Posted on 10/15/2010 12:02:19 PM PDT by SkyPilot
An advisory panel of the Federal Aviation Administration has strongly protested a new safety law passed recently by the Congress that requires airline co-pilots to have equal hours of flying experience as the captains over concerns that it could lead to higher salaries for airline pilots.
To become a co-pilot, also called first officers, one needs a minimum of 250 hours of flying experience but the new law has raised the threshold to 1,500 hours or the equal number of flying experience needed to become a captain. However, the advisory panel fear the law will force airlines and companies that employ pilots to fly corporate planes to hike salaries of pilots that have over 1,500 hours of flight experience and airlines and companies will need to offer bigger benefits to attract more experienced fliers and retain existing ones.
University flight training schools have also joined the chorus of protest as they feel trainee pilots will skip expensive university training and opt for per-hour instruction to acquire 1,500 hours of flight experience before they can be hired by an airline. A typical flight training program offered by flight training schools cost anything between $50,000 and $80,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.com ...
So Congress Critters got the "DO-SOMETHINGs!" in their blood.
Captains earn (on average) about $165K (or so), but copilots at the regionals can make almost nothing.
I am sort of glad I am out of aviation. Flying seems to have become one big headache, for the crews, and the public. The crews are flying harder for less, and the public are treated like felons the minute they walk into the terminal.
That's exactly correct!!!
So you need 1,500 flight hours to sit next to an airline captain? Shoosh, you know the pilots union was on this like white on rice.
I wonder how this will effect helicopter pilots in the long-run...probably not as much?
“higher salaries for airline pilots.”
ROFL!!! As though the $8.50/hour First Officers make now is a bank buster!
This whole thing is absurd, even in a good economy its all but impossible for an FO to get hired with less than 1500 hours anyway.
“Retain existing” pilots, like anybody would give up seniority at one place to start over at the bottom in another outfit because of a better 401k?
There might be a story here, but I can’t find enough accurate information in the article to piece it together.
How does it raise salaries? So now its legally mandated to have 1500 hours, so most go into a job with another $100K in debt. There are still gaggles of more people who want to fly than there are flying jobs.
My strongest reason to oppose this is that Schumer is for it.
Be prepared to have 500 hours of paid training (assuming you are nonmilitary).
Expect to shell out:
$100 per hour for your private pilot license x 25 hours in a single engine aircraft = $2,500.
Then add on the ratings: IFR, Multi Engine, Complex, High Performance, etc, etc. until you have a turbine, multi engine rating.
Jet aircraft cost several thousand dollars each hour to operate, and you have to pay an instructor to guide you.
500 hours of training will average about $350.00 per hour, or $175,000.
Sure, let's make it three times more expensive.
RRRRRIIIIIGGGGht.
My understanding is that on any give flight a captain will do the landing or the takeoff and the first officer will do the one the captain doesn’t take. Hardly just sitting next to the captain.
Most of the incredible saves you read about, where the pilot averted disaster, like the Hawaii Air plane that lost like 30% of it's fuselage roof mid-flight, were done by pilots who aged out in a year or two. They are forced out without so much as a test.
I really don’t see outside of a few very limited avenues or a paid-for commerical setting that someone can get 1,500 hours. Does that mean a prospective pilot must stay an instructor that much longer?
I frankly think the standards for being a pilot need to be tougher and let the hours be lower. The military follows that model and does very well with it. At 250 hours they get to fly the sharp pointy things.
“$100 per hour for your private pilot license x 25 hours in a single engine aircraft = $2,500.”
More like $125/hr for the aircraft, $30 for the instructor, times the minimum 40 hours, which actually averages 72 hours = $11,160 just for the private with the 250 hour requirement for commerical usually claiming over $35,000 in total. Now, toss in 1,250 to get to 1,500 and the pilot will need to fly private commerical such as tow pilot or be an instructor until they get to the magic 1,500 plus the required PIC and multi time, not to mention any turbine time needed. This is turning being a professional pilot into a $100,000+ education.
I love to fly but I prefer a professional job within aviation whereby I can afford to fly anything I want as a pleasure flight versus as a job.
I'll agree for the first 100 or so ($125 for aircraft and $30 for instructor).
Add and engine, retractable landing gear, 200+ HP and the aircraft begins to cost $350 per hour.
Then remove pistons, ass a turboprop power plant and the cost goes up again.
Then you need to be instructed in a jet - more expensive still. Then ‘typed’ the the aircraft you plan upon flying professionally.
A 35 year old KingAir 100B costs way more than $350 per hour to operate, and it's NOT a jet.
$100,000 will get you 500 hours - NOT 1,500 hours.
But you don’t need to fly those airplanes to qualify. Complex aircraft for commerical checkout is a limited affair and those can be had for no more than $240/hour.
Remember there are other means to get turbine time outside of passenger service and the airlines will also provide the turbine training as they do now. Many low time commerical pilots fly things like turboprop mail routes to build time. Of course, the new 1,500 rules will also cut down the puddle jumper flights they used to use to build time.
I think it is nuts to pay $35+k just to get a job for the next 5-10 years making $30k or so while having to travel 26 days a month. I wouldn’t do it. No way. If I really wanted to fly that bad I go military then transition to the airlines.
SURE!
Do you want to get a job? Do you want to fly a jet?
Get some time in the type.
BTW my KingAir 100B uses $500 of fuel per hour...
“Do you want to get a job? Do you want to fly a jet?
Get some time in the type.”
Hasn’t been necessary so far. The vast majority of turbine pilots never had turbine time prior to getting the job.
I thought the same thing as you did. It "raises" salaries.......how?
Also, those who say it will be nearly impossible for some to get hired as first officers are correct. Perhaps only ex-military will have a better shot. Either way, it is a bitch to get that many hours for a lot of pilots. Even droning around in a Piper Warrior burns some expensive time.
I heard that many of the biggest lobbiests against extending the age rule were other pilots. For one thing, I think some of them want to retire. For another, many first officers will realize it they are going to have to wait more years and years to upgrade to Captain if the older guys stick around that long.
Since most first officers make a fraction of what Captain's make, that is some serious dollars in your career.
Nice airplane you got there.
I started out civilian, I soloed when I was 16, flew Cessna 150s, 172s, 120s, then an Ercoupe. I went in the military and flew T-37s, T-38s, C-141s, Lear 35s, and other stuff.
Sometimes I fly my dad's airplane, but that is about it for me now.
My argument with you is the overall cost.
You think you can be a commercial jet pilot for $100,000 (non military) - I disagree.
Go ahead and rent a high performance aircraft for $150 per hour - just be prepared to spend $250 per hour on LL100.
‘Nuff said.
The 100B does not have the less efficient P$W PT6-A turbines. The 90 actually is less fuel efficient.
CodeToad ALERT: Pilots earn more than $30.00 per hour.
I love GA.
Thanks for your input.
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