Can I get hired at a regional with only GA hours?

penaltyvectors said:
I’m not allowed to fly for a commercial outfit while employed as an ATC due to conflict-of-interest rules, and I wouldn’t want to retire early to work a time-building job.
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Doc Holliday said:
Go tp the airport. Make friends with the Part 91 flight departments and start out in the right seat. Pick up a part time Part 135 SIC position will work as well, which typically leads to a PIC position.
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That's cool, but did you miss this part of the OP's original post?
penaltyvectors said:
I’m not allowed to fly for a commercial outfit while employed as an ATC due to conflict-of-interest rules, and I wouldn’t want to retire early to work a time-building job.
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So a part-time gig wouldn't be possible unless he quits his ATC gig, or the head of the FAA office of Chief Counsel Ethics Division changes her opinion on outside aviation-related employment to allow him to be employed in an outside flying job.
 
Brad Z said:
That's cool, but did you miss this part of the OP's original post?
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I didn't go back to reread. I merely offered an idea.

Brad Z said:
So a part-time gig wouldn't be possible unless he quits his ATC gig, or the head of the FAA office of Chief Counsel Ethics Division changes her opinion on outside aviation-related employment to allow him to be employed in an outside flying job.
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Then go the part 91 and fly for the experience.
 
Oldmanb777 said:
Getting qualified when nobody is hiring means you are the first one in the door when the hiring starts. Seniority is everything.
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That’s why I paid out-of-pocket and knocked out my CTP and ATP written and ride last year. Hopefully this year pays off.
 
Good luck to you.
On this subject. A few years ago, i was flying a trip to Belfast. The FO showed up and introduced himself. I knew from his employee # that he was a new hire. This was his first rip after IOE. I think he was 58. I assumed he was a retired military general or something. Anyway after getting going, he explained that he was an insurance agent. his dream was to fly. So after the kids were out of college and other obligations, he did it. Part of his being able to accomplish it was a devoted wife, no divorces, and all that goes with being able to live off savings long enough to get trained and experienced enough to land the job, and then get out of probationary pay. But HE DID IT! I enjoyed flying with him.
 
I've known quite a few people to do it in their late 40's/early 50's, knocking on 60 is pretty impressive.
 
A great quote from my dad that’s guided me over the years: “Take the job nobody wants, and you’ll get the job that everybody wants.” He’s a 30k hour guy, military and civilian.
 
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Many regionals will hire with 25 hours of multi time. You will get the rest in their sims. When the flood gates reopen they will hire anyone with a pulse and might even start digging pilots up without a pulse!
 
Doc Holliday said:
My advise (FWIW) is to make friends in FAA Flight Check and look at getting in there once you leave ATC.
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Flight Check requires 500 hours of multi before they will even look at you. Harder to get a job there than a regional.
 
I know a controller who retired and went to work for a regional. He went the business jet route first.

Just a suggestion, but if your goal is to fly jets commercially I think you'd be happier doing contract work in bizjets. Since you will be assured of a basic income you'll be under no pressure when business slows down and you won't have to deal with the sausage factory environment of a regional.
 
penaltyvectors said:
. I’m not allowed to fly for a commercial outfit while employed as an ATC due to conflict-of-interest rules, and I wouldn’t want to retire early to work a time-building job.
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you got me curious, because on the surface, this makes sense, but I have always thought it would be sweet to work out a deal with wiggins or some other small freight company to fly caravans or something part time... so I looked it up. FAA order 3750.7B, appendix E.

Employees are permitted to engage in outside aviation employment so long as the outside employer does not conduct activities for which the employee's facility or office has official responsibility
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So it sounds like you can fly commercially, just not in your airspace. or am I reading it wrong?
 
Wrench978 said:
So it sounds like you can fly commercially, just not in your airspace. or am I reading it wrong?
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I think you're correct, but it's definitely a grey area that usually gets handled on an individual basis. In my case, I work at a large radar facility that controls several hundred miles of airspace centered on a major metro area. A strict reading of this would suggest that I wouldn't be able to work for ANY company that at ANY time flew into my metro area, regardless of whether I was on board at the time. I could probably work somewhere like Cape Air or Mokulele that serves a tiny geographic area far away from where I live, but the time required to commute to those locations along with holding a full-time job would make that virtually impossible. I know of several controllers who work as CFIs so that's an obvious exception, but it's unclear where the line would be drawn. I suspect I could get away with banners or jump pilot or some other job that doesn't deal with ATC directly, but I think they would balk at any company that I was responsible for sequencing when I'm at work. In all likelihood, it would come down to the discretion of the line supervisor who was on duty when I asked.


Captain Bubba said:
Just a suggestion, but if your goal is to fly jets commercially I think you'd be happier doing contract work in bizjets. Since you will be assured of a basic income you'll be under no pressure when business slows down and you won't have to deal with the sausage factory environment of a regional.
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I'd absolutely be open to this, I just don't know much about the hiring process and minimums for other types of operations. From what I can tell, when times are good, I could fly my C172 for weekend trips until I get to 1500 hours, then buy a handful of multi time and have a reasonable shot of getting hired at a regional with nothing more than that. It seems like the requirements for some 135 jobs are quite a bit higher than that, and they're obviously targeting people with 1-2 years of turbine experience. Although now that I say that, I've only been actively researching this for the past few months, and the minimums for those jobs have likely skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic. Thanks for your input.
 
Well, maybe Ill keep working at getting hours and ratings and see what happens a few years from now. My ultimate flying goal is to fly for Wings Of Rescue flying dogs, but I talked to them the last time we loaded them up, and their insurance minimums are really really high, and require a ton of turbine time. If I could get a gig flying caravans, that would help me get the hours. otherwise, a dream is all it will be!
 
penaltyvectors said:
I'd absolutely be open to this, I just don't know much about the hiring process and minimums for other types of operations. From what I can tell, when times are good, I could fly my C172 for weekend trips until I get to 1500 hours, then buy a handful of multi time and have a reasonable shot of getting hired at a regional with nothing more than that. It seems like the requirements for some 135 jobs are quite a bit higher than that, and they're obviously targeting people with 1-2 years of turbine experience. Although now that I say that, I've only been actively researching this for the past few months, and the minimums for those jobs have likely skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic. Thanks for your input.
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You don't necessarily need 1500 hours or an ATP to fly SIC. I've known a lot of low time guys doing SIC work in jets. Part 91 operations are going to have even less requirements. The only basic requirement is a commercial multi ticket and 3 take offs and landings in the plane depending on part 135 or 91. Some operators are going to have more requirements and most of that is going to be insurance driven and naturally pilot supply and demand also factors in. The problem you may have is the hiring process relies heavily on networking.
 
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