Southwest halves flying time for aspiring new pilots (jet, Air Force, commercial)

[urbancuriosity]

This concerns me.

https://simpleflying.com/southwest-a...irement-hours/

[Taiko]

I remember an interview with an Indian Air Force Commodore and the question of hours came up and his service counted by the mission as what was the training objective during the hours spent in transit.

I do wonder what training goals are accomplished by the extra hours flying other types of aircraft, especially if everything goes right on those hundreds of hours

[StealthRabbit]

Would be interesting to see ALL the specific requirements. I expect they're significantly higher than 500 hrs ~ >6 months 'flying' (seat time, or 'control' time?). IIRC, the least senior officer in the Ethiopian Air crash was ~500hrs.

Effective February 7th, aspiring Southwest pilots will need at least 500 flying hours on jets or turboprop aircraft, down from the 1,000 the airline currently requires. The Dallas-based budget airline communicated the change in an internal memo addressed to pilots and later explained that the rationale behind this decision is the willingness to increase opportunities for an airline pilot career to more skilled pilots.

My non-life critical skilled career required a very specific 10,000 hrs of 'apprentice time' + 2 yrs technical school. I kinda knew what I was doing after about 10+ additional yrs in the trade. (30,000 hrs, but also 30% OT, so that added up to 40,000 hrs of direct time)

The quality of the training and experience + aptitude, reaction, and decision making will determine if pilot is capable of properly handling the unexpected. SWA could simulate the window (and passenger) in row 14A blowing out. SWA has a quite stellar (not perfect) safety record to protect, improve, and sustain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._United_States

No fatal 'crashes' (yet). (1) passenger died due to engine failure and (3) people on the ground due to over-run of runway / or unauthorized person on runway. Really amazing for 3,000+ flights / day. Keep it up (tho the chances of accident are increasing. Mechanical and human stuff fails.
Southwest Airlines plane crashes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Airlines

In the U.S., copilots must have a minimum of 1,500 flight hours, the same as pilots, before they can take the right seat in a commercial airliner. Internationally, it's only 240 hours and can include a mix of time in simulators.

While the preliminary accident report in the Ethiopian crash showed the 29-year-old pilot had 8,122 hours of flight time, the 25-year-old first officer had only 361 total hours, having received his commercial airline license three months earlier.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...aa/1641781001/

[jsherman9901]

Originally Posted by urbancuriosity

This concerns me.

https://simpleflying.com/southwest-a...irement-hours/

New hires will still need to possess an FAA Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, which requires 1500 hours of flight time (less for pilots with military experience). Southwest is simply lowering their company requirements for flight time in turbine-powered aircraft. I would imagine that other carriers have done the same; there is just too much demand for qualified, experienced pilots and too little supply.

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by urbancuriosity

This concerns me.

https://simpleflying.com/southwest-a...irement-hours/

At least Southwest requires turbine time. My nephew is a first officer for Envoy, and the first jet he ever flew is his current Embraer 175. The 1500 or so he had when hired was primarily in a Cessna or Piper in the right seat as an instructor, mostly observing and imparting knowledge.

I'd be more concerned about airlines with minimal complex aircraft time requirements who hire kids who learned from kids who learned from kids...

[Boo_Urns]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

At least Southwest requires turbine time. My nephew is a first officer for Envoy, and the first jet he ever flew is his current Embraer 175. The 1500 or so he had when hired was primarily in a Cessna or Piper in the right seat as an instructor, mostly observing and imparting knowledge.

I'd be more concerned about airlines with minimal complex aircraft time requirements who hire kids who learned from kids who learned from kids...

Well, in fairness, SOME jet aircraft has to be his first, right? At least he had some real stick and rudder time before going to the right seat of a complex jet.

I am much more concerned about airlines outside the US, where in some cases, an A320 is the first AIRCRAFT the FO has flown...

[Wileykid]

Flying a jet, especially the newer ones. A lot less things that you need to do in normal operations, and emergency operations compared to a piston, or turbine aircraft. Essentially the computer in the aircraft is doing everything for you. The one thing that really makes or breaks a pilot now, is operating at the higher speeds of the jets.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by urbancuriosity

This concerns me.

https://simpleflying.com/southwest-a...irement-hours/

It doesn't sound wise at all. The earlier standards were set for a reason.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

It doesn't sound wise at all. The earlier standards were set for a reason.

This is not changing any official standards, only internal guidance (which may no longer be valid).

The new SWA pilots MUST meet FAA stds. (same as all airlines).

I wish they had ways of screening and training for very urgent tragedy avoidance. Often you don't know how someone (or yourself) will respond to a crisis, if you ever encounter that crisis. Lots of room for improvement in our training and simulated and actual crisis managment experience. 1st step.... avoid getting into a crisis, your choices get very slim. (Thinking of Tammie Jo Schults and many others who have been able to do the right thing to avert commercial air tragedy)