Careers

Another Career Path To Be Considered

Until the mid-1990s, the steps up the airline hiring ladder were fairly predictable.

First, there were those countless hours in single-engine trainers at the local flight school or on an aviation college or flight academy campus. Once crossing the 250-hour threshold and acquiring the commercial pilot certificate, the next goal was the coveted CFI privilege.

After snagging that first paying job as an instructor, multiengine experience was the next priority, usually earned administering dual instruction in Piper Seminoles or Beech Duchesses. Maybe, with a benevolent employer, some twin-engine charter work was possible in Piper Senecas or Cessna 310s.

About the 1,000-hour total time mark and somewhere between 100 and 250 hours of multiengine experience, r�sum�s flooded the human resource offices of regional airlines. With much perseverance and a little luck, the next 3,000 to 5,000 hours would be spent piloting turboprops like the Beech 1900, ATR-42, Saab 340, Dash 8, Brasilia, or even a Shorts.

Some three to five years down the log and with oodles of turbine pilot-in-command time, the "majors" were next pelted with applications. If that did not result in a job flying a Boeing or programming an Airbus for United, Delta, American, UPS, or FedEx, the second-tier jet carriers like Frontier, America West, AirTran, and Vanguard were approached. Thus, the average civilian pilot struggling up the career ladder would normally reach one of the top rungs by the time he or she became a member of the thirty-something generation.

This paradigm changed significantly in 1992 when across the border to the north an enterprising company named Bombardier decided to forsake the venerable propeller and outfit a commuter-sized airplane with General Electric turbofan engines. This outstanding example of Canadian ingenuity led to the development of the company's Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ). The CJR has forever altered the airline game and disrupted the normal career path to the major airlines.

Historically, a stint at such regional carriers as SkyWest, Comair, Mesa, Continental Express, or American Eagle was merely a waypoint on the way to a "real job" with the big boys. Now, thanks to the regional jet and captain's salaries that top $100,000 annually plus attractive benefits, a career with any one of these companies just might be an attractive final goal in and of itself.

Aviators who today are preparing for an airline flying career would be well-served to keep a simple fact in mind: The biggest projected growth in the entire airline industry over the next decade is at the regional level, thanks to the regional jet. This trend has been evident over the past few years. How so? Well, the major airlines find more money for their stockholders on long domestic and international routes. Thus, it is more economical for a regional airline partner to launch an RJ for a route of 200 to 600 miles into smaller communities that would fill a 50-passenger regional jet but couldn't come close to maxing out a Boeing 737. Plus, as can be appreciated, passengers embarking from Springfield, Missouri, or Fresno, California, would much rather fly in the smooth comfort of a jet than rattle along in a Brasilia or Beech 1900.

In 2000, more than 84 million passengers boarded airplanes operated by regional airlines. In that year alone, revenue passenger miles (RPMs) increased by more than 21 percent, and regional jets accounted for more than half of the total.