phillyfan wrote:b) Chief Pilot
(i) Qualifications
(A) If the Air Operator Certificate authorizes:
(I) VFR day only - hold a valid Airline Transport Pilot Licence or Commercial Pilot Licence for the category of aircraft operated;
(II) VFR at Night - hold a valid Airline Transport Pilot Licence or Commercial Pilot Licence valid for night and a valid Instrument Rating for the category of aircraft operated. Where the Air Operator Certificate authorizes VFR at night only without an instrument rating, the chief pilot need not be instrument rated;
(III) IFR - hold a valid Airline Transport Pilot Licence or Commercial Pilot Licence and a Valid Instrument Rating for the category of aircraft operated;
(B) if applicable, hold a type rating for one of the aircraft operated;
(C) have at least 500 hours of flight time, of which 250 hours were acquired within the preceding three years on the category of aircraft operated by the air operator;
(D) be qualified in accordance with the air operators training program to act as pilot-in-command on one of the types operated by the air operator;
(E) have demonstrated knowledge to the air operator with respect to the content of the operations manual, provisions of the regulations and standards, and if applicable, the company check pilot manual and standard operating procedures.
The big issue on the Chief Pilot thing is the interpretation of (C) above. It does vary from region to region and the worst a holes are apparently the Ontario guys.
Some interpret it to mean that if you operate say, two 185's on floats and a Cessna 310, in order to be CP you have to have 250 hours on single engine float planes, and 250 hours on a 310 or a similar airplane, which to some inspectors is taken to mean only a 310.
The law really is that if you are applying to be approved for CP in an airplane operation, you must have the 250 hours on an airplane. Period. If you are running IFR, then obviously you must have an IR and a multi rating. But all the rest is complete nonsense and wouldn't hold up in court if anyone challenged it under the Charter.
Denial of a position which you are logically qualified for on an arbitrary basis which is different in different regions of the same country is a violation of one section of the Charter. If someone challenged it, it would never stand up in court.
In days of yore, you did need an ATPL for an IFR operation, and obviously 1500 hours. But no bullshit about the last three years. What conceivable difference could that make? It didn't matter whether your time was multi or single.
The air regs define "category" as either helicopter or fixed wing, for practical purposes. I think balloons is another category. So the law really is 250 hours of fixed wing time, or helicopter time, as the case may be, in the last three years.
The thing that would cause TC to lose in court is their arbitrary definition of "category" beyond what the regs say quite plainly. The three years is BS, but the court might allow that.
Just as an example, I have an offer to be ops mgr at a carrier, and they want me to be chief pilot of a multi IFR op inthe dual role thing. I don't have 250 hours in the last three years, because I've been flying mostly choppers, but I have over 4000 PIC hours in airplanes and over `1000 hours PIC multi. On top of that, I have been an OPS mgr and CP in three different carriers in the past. I haven't applied yet, but I expect to be denied for the CP position, although not for ops mgr. The guy who is chief pilot now has about 800 hours and 220 hours multi and is approved, because he has the time in the last three years.
Obviously there should be good and adequate reasons why someone should be the "chief" pilot, but what you've been doing in the last three years is irrelevant in a rational analysis of the requirements.
Another absurd example. Let's say you are chief pilot of a multi IFR op and your company decides to put a couple of Beavers on floats. I have heard one regional air carrier superintendent say that his understanding is that you can no longer be chief pilot because you don't have 250 float hours in the past three years. He doesn't dispute that it's bullshit, but he says that's the law and there is nothing that can be done about it.
Many things make up a good chief pilot. Obviously one of the things that would make a difference is whether the person had any instructor experience, as that involves understanding how people learn and how to present what it is you are trying to train line pilots about. Good administrative skills is another requirement in a rational world. Experience that allows one to exercise the day to day judgements of a chief pilot would seem to be very important.
But to TC, none of that matters. For reasons known to none of us, it is the 250 hours/3 years thing that TC fixates on. If the guy has that plus 500 hours, it doesn't matter if he slobbers when he talks and couldn't explain how to boil water, he can be chief pilot, and the guy who had 10,000 hours and has been a designated flight test examiner, a Class 1 instructor, and Chief Pilot at Borek for 10 years, but only has 150 hours in airplanes in the last 3 years can't.
I generally support what TC does, but someone's head is way, way up their ass on this.