Every pilot I know likes the idea of training to fly a newer, more advanced airplane. It’s easy to justify it as necessary flight training if you can convince yourself that it will be just the ticket to make you competitive for that dream job.
Let’s talk about getting current, state-of-the-art regional jet training. It can be great for the ego, but hard on the pocketbook—and of no real advantage in a depressed economy. These expensive ground-school courses include training in a FTD (a nonmotion simulator or flight training device that replicates the real cockpit) and often free refresher training, plus a guaranteed interview with a current RJ operator. If you have extra money to spend, you’ll enjoy the opportunity to learn about bigger, faster equipment, but if you have low total flight time and lack experience in similar equipment, it’s often of no real benefit to you. An interview with an airline is good practice, but is it hiring? How do you stack up against other applicants?
If an airline requires this training for its applicants, carefully check the dates on that hiring requirement. It’s likely an old we were hard up for pilots and hiring low-timers if they had the jet intro course pitch that worked when they needed pilots quickly and didn’t want to take the time or expense to train them. When they need pilots now, asking you—the applicant—to foot the training bill ensures they can ramp up your learning curve to get you on line quickly.
Look carefully at current market conditions before you buy something that may be obsolete in this hiring environment. With no pilot shortage at present, airlines that are hiring will favor (read: hire first, before they consider you) the many experienced furloughed pilots on the street who meet their qualifications, with no jet intro courses needed. They can hire pilots who have extensive experience flying the real thing.
Having your résumé loaded with expensive jet training courses can label you as a wannabe who buys whatever’s out there, trying to enhance the experience you don’t have. Similarly, it’s no whitewash for poor grades, DUIs, or speeding tickets.
If your total time is low and you have no real reason to be doing the training, look instead to acquiring more cross-country and multiengine experience that will demonstrate you’re willing to pay your dues and work to acquire the experience and good judgment your passengers expect you to have.
Capt. Karen Kahn is the author of Flight Guide for Success: Tips and Tactics for the Aspiring Airline Pilot and a career counselor.
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