Decades later, Captain Rosenkranz returned to LA, where he commanded a specially chartered Airbus A330-900neo for his final flight at Delta. On board were 112 of his friends and family, including fellow pilots who didn’t get a proper retirement send-off due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“Back when COVID hit, some of my friends…couldn’t get a final flight,” Rosenkranz told FLYING. “My one friend, all he could do was an Orlando [Florida] turn instead of a nice international trip. And I remember thinking, you know, I don’t want to do that. I want to fly where I want to fly.”

To set his plan in motion, Rosenkranz said he pulled some strings in Delta’s charter department. The Atlanta-based airline regularly charters aircraft for sports teams and other special events, but never for one of its own team members.

“I sat down with the charter director…I think it was around October 2022, and I told him my idea, and he says I’ve never done this before,” Rosenkranz said. “I said, ‘Well, I’ll be the first.’”

Although Rosenkranz wasn’t turning 65 until June, a weekday in late February—often a lull for airline demand—proved more ideal for taking a widebody jet out of commercial service. Having become an Airbus A330 captain three years ago, he asked the airline for an A330-900neo, which is the latest-generation variant of the jet.

Not only did he receive his requested aircraft type, but Rosenkranz also asked for the special “Team USA” livery on N411DX, which Delta also obliged.

The Special Trip

Rosenkranz and his hand-picked passengers jetted off for Kona International Airport (PHKO) in Hawaii on February 27 for a daylong, overnight trip. The chartered A330 flew from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (KDFW) to LAX, where it made a roughly one-hour stop.

Then, the aircraft departed Los Angeles for Kona, arriving at approximately 2:30 p.m. HST. On February 28, the A330neo completed the same routing on the return, arriving back in Dallas-Fort Worth at 10:10 p.m. CST.

• READ MORE: A New Mission to Break Down Barriers

Joining Rosenkranz in the flight deck were longtime friends, one of whom he knew from a high school job at Safeway. The duo were once box boys together for the supermarket and now fly one of Delta’s largest aircraft.

“We had four pilots because you can’t fly a domestic leg and an ocean crossing in the same day,” Rosenkranz said. “So I had two of my friends fly the domestic portions from Dallas to LA, LA to Dallas.”

Rosenkranz said he flew both oceanic crossings to serve as his final two flights. Roughly 50 guests joined him in DFW, while the rest boarded in Los Angeles.

“We showed up in the terminal here at DFW, and about 50 friends and family were already there,” he said. “And it was very emotional for me just seeing everybody there clapping and giving me hugs. When we got to the gate there in LA, and my wife and I walked into the terminal in the gate area, another 60 friends and family were there. I started crying all over again.”

In Kona, Rosenkranz took care of his guests’ transportation to and from the airport, only asking them to pay for their one-night stays at a Hilton resort. The experience was made complete with a customary luau and a surprise renewal of wedding vows with his wife of nearly 42 years.

‘Fini’ Flights: Marking a Milestone

The tradition of the so-called “fini” flight dates back decades, finding its roots in the military. During their final flights, retiring pilots are met with fanfare. For the military side, this send-off can include an affectionate hose-down upon exiting the aircraft for a final time.

But in commercial aviation, retiring captains—who often wrap up their careers with decades of seniority under their belts—are met with grand gate parties and water cannon salutes by local firefighter crews. Some airlines allow captains to select their final flight and allow family members to join with free confirmed tickets.

Rosenkranz’s charter came with three different water cannon salutes, including in Kona, DFW, and most notably LA.

• READ MORE: Which U.S. Airlines Are Hiring Pilots?

The city of Los Angeles—which runs LAX—has long maintained a moratorium on water cannon salutes, citing local water shortages. By a stroke of luck, though, Delta was able to convince the city to make an exception for Rosenkranz’s special flight.

“So a week later, [a member of Delta’s charter team] calls back and said, ‘Well, the pilot’s name is this, and he grew up in Southern California. [He] and the other pilot were box boys at Safeway. His high school’s here,’” he said. “And whoever that person was said, ‘You know what? Let’s make it happen.’ So the FAA approved, the airport authority approved, and the fire department approved. I think I was the second one in nine years to get a [water cannon salute]. So, wow, just great.”

As the pandemic ravaged the airline industry, many retiring pilots lost out on the opportunity for a proper send-off flight. This was especially the case for widebody captains, who primarily flew long-haul flights, which were some of the first to be scuttled in 2020.

With his charter flight, Rosenkranz also sought to provide an additional opportunity for a proper sendoff to some of these pilots, all of whom he knew during his tenure at Delta.

A Decorated Career

Rosenkranz boasts a long and well-decorated aviation career, starting in the Air Force after graduating from an ROTC training course. In the military he flew the F-16.

Later, he would go on to write a book about his experiences flying during the Gulf War titled, Vipers in the Storm: Diary of a Gulf War Fighter Pilot.

“You know, I’m not Tom Clancy or Stephen King, so it certainly didn’t allow me to retire, but I’ve received thousands of letters from all over the world and kids in grade school, high school, and college will read the book and send me a note,” Rosenkranz said.

• READ MORE: Pro Track: Finding Your Way to an Airline Pilot Career

His airline career began in July 1991 when he started at Delta as a flight engineer on the Boeing 727. Throughout his time at the airline, he flew the 757/767, the Airbus A320, and most recently the A330 in the left seat.

“So, I would tell any new person…your love of aviation is going to carry you through anything, and then enjoy the job,” he said.

Rosenkranz said the No. 1 question about his retirement charter was the cost. Without going into too much detail, he said it was “probably a good year’s salary.”

“I mean, to be able to go out with your own jet and fly all your family and friends to Hawaii for a big luau, you just can’t put a price on it,” he said. “And you don’t want to be the richest man in the graveyard one day. So, I would do it again a hundred times and never look back. And so, I’ll be OK in life. And my wife and I will never forget this trip.”

This feature first appeared in the May 2024/Issue 948 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Delta Air Lines Captain Makes the Ultimate ‘Fini’ Flight appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In a memo to conditionally hired pilots on Thursday, the airline said all new hire classes would be paused through the end of the year as it evaluates ‘commercial and talent needs.’

The Fort Worth-based carrier joins a growing list of major airlines pumping the brakes on recruitment after a record-setting period of pilot hiring. Both Delta and United have substantially scaled back their pilot hiring outlooks this year. Southwest stopped hiring new aviators altogether.

In an April briefing, American Arilines vice president of flight operations Russ Moore initially said the carrier would only pause hiring during peak summer and winter holiday months. Moore added that it plans to hire roughly 1,000 fewer new aviators this year.

“In fact, we hired and trained more pilots in 2023 than we have in the history of this airline, and we did it efficiently enough that we were actually a bit ahead of where we needed to be for the summer of 2024,” Moore said during the briefing. “This allowed us to transition from a ‘hire and train as many as you can’ approach to a more traditional approach, which in and of itself reduced our hiring targets for 2024.”

Among the reasons for the hiring slowdown are aircraft delivery delays at Boeing, Moore said. American is currently awaiting the delivery of 787-9 Dreamliner and 737 Max jets from the embattled manufacturer.

“As part of our previously announced capacity adjustments, we are temporarily pausing new pilot class start dates for September, October and November, American said in a statement Thursday night. “This decision allows us to optimize our capacity and tailor our talent growth plans to best serve the current needs of our airline.”

Last year, American hired around 2,300 pilots, according to data from FAPA. Even with the pause, Moore noted that up to 850 of the airline’s pilots retire annually over the next five years.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.com.

The post American Becomes Latest Airline to Halt Pilot Hiring appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The House voted in favor of a reauthorization bill in July that would have included raising the mandatory airline pilot retirement age to 67 from 65. But in February, the Senate Commerce Committee rejected that element of the proposed five-year, $105 billion FAA reauthorization measure.

According to a Reuters report, the mandatory-retirement-age extension is not in the bill agreed to by House and Senate negotiators. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill later this week.

• READ MORE: FAA Data Shows Student Pilot Numbers on the Rise

Among the provisions that are still included in the 1,000-page document are measures prohibiting airlines from charging extra for families to sit together; a required five-year period for airlines’ vouchers and credits to remain valid; and a mandate for 24-hour cockpit voice recorders. Not included, according to Reuters, were other “stricter consumer rules” proposed by the Biden administration.

While consumer concerns are prominent in the news about the agreement (it includes raising the maximum civil penalty for airline passengers’ consumer violations to $75,000 from $25,000), in large part, the reauthorization legislation addresses concerns over aviation safety following months of alarm over near collisions and quality-control discrepancies, primarily focused on Boeing.

• READ MORE: FAA Adopts New Rules for Air Traffic Controller Rest

The negotiator-approved version of the legislation addresses FAA staffing shortfalls in air traffic controllers (a need for 3,000 new controllers) as well as inspectors, engineers, and technical specialists. The five-year time frame for the FAA reauthorization bill also includes five years of funding for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

In a joint statement, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) joined the top Republican on the panel Ted Cruz (R-Texas), House Transportation Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.), and top Democratic member of the committee Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) in writing, “…now more than ever, the FAA needs strong and decisive direction from Congress to ensure America’s aviation system maintains its gold standard…”

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

The post Congress Strikes Agreement on Long-Term FAA Reauthorization appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In this edition of V1 Rotate, FLYING contributor Sam Weigel brings us on a cross-country flight to Northern California and discusses what it all means and what you can expect going forward.

• READ MORE: How Professional Pilots Can Survive Probationary Periods

The post Is This the End of the Pilot Shortage? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

As we settled into the Boeing 737’s cozy cockpit and started to build our nests, I recounted some of the more maddening episodes of my last four-day tour and told John that after this trip my wife and I were headed to Italy for 11 days of sightseeing, hanging out on Lake Como, and attending the Formula 1 race at Monza. John, for his part, revealed that this pairing would be his very last outing in the senescent, unloved 737 as henceforth, he was departing for the sunlit uplands of the Airbus A330.

John’s pronouncement induced a flood of conflicting emotions. On one hand, I hate to lose good first officers who I actually know, and John is not the only cockpit companion who has recently succumbed to the glittering charms of an international widebody fleet. But on the other hand, he’s been at the airline for six years, and in these heady days of explosive advancement, that’s considered quite a long time indeed to hang out in the right seat of a narrowbody aircraft. John’s promotion to the A330 will yield him a considerable leap in both pay and quality of life, not to mention a welcome change of scenery. I’m glad for him, and a little jealous too. I was a Boeing 757/767 FO for four years, and the fleet took me to five continents. I miss that flying. I’d like to do it again.

To pilots who haven’t done both, the differences between domestic and international airline flying must seem a bit frivolous, perhaps even ego driven: There is the prestige and romance of jetting across oceans versus the workaday squalor of flogging aging “little” airplanes up and down interstate corridors three or four times a day. To be sure, there is absolutely an element of that. Rolling down the runway in a 370,000-pound airplane, lifting off with ponderous ceremony, and embarking on a transoceanic journey of some 4,000 miles always gave me a really warm, stirring sense of contented excitement, a feeling of setting off on a grand adventure. Few domestic routes impart such a poignant sense of wonder. And to be sure, friends and strangers are always more interested to hear about your exploits in Barcelona than a 12-hour layover in Cleveland.

Aesthetics aside, though, there are real distinctions in the working environment between domestic and international fleets. “It’s like a whole different airline,” goes the common refrain. Things are far more relaxed, much more “gentlemanly” to use an archaic but apropos term. We have only one leg per duty period on which to concentrate our energies. There are three pilots to share the load (four on flights of more than 12 hours). We show up at the airport 90 minutes or more before departure and have all the time in the world to go through our preflight duties. Dispatch usually completes the release well ahead of schedule and is quite proactive in heading off potential problems. Likewise, there are multiple gate agents plus a supervisor to ably handle most passenger issues in conjunction with the purser. In domestic flying, it often seems that the captain is the default troubleshooter. With international operations, very few problems make it forward of the cockpit door.

With an augmented crew of three pilots, you spend one-third of the cruise time absent from the flight deck, resting on your designated break. Long flights are rather shortened by being broken up into thirds as pilots cycle in and out. I found that most international flights of eight or 10 hours practically flew by, in comparison to five-hour domestic transcontinental flights that seem to drag on forever. It helps that you change out cockpit companions every three hours or so, keeping conversation fresh. Even if you can’t stand the person—and I’ve found maybe two or three of these in 19 years of airline flying—you only need to stew in silence for a few hours before being relieved.

Relief pilot is not a predesignated position at my airline. Theoretically, the captain assigns duties at the beginning of the trip, but in practice they will usually fly the first leg and let the two first officers hash out the rest among themselves. The relief FO normally takes the first rest break and then relieves the pilot flying (second break) and pilot monitoring (third break) in turn. This made it an unpopular position on eastbound trans-Atlantic legs, where first break often coincides with a circadian high and an active meal service, making for difficult rest (most of our 767s lack a bunk room like the A330; we use a first-class seat with a curtain). As a lifelong flexible sleeper, I usually volunteered for relief duties on these flights, and, besides the gratitude of my fellow FOs, was often rewarded with a flying leg on the westbound return.

I took a lot of pride in being a good relief pilot, especially during high-workload periods at busy international airports, where a sharp relief crew can be worth its weight in gold. You see a ton from the jumpseat and can often help the flying pilots head off trouble before it ever begins. My crowning moment came during a takeoff from London-Heathrow (EGLL), when the captain’s oxygen mask started spontaneously free flowing, but the sound was masked by unusually loud packs. Just after rotation, I realized the source of the noise and, throwing off my harness and headset, flew across the cockpit to smack the errant mask into submission. We all glanced up at the crew oxygen gauge; it was barely above the minimum, saving us from a mandatory divert. The captain bought the layover beers that night.

You might suppose the primary draw of international flying to be the layovers, and in my case you wouldn’t be wide of the mark. I took full advantage of 24- to 48- hour Europe layovers and 36-hour South American interludes, cramming in as much adventure as was prudent. It’s instructive that I’ve written about many international layovers in these pages—flying a microlight in Germany and a classic Robin taildragger in France,

hang gliding in Rio, visiting a World War I aerodrome in Italy and a flying boat museum in Ireland—while spilling minimal ink over their domestic counterparts.

I also enjoyed the international crew dynamic. It’s not unusual for all three pilots and a majority of the flight attendants to at least meet for happy hour, if not for dinner or a night on the town. This is much rarer on the domestic side at my airline, though I’ve put good effort into rectifying that since upgrade, with better-than-average results.

• READ MORE: A Primer on Pilot Certificate Conversions

A lot of my compatriots, however, don’t necessarily care if they quaff Maibock in Munich or Miller in Milwaukee, and an equal number profess indifference to the cabin crew’s participation, or lack thereof, in layover fun. The real draw of international flying, for most, is that it’s supremely efficient. In John’s new category of Seattle A330, even junior pilots can easily cram a full month’s flying into only 12 days, leaving the rest free for family, hobbies, or second careers or businesses. The trips are also very commuter-friendly, with late report times and early releases. On international fleets, there’s very little the company can legally do to reschedule you to cover broken trips. One need not fear storms up and down the East Coast. At worst, you go home early with full pay.

All of which explains why the international fleets go insanely senior at my airline. John is just now able to hold A330 first officer status, but he could have held Seattle 737 captain more than two years ago. Likewise, I would be slightly more junior as an A330 FO than I am as a 737 captain. Despite that—and the prospect of a 20 percent pay cut—the idea of taking a downgrade looks attractive each time I see the A330’s monthly bid package.

Pretty much my entire career—and my life—has been divided up into roughly five-year chunks. Whenever I do anything for that long, I tend to become bored and knock over the house of cards to see what I can build next. I’ve been a 737 captain for three and a half years, and while I’m still reasonably engaged, I’ve started to eye my next move. The most optimistic projections show that I might be able to hold A330 captain in six years (be still my heart). I probably ought to go “learn French” on an Airbus product in the meantime, which in Seattle means A320 captain or A330 FO.

Which to choose? I won’t lie. I do enjoy flying with “my own favorite captain” every single week, and to be stripped of that fourth stripe does involve a certain subjugation of the ego. On the other hand, I’m writing this column at a table overlooking the Grand Canal in sunny, beautiful Venice, sipping an Aperol spritz and remembering a time not so long ago when this was my everyday work life. It’s tempting, very tempting, to go back to that. We’ll see, but John and I may yet fly together again somewhere across the glittering sea.

This column first appeared in the November 2023/Issue 943 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Allure of International Flying Lies Across the Glittering Sea appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Fearless when it comes to busting into places where other—often more competent—flyers and writers are reluctant to go, I decided to give it a try. After all, who has more firsthand knowledge of what happens when this very real, deep-rooted part of us is sabotaged by events such as a denied medical or insurance, a financial problem, or even something as weird as flying under a bridge? (And, no, I didn’t turn my transponder off!)

It can’t be “genetic.” After all, there were no powered airplanes until 120 years ago and, for many years after Wilbur and Orville figured it out in 1903, few people flew or owned one. Then, beginning with ex-World War I flyers who became the daredevil barnstormers and mail pilots of the 1920s and ’30s and feats of Lindbergh, Earhart, Post, and other household names, publicity and interest grew. In the years following World War II, a bunch of “little” airplanes appeared that were simple enough that almost anybody could learn to fly. And aviation was more accessible, affordable, and hugely popular.

Sporty’s Pilot Shop founder Hal Shevers told me one time, “Marf, we lived through the ‘Golden Era of General Aviation.’” And he was right. The 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s were the glory days before airplane prices exploded—as did tomes of onerous regulations and complex airspace restrictions—and insurance requirements, maintenance costs, and manufacturer liability issues mushroomed. Sadly, it was those liability issues and an unacceptable accident rate that began to choke private and small business aviation in the ’80s and ’90s.

But the die-hards stayed with it, forming flying clubs and partnerships, buying and renovating old airplanes, or building experimental models themselves. It was costly, but their obsession made them find a way.

• READ MORE: Let Me Tell You About Tom

Now there’s a desperate need for pilots. With that comes the danger of “enticing” applicants who lack the deep-seated desire and passion but are beguiled by the salaries and prestige that go with being an airline pilot. Flight training schools and universities are eager to enroll students who qualify for generous scholarships— some from the airlines themselves. Others are attracted by the ease of borrowing huge sums to complete “fast-track” training with the promise of an interview and likely a job in the right seat of an airliner. What isn’t advertised is that flight training dropout statistics average 80 percent.

A genuine interest in and aptitude for flying airplanes is a huge blessing for those becoming professional pilots. Despite the growing need for more pilots, it is vital that airline companies don’t lower hiring standards—as has been accused—and put marginally qualified new hires in their cockpits by maybe thinking experience will “fix” the problem.

Flight schools advertise that you’re guaranteed an airline interview by successfully completing their “fast-track” programs. They’ll guide you through the process of logging 1,500 hours of flight and simulator time. Simply sign up, pay something close to $100,000, pass an FAA medical, get a student certificate, and take the dual for solo and solo cross-country signoffs. You’ll learn enough in ground schools to pass the FAA knowledge exams and log enough time and have the skill to pass a private pilot check ride. Ditto for the instrument, commercial, multiengine, and CFI certificates and ratings. And they assure you this can be accomplished in “only seven months.” Then you instruct for the school, earning between $15 and $50 per hour until you accumulate the necessary 1,500 (or, in some cases, 1,200) hours to apply for the right seat with an air carrier. All this is possible in two to three years with no guarantee of actually being hired…and not living in your parents’ basement.

One major carrier has pledged that 50 percent of its new hires will be “people of color and females.” Its program offers scholarships from the Latino Pilots Association, National Gay Pilots Association, Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, Professional Asian Pilots Association, Sisters of the Skies, and Women in Aviation International. It is hoped that making the training available inspires young people—regardless of sex, color, ethnicity, people who may never have had the opportunity to learn about aviation—to embrace the training. That’s laudable, so long as it doesn’t exclude anyone.

A retired airline pilot friend commented: “Anyone who remembers the Colgan [Air] crash at KBUF [Buffalo, New York, in 2009] should understand the significance of airlines hiring qualified pilots. That accident was a ‘perfect storm’ of pilot incompetence, management failure, weather, and other factors causing the deaths of a planeload of people. Aviation is inherently dangerous, and when incompetent pilots are given the controls of an aircraft filled with people, the situation becomes an accident waiting to happen.”

Here’s a poignant quote from an article in FLYING Magazine in July 1953: “Ten-thousand articles have been written about the ebb of aviation enthusiasm and activity in the land. Apathy to aviation is just one of many indications that 20 years’ education that ‘the world owes me a living’ has wrought havoc with our individual spirits. We babble about Social Security and prate in terms of masses and promise ‘extended benefits.’ …It means we’ve had a flameout of the fire that molded us and gave us power. We’ve stopped running to meet life because that takes faith and courage and pride.”

It was written by no less a personage than Gill Robb Wilson, one of the magazine’s founders and editors, and a World War I combat pilot in France, devoted patriot, founder of the Civil Air Patrol, writer, and poet (and, curiously, a Presbyterian minister). I think his comments apply to young men and women today who look upon aviation training and airline flying as a quick road to success, prestige, and security.

I recently took Theo, a neighborhood kid, up in the Cessna 180 because he’s crazy about aviation and airplanes. Theo is intelligent and amazingly knowledgeable because he reads everything in sight about airplanes and pilots. He’s just beginning high school but, when I asked him if he’d thought about college, he named a large “degree plus aviation training mill” in Florida. I suggested maybe he think about a degree in engineering, business, or whatever at a good college while learning to fly “the old-fashioned way” and then instructing to learn and build time. He’s wired for an airline career, and he’ll make it—with the passion for it well in place.

This column first appeared in the November 2023/Issue 943 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Need for Pilots Should Not Take the Place of Passion appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Multiengine cross-country time is especially coveted, so plan for it. Several of my airport children (the pilots I have trained over the years) saved up their money for time-building programs. These are often put on seasonally in parts of the country known for good weather. The pilots spend a few weeks flying cross-country every day at 55 to 60 percent power. Alternatively, a few lucky ones have had a parent or a buddy who loaned them the use of a multiengine aircraft, and they shared the time with another pilot for the price of fuel.

• READ MORE: How To Earn a Multiengine Rating as a Pilot

It is more than hours in the logbook. Make that time experience that benefits you more than a metric, says a former colleague who is now at a major airline. While it is tempting to go back and forth to the same airport in the same airplane for several weeks just to get hours—and does meet the letter of the law—the quality of the experience is dubious. Mix it up, go to a variety of airports, and if the aircraft is IFR capable, throw in a few approaches in actual IFR or night if able.

When we worked together, the aforementioned colleague was one of three multiengine instructors on staff. I was “self-loading ballast” in the Piper PA-34 Seneca. I had just started studying for the multiengine commercial certificate, and if I didn’t have a client at the time, I was invited to go along for the ride. With me in the back, they didn’t need to add a suitcase full of flat weights to keep the aircraft within weight and balance. Legally, I could not log the time I spent back there. I mention this because I have encountered pilots who insist their ride-along flights count as “time logged” in the aircraft. (Reaches for FAR/AIM) FAR 61.51 has the details on logging time, and I assure you there is no reference to sitting in the back of the aircraft. If you are in the cockpit and manipulating the controls under the guidance of a multiengine instructor (MEI,) it can be logged as dual received, but if you don’t have a multiengine certificate, you cannot log it as PIC or second in command (SIC) if the aircraft requires a second pilot.

Teaching in a Multiengine Aircraft

In order to legally teach in a multiengine aircraft, the person must hold a multiengine instructor certificate and, per FAR 61.195 (f), have logged has at least five flight hours of PIC time in the specific make and model of multiengine aircraft, be it an airplane, helicopter, or powered lift if appropriate.

This can present a challenge when the instructor earned their multiengine certificate in an airframe other than what the school uses for training. Who pays for the five hours of required PIC time in the school airplane can be a contentious topic. Sometimes an instructor will try to pressure a learner into paying for those five hours. “Pay for me to get my five hours, and I will teach you to fly the twin.” This is risky business, because if the MEI is hired away before you finish your training, you are out of luck and money. Plus, you will still be on the hook for the cost of the airplane and instructor during your training flights.

Sometimes it doesn’t make sense for the instructor to shell out the $1,500 to $2,000 for those five hours when they will make just $25 to $40 an hour teaching in the aircraft if—and it is a big if—they get a multiengine client. That money might be better spent on cross-country hours in a twin they already have experience in, even if it means going to another school to get it.

Be wary of “opportunities” to build time with ferry flights. Get the details before you commit. It’s not uncommon to hear about pilots who make plans to do this or consider this, then a little bit of research makes them think twice.

A few years back, I was invited to help ferry a PA-44 Piper Seminole from North Dakota to Puyallup, Washington, where it would join the fleet at the flight school. This ferry flight was going to be in the dead of winter. I already had my MEI certificate and 70 hours in a multiengine aircraft, of which 50 or so were as PIC, including three hours in a PA-44. I needed two more hours in the PA-44 in order to be able to teach in it. I knew the ferry flight would definitely provide those two hours, and I was considering it until I learned I would be flying with another MEI on staff, provided I paid all his expenses during the trip as well as my own. That didn’t seem fair to me, since I didn’t need him for the flight to be safe or legal, and on top of that, he was on salary at the school, and therefore he was already getting paid for the flight. On the other hand, I was paid by the hour and would be losing out on at least a week’s worth of dual instruction. I figured those two hours I needed to teach in the Seminole would run me about $600 tops. I made a lot more than that a week, so I declined the offer.

Multiengine Maintenance

Beware of the FBO where the multiengine aircraft are flown very little. These ramp or hangar queens can develop the mechanical issues that accompany the lack of regular flight. 

A fellow MEI told me a story about an issue he had with the maintenance at a particular flight school during the pursuit of his multiengine commercial certificate. He planned to spend a week at the school to knock out the rating. The weather was good, the MEI available, but during their second flight the landing gear on the Piper Seneca wouldn’t retract. They cut the flight short, returning to the airport. The MEI said it was nothing to worry about, and he would have the mechanics check it out so they could fly the next day. There was something in the MEI’s demeanor that made the learner wary, so he surreptitiously placed chalk marks on the rear of the tires, with the thought being that if the aircraft moved and the landing gear was retracted, they would be erased.

The next day when he came to fly, he was told the mechanics had made repairs and test flown the aircraft that morning. However, when he checked the tires, he saw the chalk marks still in place and undisturbed. The aircraft hadn’t moved at all. He took his business elsewhere. He told me he learned a valuable lesson that day: Trust your gut, because no matter how much you want that flight experience, there are some compromises you just shouldn’t make.

The post The Search for Multiengine Time appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

This is a very welcome development that will do wonders to increase the diversity of our pilot corps, as well as help tear down lingering barriers between our pilot and flight attendant groups, an unfortunate aspect of our company culture. Management apparently agrees: Several years ago they created two accelerated hiring paths to the flight deck for our flight attendants, which has stirred immense interest among our cabin crew. The early participants are now at the qualification level where I’ll be flying with them soon, and I’m really looking forward to it. 

When I encounter anyone who is interested in flying professionally, flight attendant or not, I often suggest that they first go get their private pilot certificate before making any big commitments. Flying, and especially at the professional level, isn’t for everyone. Not everyone will enjoy it, and not everyone is cut out for it. Too many people discover this only after quitting their job and putting a lot of money and time into professional flight training. In my opinion, the time to discover whether a flying career is right for you is during primary training. My airline apparently agrees because it made a private pilot certificate a prerequisite for our basic flight-attendant-to-flight-deck hiring path (the advanced path requires a commercial certificate).

Similarly, I often suggest that those who are interested in taking primary flight lessons first go on a discovery flight, or introductory flight lesson, to make sure it’s right for them. Or better yet,  go on several discovery flights with multiple flight schools and instructors to gauge which is right for them. Most FBOs and flight schools offer 30-minute introductory lessons at a somewhat discounted rate, sometimes via a Groupon coupon. This has traditionally been intended to give the prospective learner a somewhat rosy picture of what piloting a small airplane is like, a quick hit of the good stuff to ‘get ‘’em hooked’ with none of the messy side effects. I have always thought, however, that students, instructors, and schools are better served by giving prospective aviators a realistic look at what learning to fly is like—and that they should treat the experience as an extended interview of a prospective instructor and flight school.

There is no standard format for a discovery flight. Every school, and in many cases each instructor, does it differently. Some conduct a preflight briefing; others do not. Some walk the student slowly through the preflight inspection; other instructors do it quickly themselves and get the student in the air ASAP. Some give the student significant instruction; others barely let the student touch the controls. Sometimes it varies based on the time available or by just how deeply a particular discovery flight (and perhaps instructor fee) has been discounted. When I was instructing, I knew a few CFIs who openly talked about discovery flights being a rare chance to manipulate the controls themselves for almost an entire flight. Based on recent conversations with discovery flight recipients, this still seems to be a common mindset. That’s a pity.

• READ MORE: That First Flight

I’m no longer an active flight instructor, but I make a regular point of taking nonpilots flying in my Stinson 108.  Whenever they show the slightest interest in learning to fly, I conduct their flight in the same fashion as the introductory flight lesson I was afforded at age 13, and the way I tried to perform discovery flights when I was an active CFI. This includes a ground briefing to explain what we’ll be doing, what they should watch out for, and what they can expect to learn and accomplish. Then I’ll spend a good 15 minutes talking them through the preflight inspection, getting their hands on fuel sumps, brake calipers, the oil dipstick, and cowling fasteners. Finally, we go flying for 30 to 60 minutes. I have them follow me on the controls during takeoff, then I level off and trim out and get right into the business of teaching the basics of aircraft control. This includes coordinated turns, which can be tricky in my Stinson, but everyone seems to get it after a few minutes. I fly a circular course, so we can get back home quickly if the student starts looking green. Every 10 minutes or so, I take the controls to show a scenic point of interest, giving the student a short break in concentration and an example to emulate. Our loop always ends over bustling Lake Union, for a spectacular view of downtown Seattle with the majestic backdrop of Mount Rainier.

I understand this is an idealized introductory flight lesson, one given at my leisure during ample free time, and not necessarily always realistic given the demands of instructor and training fleet scheduling. Not to mention the economic considerations of offering a discovery flight cheap enough to attract casual punters. For this reason, if you’re a prospective student, I would avoid those cheap, advertised 20-to-30-minute discovery flights, which are likely to involve little instruction and  insight into your prospective school or instructor. Instead, I would request a two-hour block of instructor time with a full 45 minutes of flight time. This will give you the opportunity to make a thorough evaluation.

When you show up 15 minutes before your scheduled start time, how is the atmosphere of the place? Harried and chaotic or organized and calm? Does somebody greet you promptly and appear to know what you’re there for? Your instructor may well be finishing a lesson with another student. How do they handle the transition? Is there a quiet briefing area, and do you notice other instructors briefing their students before their flights? Does your instructor explain what you’re going to do without resorting to jargon you don’t know? When you go out to the airplane, does your instructor seem rushed? Do they teach you the preflight or at least talk through what they’re looking at? Is the airplane beat up with apparently inoperative equipment?

While the instructor is taxiing out and taking off, do they explain what they’re doing? After takeoff, how soon do they give you control, and how do they handle the transition to active instruction? Rest assured, your aircraft control will be pretty rough at first, possibly enough to make most pilots squirm with unease. How does your instructor react? This is an excellent chance to gauge their patience. Are they paying attention to what you’re doing and how you’re doing it? Are they adjusting their instruction when you don’t understand something? Do they seem in a hurry to take the controls or to return to base? After the flight, do they give you a debriefing and a chance to ask questions? I’d suggest a frank discussion about the instructor’s experience, their students’ check ride pass rate, their career goals going forward, and the chances of them sticking around the flight school during your planned time frame for primary training.

Let’s say you do three of these introductory lessons at three flight schools with three instructors. At the end, you should have about 2.3 hours logged (which certainly counts towards PPL requirements), be getting pretty good at basic aircraft control, and have a good idea of the differences between flight schools and instructors. Hopefully, you’ve found one that you mesh with well. When you consider the considerable cost of ineffective instruction or having to switch schools or instructors midstream, I’d say these 2.3 hours of discovery flights should be money well spent.

The post Voyages of Discovery Can Be Money Well Spent appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

According to the airline, its first-year hourly pay rate for captains starts at $240 and first officers at $131. The pay rate is capped at 12 years, coming to $298 per hour for captains and $201 per hour for first officers. Avelo reports that it also offers a 125 percent pay incentive when pilots fly 75 hours or more.

• READ MORE: Avelo Airlines Becomes the Nation’s Newest Passenger Carrier

“The pay increase we are announcing, combined with the other exceptional benefits and quality of life Avelo offers, will continue to make Avelo a very attractive destination for pilots,” said Avelo Airlines chairman and CEO Andrew Levy. “Our pilots play a critical role in Avelo’s future, and we look forward to welcoming many more of these outstanding aviation professionals to our airline in the months and years ahead.”

Headquartered in Houston, Avelo operates a fleet of 16 Boeing 737-700s and -800s with plans to add at least five additional aircraft next year. Its pilot roster stands at nearly 170 employees. The airline stated that it is accepting applications for direct-entry captains and first officers.

“At Avelo Airlines, pilots hire pilots,” said Avelo COO Greg Baden. “This is an exciting opportunity for both direct-entry captains and young professional aviators to get in on the ground floor of an incredible journey as they continue their careers.”

Avelo is also set to open a new pilot and flight attendant training center in Orlando, Florida, at the beginning of 2024.

The post Avelo Airlines Increases Pilot Compensation appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

To this end, she attended a university with a popular collegiate aviation program that has an official relationship with said airline and whose alumni are well represented in its ranks. While in school, she took a semester to do a flight operations internship with Scott’s airline. And after instructing for a few years to build her flight time, Karla was hired at her dream airline’s wholly owned regional airline, which has a flow-through agreement in place by which its r pilots advance to the mainline carrier in seniority order, albeit at a metered rate.

By all appearances, Karla would seem to have done everything right, and in normal times I think her career moves would have made sense given her goals. But the past two years have not been normal times. Karla has been at her regional airline for 13 months now and is becoming increasingly frustrated by the perception that she’s stuck there with no way to advance. She’s still a ways from upgrading to captain and will need to be in the left seat for two years before she is eligible to flow to mainline.

Meanwhile, Scott’s airline has been hiring historically huge numbers of pilots—2,500 per year—many of whom have similar qualifications to Karla. They are not, however, hiring from her regional outside of the restrictions of the flow. By going to her dream airline’s associated regional, Karla has unwittingly put herself at a huge disadvantage. Now she is watching in frustration as the mainline ranks fill up with young, ever-senior pilots. She fears the music will stop on this hiring cycle before she has a seat. 

This has been a common hiring dynamic at the airlines for years before the existence of ubiquitous flow agreements: Major airlines have long been loath to sap pilots from their associated regionals and add to their staffing woes, much preferring to poach pilots from competing carriers’ regionals. During the current pilot shortage, a common workaround has been to go from a regional airline right seat to a low-cost carrier like Spirit, JetBlue, or Frontier (all of which were reduced to hiring low-time regional first officers by mid-2021), where one becomes attractive again to mainline recruiters. Scott’s airline has hired quite a few pilots from Karla’s regional by way of Spirit or Frontier, sometimes pausing there for as little as six months. However, over the summer the job market has tightened just enough for the low-cost carriers to get pickier, and they are avoiding pilots who they think will not stick around. Karla has applied to all the low-cost carriers without success. Her college, internship, father, and current regional all betray her mercenary intent.

I can sympathize with Karla’s dilemma. I too was “stuck” at the regionals after 9/11—for a full decade as it turned out. For many pilots of my generation, it’s wryly amusing to see ambitious twenty-something pilots scramble to escape the (now well-paid) regional airlines after as little as one year of employment in the sector. But to be honest, I feel that, in a perverse way, I was almost lucky to be stuck in place when I was. Yes, I was making little money without much hope of advancement, but most everyone was in the same situation. The majors were hiring precious few, so I didn’t have to worry about missing the boat, and that helped me enjoy my time at the regionals. In comparison, today’s regional pilots like Karla have every reason to worry that they are getting left behind and growing increasingly desperate to avoid that fate. It’s a little sad to see.

I’ve advised Scott that if Karla can’t attract the eye of a low-cost carrier, she should change her focus to the other two legacy major airlines. Chances are they are all too happy to poach pilots from Karla’s regional. Even though these airlines aren’t the one Karla’s been dreaming about working for all these years, they have similar fleets and contracts, her flying opportunities and earning potential will be on par, and her seniority progression might be a little better. And once she’s on property at a mainline career, Scott’s airline might come calling after all. 

For those who are applying to the regional airlines, I think Karla’s case should be considered as a cautionary tale. If your end goal is a particular major airline, think long and hard about whether you want to work for any of its associated regional airlines. Be especially wary if it has a flow-through agreement in place. Flows have a time and place—and  I was hired at my major airline via a flow-through. But in this hiring cycle, they are velveteen handcuffs.

The post Stuck at the Regionals: The Downside to Flow Agreements appeared first on FLYING Magazine.