Q. I am a pilot who has decided to go back to the airlines. My question: Is there a formula regarding the amount of jet to general aviation experience for the airlines? I am thinking of reducing the hours of general aviation experience I have so I am not so top-heavy in my résumé. Of course, I would have the time recorded in my logbook but would have another one that had several thousand hours of instruction given removed. Total time: 9,000 with 2,700 multi. I have been flying since 1993. I just left a job in Egypt flying the Cessna Citation CJ3. —Brett
A. Wow! That’s great time! You should have very little trouble competing for the jobs flying the heavy iron. It is presumed that you are aiming for the legacy airlines or other Boeing and Airbus carriers. You should be well beyond the regionals. But I find your comments very curious. You are looking for a way in which to reduce the appearance of general aviation time? What on Earth for?
I know of no “formula” that would extrapolate GA time from total time. I suppose you could simply consider listing Total Time in your résumé as only genuine, left-seat PIC (no Instruction Given) plus Dual Received. The only “math” that I have seen relates to helicopter time versus fixed-wing, or turbine helo time as a credit for fixed-wing turbine time.
Some airline hiring minimums will stipulate that an applicant have at least 2,500 hours of total turbine time. A few airlines will allow something like one hour of turbine fixed-wing PIC time credit for every four hours in a turbine-powered rotorcraft.
As you can imagine, there are more than a few military pilots exiting the armed services with beaucoup time in kerosene-guzzling rotor-wing equipment. Thus, an airline might apply a credit of 500 hours of fixed-wing turbine time for the 2,000 hours that a Coast Guard helicopter commander accumulated in an Agusta. Not all do.
Never diminish your GA experience. I remember Hank Appleby, who was a chief pilot for a big-name airline based in Denver. He always favored pilots who slugged it out as CFIs. Further, PIC time is PIC time. Commanding a Piper Seneca, single pilot, can be more of a challenge than programming a CRJ.
Most airlines publish total turbine PIC time minimums for employment consideration. It is this category of time that will automatically differentiate “big time” experience from the rest, but “the rest” is certainly not the least.
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