating to go back…

Have a colleague who's joining AA and he had a curious take on this from a Canadian perspective.

A number of regionals he had applied to and interviewed with said they will accept CAR 705 PIC time towards the 121 hours requirement. I have asked this question earlier on APC and was told that 121 time only qualifies if it's 121 time. No corresponding XAA hours will be accepted, zero exceptions.

He, however, was quite insistent on the fact that the recruiters were willing to accept the hours (as if it's their decision, but that might be just paraphrasing) and offering the joining bonus corresponding to their matrix.

Does anyone have any experience with regards to this? I, for one, am sceptical of his information.

Sorry for the thread hijack.

..I think 2 different things discussed here..Airline hiring requirements vs. FAA-requirements..FAR121 will explain the regs concerning the US-airlines..For the PIC, 1000hrs flying under FARs is required, foreign time does not count for this purpose..

Fly safe,
B-757

I mean...in this business, going back to the right seat is always a possibility.