Well...

jaybee

jaybee

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jaybee
My turn to make an I'm going to be an airline pilot thread (I hope, nothing is done until its done).

I just finished doing 25 hours of Multi Engine Time Building with one of those places that will pop up when you google such a thing. I was paired with a dude from Australia doing 200 hours of time building. All in all it was a good deal I think.

First day I checked out in a Seneca in 0.8 hours, it (to me) was just a heavier Seminole. PIC side brakes were a little mushy, so went in for maintenance and my Australian buddy didn't get checked out until the next day. By the time we were all done with that, I hopped back in the left seat and we left out of North Dallas at O Dark Thirty and stopped in Kennett MO for the night.

The next day we were off and landed O Dark Thirty in Tom's River NJ. The next morning we flew the Hudson River corridor, pretty cool experience. I had always heard what a pain the Philly and New York Class Bravos were, I did not experience that at all. I wouldn't consider my radio calls grade A+ material maybe A- so I don't know if that factored at all.

After we left out of NY NY we went west over northern PA where I did some sight seeing of my hometown Warren PA which I hadn't seen since 1995. Did a little jaunt from the East down the Kinzua Valley over the Reservoir, which is one the largest dams east of the Mississippi, and then circled over my home town. It is kind of ironic that I flew a Seneca over the land where the dam displaced the Seneca Indians... I think I heard Chief Cornplanter yelling at me (local urban legend).

After that, back towards Dallas, flew into the wee hours of the night and finished back to Dallas the next morning. Other than the sight seeing highlights I got to do some actual IMC which doesn't happen in the helicopter world. At one point I was holding wings level in a 1500 fpm updraft so that was pretty interesting. Overall, it was a great experience.

So, now that I meet all the prerequisites I have interviews scheduled with Skywest and Republic. So now just trying to prep myself up for that. For those who don't know me I feel like I may be weak on the fixed wing, jet and high altitude knowledge areas as I've been a piston power helicopter pilot for my whole career. Definitely open to any advice in this area :)

Attached a few pics of the time building experience.
 

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Good luck with the interviews. I'm sure Jordane can give you some gouge on the questions.
 
Huh, how ironic... spent the morning setting up interviews and airline reservations then I get an email from the Maryland State Police wanting me to interview for a Helicopter SIC position.... sigh,,, choices...
 
jaybee said:
Huh, how ironic... spent the morning setting up interviews and airline reservations then I get an email from the Maryland State Police wanting me to interview for a Helicopter SIC position.... sigh,,, choices...
Click to expand...

AW-139? That would be a pretty cool gig. Think they're brand new aircraft too.
 
jaybee said:
For those who don't know me I feel like I may be weak on the fixed wing, jet and high altitude knowledge areas as I've been a piston power helicopter pilot for my whole career. Definitely open to any advice in this area
Click to expand...

I like FLY THE WING and TURBINE PILOTS FLIGHT MANUAL. Either one should be sufficient for getting you interview ready and they are easy to read.
 
Velocity173 said:
AW-139? That would be a pretty cool gig. Think they're brand new aircraft too.
Click to expand...

Yea, AW139 far as I know. I think they are all glass too. Not sure how strong of a candidate I would be, I talked to the recruiter a year or so ago... its a government agency so they kind of have to interview all qualified candidates. I'm not ruling myself out by any means.
 
Cooter said:
I like FLY THE WING and TURBINE PILOTS FLIGHT MANUAL. Either one should be sufficient for getting you interview ready and they are easy to read.
Click to expand...

I got a brand new copy of Turbine Pilots Flight Manual sitting next to me :D
 
jaybee said:
I got a brand new copy of Turbine Pilots Flight Manual sitting next to me :D
Click to expand...
That's the better one of the two. For general knowledge, Everything Explained for the Professional Pilot is hard to beat. Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators isn't a fun read, but it is a good source for getting a better understanding of Aerodynamics and I think builds your confidence in being able to explain the concepts. If you are pressed for time, you can just use it as a reference. It's available as a free download through ForeFlight, and you can get the PDF for free online.
 
You need the good study materials for the majors Interviewing process. For the regionals just study up on the gouge for the airlines your talking to. You'll do great and I can't wait to follow your progress.
 
NJP_MAN said:
You need the good study materials for the majors Interviewing process. For the regionals just study up on the gouge for the airlines your talking to. You'll do great and I can't wait to follow your progress.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm not normally a public talk about myself type but I'll be glad to try and share my experience.

So far everything has been really positive talking to the recruiters and asking questions on APC. I found a lot of inspiration in LJ's When Dreams Come True thread. I've had so much negative/bad crap happen to me over the past year or so I have very little tolerance for negativity, petty bickering and the sort, so I try to avoid that like the plague.
 
Good luck dude! Have you thought about Endeavor? I didn't interview at either but had friends that interviewed at Republic and Jonesy can give you some good insight on SKW. They said the questions are basic IFR knowledge, when do you need an alternate, read a METAR/TAF, and take a 20 question ATP style written test.

Aviationinterviews.com is a good place to look at gouges.
 
jordane93 said:
Good luck dude! Have you thought about Endeavor? I didn't interview at either but had friends that interviewed at Republic and Jonesy can give you some good insight on SKW. They said the questions are basic IFR knowledge, when do you need an alternate, read a METAR/TAF, and take a 20 question ATP style written test.

Aviationinterviews.com is a good place to look at gouges.
Click to expand...
I just got a text this afternoon from a guy in my Navy Reserve unit asking me if I was ready to apply. It sounds like Endeavor is seriously hurting for pilots right now.
 
Fearless Tower said:
I just got a text this afternoon from a guy in my Navy Reserve unit asking me if I was ready to apply. It sounds like Endeavor is seriously hurting for pilots right now.
Click to expand...
Every regional is hurting. We're trying to put through 60 pilots a month.
 
Fearless Tower said:
I just got a text this afternoon from a guy in my Navy Reserve unit asking me if I was ready to apply. It sounds like Endeavor is seriously hurting for pilots right now.
Click to expand...

Can I sign you up for Endeavor, I want the 2 grand kickback before jordan gets it. No but really, all the regionals right now need pilots. If you've got a pulse and an ATP and somebody can stand being around you for 4 days, you've got the job.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Can I sign you up for Endeavor, I want the 2 grand kickback before jordan gets it. No but really, all the regionals right now need pilots. If you've got a pulse and an ATP and somebody can stand being around you for 4 days, you've got the job.
Click to expand...
Hey, I got to him first!:D
 
Like Jordan said, know your IFR ops, Far/aim And jepps. Check out the gouges online they will tell you exactly what they want his week.

Bob
 
Maybe it's just me, but I've always known the plural of Gouge to be Gouge. Civilian vs Military thing?
 
jaybee said:
My turn to make an I'm going to be an airline pilot thread (I hope, nothing is done until its done).

I just finished doing 25 hours of Multi Engine Time Building with one of those places that will pop up when you google such a thing. I was paired with a dude from Australia doing 200 hours of time building. All in all it was a good deal I think.

First day I checked out in a Seneca in 0.8 hours, it (to me) was just a heavier Seminole. PIC side brakes were a little mushy, so went in for maintenance and my Australian buddy didn't get checked out until the next day. By the time we were all done with that, I hopped back in the left seat and we left out of North Dallas at O Dark Thirty and stopped in Kennett MO for the night.

The next day we were off and landed O Dark Thirty in Tom's River NJ. The next morning we flew the Hudson River corridor, pretty cool experience. I had always heard what a pain the Philly and New York Class Bravos were, I did not experience that at all. I wouldn't consider my radio calls grade A+ material maybe A- so I don't know if that factored at all.

After we left out of NY NY we went west over northern PA where I did some sight seeing of my hometown Warren PA which I hadn't seen since 1995. Did a little jaunt from the East down the Kinzua Valley over the Reservoir, which is one the largest dams east of the Mississippi, and then circled over my home town. It is kind of ironic that I flew a Seneca over the land where the dam displaced the Seneca Indians... I think I heard Chief Cornplanter yelling at me (local urban legend).

After that, back towards Dallas, flew into the wee hours of the night and finished back to Dallas the next morning. Other than the sight seeing highlights I got to do some actual IMC which doesn't happen in the helicopter world. At one point I was holding wings level in a 1500 fpm updraft so that was pretty interesting. Overall, it was a great experience.

So, now that I meet all the prerequisites I have interviews scheduled with Skywest and Republic. So now just trying to prep myself up for that. For those who don't know me I feel like I may be weak on the fixed wing, jet and high altitude knowledge areas as I've been a piston power helicopter pilot for my whole career. Definitely open to any advice in this area :)

Attached a few pics of the time building experience.
Click to expand...

America, the beautiful.

Flying over the country leaves me in awe of what we have.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Can I sign you up for Endeavor, I want the 2 grand kickback before jordan gets it. No but really, all the regionals right now need pilots. If you've got a pulse and an ATP and somebody can stand being around you for 4 days, you've got the job.
Click to expand...

Heh, I did talk to Endeavor and if I do my friend that already works there said he would split the kickback with me sorry :D

I'm basing my decision mostly on base I'm willing to live in because if I understand nothing else about Regionals I understand - commuting sucks.
 
Just had the most awkward and weird conversation with the Maryland State Police recruiter. Basically was trying to come across as a good guy and telling me that it would probably be a waste of my time to interview because of the lack of turbine helicopter time but I was free to interview if I wanted...
 
jaybee said:
Just had the most awkward and weird conversation with the Maryland State Police recruiter. Basically was trying to come across as a good guy and telling me that it would probably be a waste of my time to interview because of the lack of turbine helicopter time but I was free to interview if I wanted...
Click to expand...
I wonder if they don't already have someone else in mind?
 
the MSP job is an always advertised ongoing recruitment. basically there are three tiers of eligibility, i forgot what he called them but top, middle and bottom. I am in the middle with veterans bonus points, there are no top tier people to interview. the conversation started off well enough and I appreciated him saying that I wasn't the most qualified. Then I asked well since its my own choosing to go or not, when are the interviews? that's when it got weird. After 5 minutes of really awkward repeating that I didn't have turbine time (my resume with them is a year old, I actually have more turbine time now than what my resume says... not enough to matter - 20 hours total but anyhow...) he finally said first week of October and I said well thanks but I already have two interviews scheduled for that timeframe so I couldn't make it anyhow. if he would have just answered my question we wouldn't have had the very awkward 5 minutes of conversation. oh well, that's the kind of one of the reason's I'm going toward fixed wing, rotorcraft people are just really weird about turbine time. i've flown larger heavier and more powerful manual throttle helicopters than most turbine singles. anyhow, yea just weird and awkward.
 
Cooter said:
Maybe it's just me, but I've always known the plural of Gouge to be Gouge. Civilian vs Military thing?
Click to expand...

Jordane was referring to "deep scratches." :)
 
jaybee said:
Just had the most awkward and weird conversation with the Maryland State Police recruiter. Basically was trying to come across as a good guy and telling me that it would probably be a waste of my time to interview because of the lack of turbine helicopter time but I was free to interview if I wanted...
Click to expand...

Didn't the job announcement specify a certain amount of turbine time?
 
No it doesn't that I can recall.

He just said that people without turbine time tend to flunk out of training so I think they are gun shy on giving someone a shot. I appreciate where he started off from but you just had to hear the conversation I guess it was very awkward and weird.
 
jaybee said:
No it doesn't that I can recall.

He just said that people without turbine time tend to flunk out of training so I think they are gun shy on giving someone a shot. I appreciate where he started off from but you just had to hear the conversation I guess it was very awkward and weird.
Click to expand...
Lol. The fastest thing I flew before the CRJ was a 172 and I did just fine.
 
jordane93 said:
Lol. The fastest thing I flew before the CRJ was a 172 and I did just fine.
Click to expand...

Yea I hear ya I've never come across a challenge I couldn't overcome. As I said, helicopter operators can act really weird about turbines. **** every turbine helicopter I've flown Bell 206B3, 206L4 and S-55BT have all been easy as **** to fly compared to a manual throttle supercharged weighted tip blade Bell 47 G3B1 or the 800 hp Wright radial S-55B with manual throttle.
 
jaybee said:
Just had the most awkward and weird conversation with the Maryland State Police recruiter. Basically was trying to come across as a good guy and telling me that it would probably be a waste of my time to interview because of the lack of turbine helicopter time but I was free to interview if I wanted...
Click to expand...

Do it for the experience for future interviews.
 
jaybee said:
No it doesn't that I can recall.

He just said that people without turbine time tend to flunk out of training so I think they are gun shy on giving someone a shot. I appreciate where he started off from but you just had to hear the conversation I guess it was very awkward and weird.
Click to expand...

Lol! I'd think lack of turbine time would be the least important attribute for passing. Not sure where the guy is getting his numbers from. FADEC, DEC, ECU or whatever does all the work on turbines. Spend a night reading about turbine engine ops and that's about it.

I wouldn't shoot the messenger though. Most of these helo turbine requirements are either their insurance or in the case of MEDEVAC (500 hrs), a certification requirement.
 
I always thought that police agencies with an aviation unit wanted their pilots to come up through the ranks of patrolman first.
 
Zeldman said:
I always thought that police agencies with an aviation unit wanted their pilots to come up through the ranks of patrolman first.
Click to expand...

Generally they do. I work with a guy who went that route. Lot of politics and seniority involved in getting selected. Even coming from the outside, most programs will require you to go through the academy and then be a foot cop for a few months before starting flight training.
 
Velocity173 said:
Generally they do. I work with a guy who went that route. Lot of politics and seniority involved in getting selected. Even coming from the outside, most programs will require you to go through the academy and then be a foot cop for a few months before starting flight training.
Click to expand...

I can imagine.
 
For those that were keeping track, I am sitting in ORD waiting for my connector to IND.

I interview at Republic tomorrow. I had to reschedule due to the hurricane. I don't feel like I'm prepared enough but figured I'd do my best and let the chips fall where they may.

So far Republic has been a very class act in my humble opinion. They pay for your hotel, positive spaced my airline seat and even provided me access to their corporate Uber account for ground transportation. First month pay is a little light but hotel is single occupancy for training. Second month you get Minimum Monthly Garuntee, I don't remember if you get per diem while training of the top of my head. PIT is one of their junior bases and I hope to get that if they offer me the position - born and raised in the area.

Guess I'll go back to reviewing IFR material now.
 
jaybee said:
Just had the most awkward and weird conversation with the Maryland State Police recruiter. Basically was trying to come across as a good guy and telling me that it would probably be a waste of my time to interview because of the lack of turbine helicopter time but I was free to interview if I wanted...
Click to expand...
They have a great location at Martin state airport in Baltimore, ( among several others) I understand rank is better as a pilot and don't forget thy have fixed wing or two. I'm from Jamestown, and used to keep a small airplane at mayville, on lake chautauqua, very familiar with kinnzu lake and Warren , pa. Kinnzu lake was always a landmark when I flew north from Baltimore in the mooney , landed sometimes on grass at little valley. a pal flew for them , never went on the road, direct to fort Bragg for helio training, then flew. He retired a major, and flew a Sikorsky 76 until he retired. They fly first class helicopters from about four different locations, some on the eastern shore. good luck whatever you decide!
 
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