SkyWest Airlines states that pilot applicants must have at least 1,000 hours of flight time, including 100 hours of multiengine time. Ditto for American Eagle. Comair invites pilots with 600 hours of total flight experience and 100 hours of multiengine to apply. Republic Airways posts minimum hiring criteria of 1,500 hours of flying, including 300 hours of multiengine time. Turbine pilot-in-command time in the 2,500-hour range will begin to open the hiring door at big airlines like Southwest and Continental.
Traditionally, individuals had to make up that gap in flight time. If the flight school or training institution is able, it may offer a select few graduates an opportunity to instruct, or at least provide job placement services. Otherwise, the new commercial/CFI had to fend for himself and pound on flight school doors hoping to gain employment and another 700 to 1,000 hours of experience.
Now there are other options, thanks to bridge programs. It is possible to bypass the published hiring minimums and grab the yoke of a Canadair or Embraer regional jet with fewer than 500 hours of flight time. Just as the term implies, a bridge program is designed to bridge the gap between strictly general aviation experience in light single- and multiengine aircraft and an airline career. A bridge program generally is offered to pilots who earn all of the FAA credentials at a particular school and tally 500 to 700 hours of total time, including about 200 to 400 hours as a school flight instructor.
A bridge program, sometimes called a jet transition or airline transition, is generally featured in a formal training organization whose primary business is the preparation of flight personnel for the aviation industry. These include airline-owned academies, private flight academies, and collegiate aviation programs. The curriculum for these training entities includes not only traditional commercial, multiengine, instrument, and flight instructor certificates and ratings, but advanced training as well. The advanced training might include academics in turbine aircraft systems as well as airline procedures geared to a specific carrier. Students enrolled in a bridge program will fly simulators and flight training devices and become familiar with regional jets.
A key element of a bridge program is a "receptor" at the end of training. As such, academies and colleges will develop relationships with certain air carriers, which in turn will offer interviews to students who successfully complete the school's curriculum and bridge program. Because, in many instances, the advanced training curriculum is developed in partnership with an airline to include its flight procedures, call-outs, and checklists, the company is willing to consider graduates with experience levels hundreds of hours less than the normal minimums.
Delta Connection Academy is an airline-owned flight academy with broad name recognition. Originally, it prepared pilots exclusively for Comair when it was known as Comair Academy. In January 2000, Delta Air Lines purchased the academy, and its name and mission changed to provide pilot talent for Delta Connection and other carriers.
DCA students generally advance to one of the academy's airline affiliates with as little as 700 hours of flight time, consisting of 250 to 300 hours of primary training and 400 hours of flight instruction. Once instructors earn the planned hours and experience, they attend DCA's jet transition course, which prepares them mentally and psychologically for an airline career. The two-week course includes FAR Part 121 air carrier operations, high-altitude weather, advanced aircraft systems and automation, crew resource management, situational awareness, and checklist flows. All pilots receive 26 hours of training in DCA's advanced Regional Jet Flight Training Device, whose instructors are qualified line pilots for one of DCA's affiliate regional airlines.
Companies like American Eagle are eager to look at DCA grads. Claudette Carroll, an American Eagle pilot recruiter, says, "American Eagle recognizes the quality of training Delta Connection Academy provides, and the airline is ready for the pilots they produce."
Another airline-owned flight academy belongs to Mesa Airlines. The highly successful Mesa Airlines Pilot Development Program is conducted in association with San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico.
Students enrolling in the program can expect to spend nearly 18 months in training. They will exit with about 220 to 250 hours of flight time, all in high-performance Beech Bonanzas and Barons, along with an associate of applied science degree in aviation technology. They receive liberal arts coursework plus the necessary ground school leading to a commercial pilot certificate with multiengine and instrument ratings. To cross "the bridge" into an airliner cockpit, each student receives comprehensive training in jet systems, in Mesa Airlines procedures, and in a CRJ FTD.
San Juan College faculty teach all ground school and traditional subjects; all flight instruction, including 40 hours of training in a JetSim, is conducted by Mesa Airlines pilots. Earning a flight instructor certificate is not necessary and is not a part of the training regimen. The program grooms flight personnel exclusively for Mesa Airlines, and Chief Instructor Rich Castle says the placement rate with Mesa Airlines is "at least 90 percent. This is a track record that has been established for the past 15 years."
Airline Transport Professionals, known in the industry simply as ATP, is one of the largest and most successful flight training organizations not owned by an airline. With 22 locations around the United States, this company offers numerous training options. Customers can tailor a program for their goals.
In the realm of training pilots for the airlines, ATP has been one of the more aggressive companies in forging relationships with air carriers. It currently has hiring partnership letters with American Eagle, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, ExpressJet, Pinnacle Airlines/Northwest Airlink, PSA, Trans States Airlines, and SkyWest.
ExpressJet, for example, will interview an ATP graduate who completes the company's regional jet standardization course, and earns a recommendation from ATP's regional jet program director, with as few as 500 hours of total flight time and 100 hours' multiengine. This presumes that the applicant possesses a first class medical and commercial certificate with multiengine and instrument ratings. American Eagle has similar requirements, but may reduce the total number of hours to 400 if the applicant has gained 200 hours of multiengine experience.
ATP's seven-day regional jet standards certification course introduces pilots to the CRJ-200. Students begin training by attending an FMS ground school where they learn and master the latest glass cockpit technology found in regional jets. Next, pilots undergo a weeklong RJ systems ground school and spend 20 hours training in a CRJ-200 FTD, all taught by pilots with Part 121 experience. At the end of the week, students must fly the CRJ-200 FTD to FAA airline transport pilot standards during a checkride with the regional jet program director. If completed successfully, pilots will receive a certificate of completion that qualifies them for reduced hiring minimums.
Vero Beach, Florida, serves as the base for FlightSafety Academy. Its Advanced Airline Training Program provides low-time, commercial-rated pilots with line-oriented flight training (LOFT) in a mock Part 121 environment with a required performance level that meets ATP standards, as well as advanced airline simulator training in a Level D Embraer Regional Jet-145 simulator. The course gives candidates the opportunity to experience day-to-day flight challenges faced by the commercial airline pilot, features an introduction to EFIS- and FMS-equipped turbine-powered aircraft, and introduces airline operating procedures.
After meeting all admissions requirements, selected candidates begin an intensive four-phase training program. The first two phases evaluate single- and multiengine along with instrument flying skills. Once those requirements are met, the student will have the opportunity to interview with one of four participating airlines, which include Atlantic Southeast Airlines, ExpressJet, American Eagle, and Trans States Airlines. After a successful interview, the student will be given a conditional offer of employment allowing program continuance.
Phases three and four consist of line operational experience at the ATP level in Piper Seminole aircraft and simulator training in the ERJ-145 Level D simulator to airline operating standards. Upon successful completion of Phase IV, the FlightSafety graduate will proceed to basic indoctrination training with a chosen airline.
Another case in point is Pan Am International Flight Academy (PAIFA) in Phoenix. It has had an enviable track record in placing its graduates with companies like SkyWest, Pinnacle, Chautauqua, Tran States, and American Eagle.
Contributing to their success is the organization's air crew education training module. This exhaustive four-week course features 48 hours of ground school that addresses various aircraft systems, engine and auxiliary power units, flight management system training, FAR Part 121 operations training, and high-altitude operations. Add to this 30 hours of flight training in a Level 5 CRJ-200 flight training device.
An increasing number of collegiate flight programs are participating in bridge programs. Some of the earliest pioneers of the concept were Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, through its partnership with Atlantic Coast Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, and the University of North Dakota and its association with Horizon Air and Northwest Airlines. These arrangements date back to the 1990s.
Today, even the smaller colleges are getting into the business of building bridges for their students. Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, recently announced that it has established a pilot bridge program with American Eagle. American Eagle's director of flight training, Capt. John Saady, reviewed the bachelor of science program in aviation flight management and has given the seal of approval. The pilot bridge program allows Lewis University graduates to apply for employment with American Eagle with fewer flight hours than the typical applicant. Lewis University graduates need only 700 hours of total logged flight time (including 100 hours of multiengine time) to become eligible for employment consideration with American Eagle.
At Western Michigan University, the school has developed its jet equivalency training (JET) program. It acts as "a bridge between single-pilot resource management (SRM) and crew resource management (CRM). In the airline industry, pilots must be able to communicate with each other verbally and non-verbally, directly and indirectly." JET consumes 15 days, which includes five days of ground school and 40 hours in a Level 5 CRJ-200 flight training device.
Western Michigan claims that the JET training process produces pilots who are so well-equipped to handle professional jet flight that airlines such as American Eagle and Comair have dropped the minimum total time requirement for applicants who have completed the JET course to as low as 500 hours of fight time.
Certainly, there are many more professional flight training academies and colleges worth exploring, such as the Regional Airline Academy and its affiliations with most of the players in the regional jet industry, including Air Wisconsin. Then there's Gulfstream Training Academy, which virtually guarantees a right-seat job flying a Beech 1900D for 250 hours with its partner, Gulfstream Airlines. The list of aviation colleges and universities that have teamed up with airlines is growing, like Purdue's link to Chautauqua Airlines. American Flyers and Phoenix East Aviation also are in the pilot development game.
There is good news for pilots who already are certificated and skilled, because many training organizations now offer standalone bridge programs that are independent of basic training courses. Almost all will provide their customers with an opportunity to flight instruct so as to build up total time to the 500-hour mark or more.
So, why did this all come to be? It's difficult to comprehend, but there seems to be another pilot shortage developing. At most carriers the number of furloughed pilots is rapidly approaching zero, if it hasn't already reached that point. If there was a glut of pilots waiting to occupy airliner cockpits, you can bet that hiring minimums would be back up to 2,000 hours of total time with 500 hours of multiengine experience.
The airline industry, particularly the regional airlines, have come to appreciate the quality of airmen being dispensed from these institutions and have thus lowered the qualification bar. Does this mean that safety is being compromised? Well, if the Air Force can entrust a multimillion-dollar jet to a twenty-something-year-old after a few hundred hours of flight training or Lufthansa can place the controls of an Airbus into the hands of an ab initio trainee with fewer than 1,000 hours of total flight time, then quality advanced training administered to quality students will at least qualify that person for the right seat of a airliner. It is then that the real learning begins under the watchful eye of the captain.
For the individual who dreams of an airline pilot career, this is really the new paradigm. Bear in mind that, with the dynamic nature of the industry, business relationships and curricula change and, as such, the information above is merely a quick snapshot of where we are today with some training institutions. Things may have changed by now at any one of the aforementioned schools.
Do your research and explore Web sites. Talk to people, including graduates. Visit schools. The competition from aspiring pilots who have invested in themselves and acquired advanced ground school along with regional jet flight training will have an advantage that can be hard to beat--because they have bridged the gap.
Wayne Phillips is an airline transport pilot with a Boeing 737 type rating. He is a B-737 instructor and operates the Airline Training Orientation Program in association with Continental Airlines. He is an aviation safety consultant in Michigan and speaker for the AOPA Air Safety Foundation.
Want to know more?
Links to additional resources about the topics discussed in this article are available at AOPA Flight Training Online.
Related Articles
