Would anybody be able to me what the average time from zero to hero is at Transat?

Thanks

I think you might get a better response if you don't refer to FO's as "zeros" and Captains as "heros"............

Really? Zero as in new hire.

Not sure what it is at AT but I doubt it would be any less than 5-8 years. And rightfully so. Frankly, it scares the crap out of me to think there is some young relatively inexperienced Captain at the helm of a large airliner. And by that I mean someone with less that 5000 hours and at least a handful of experiences of things not going smoothly, or by SOP or even somewhat scary. So many pilots are in such a rush to get to the left seat because they feel that's where the "real" pilots sit. Financially, I completely get it. FO pay is crap anywhere you go. On the same token, the right seat is where you'll get all of the best experiences. Learning from the examples of several Captains and their different leadership styles as well as how to deal with issues that come up (as well as examples of what not to do) is the kind of knowledge that only experience will teach. No one can learn that from just a couple of years in the right seat of any type of aircraft. And don't even get me started about all of the self-righteous FO's that feel they 'deserve' a DEC seat on a boeing or airbus because they have 2-3000 hours mostly in the right seat of a 1900, Lear or Dash...

Anyway, I don't want to hijack the question or steer this thread in a different direction. It is a valid question and deserves to be answered by someone who has current and correct first-hand information (...which is not me). My apologies to the OP for the going off on a tangent. My response was directed toward all of the pilots out there with 2000ish hours. Enjoy your career. It is still the coolest one in the world and don't try to rush to the left seat.

Wow. maybe I shouldn't have had that second coffee... endeth rant. I'll shut up now

Biggles wrote: My response was directed toward all of the pilots out there with 2000ish hours. Enjoy your career. It is still the coolest one in the world and don't try to rush to the left seat.

Not only in mainline but also at the smallest level, take the same people when they have 250 hours TT and they deserve a left seat on 1900. They rock so hard, can't you see it? They are never, never satisfied with the present moment and unable to enjoy life, they piss off everyone around asking: "When I am going to be captain?".

When they get the left seat they want bigger airplanes, bigger airlines, I wonder what it will be once they get the 777 left seat?

Most Junior Captains were hired in 2009/2010 I believe.

Safe bet is min 5 years..

Cheers

timel wrote:

Not only in mainline but also at the smallest level, take the same people when they have 250 hours TT and they deserve a left seat on 1900. They rock so hard, can't you see it? They are never, never satisfied with the present moment and unable to enjoy life, they piss off everyone around asking: "When I am going to be captain?".

When they get the left seat they want bigger airplanes, bigger airlines, I wonder what it will be once they get the 777 left seat?

Younger stewardesses?

Frequently once you get to the biggest aircraft, you move back to the smallest with all the money you make and buy a small airplane. Unless perhaps you have been hanging around younger stewardesses.

Thanks Very much Steve.

Not every F/O new hire at the 705 ops are inexperienced newbies. Plenty have previous jet command and more experience than existing captains but have fallen victim to the seniority system elsewhere via bankruptices etc.

tbaylx wrote:Not every F/O new hire at the 705 ops are inexperienced newbies. Plenty have previous jet command and more experience than existing captains but have fallen victim to the seniority system elsewhere via bankruptices etc.

Very true, and the message was of course not directed to this people.

Does Transat consider previous experience when upgrading or is it purely date of joining?

dash8pilot wrote:Does Transat consider previous experience when upgrading or is it purely date of joining?

Its a bit of both...