Valuable experience?

[Outlaw58]

Question here:

I am a holder of a CPL/MIFR with 600 hours. Of those 600 hours, 450 were flown in the military (375 on jets), 300+ PIC but only 50 hours on Multi.

Let's say I wished to enter the corporate world, what are my prospects or best route to that goal?





How about if, on top of those hours, I held an extra 4000+ hours of Day/Night/NVG/VFR/IFR Multi-Crew, turbine, FMS/EFIS equipped helicopter (ATPL(H) holder)? Would that change anything??

Thanks

JP

[ahramin]

The problem with trying to transition military to civilian is that the civilian person doing the hiring is unlikely to understand how much the training can overcome the lack of experience, and the military person looking to get hired is unlikely to understand the few but important areas where the lack of experience cannot be overcome by military training.

However, there are plenty of of corporate operators out there who will view your training and experience as valuable and I think you'd be a serious candidate for any F/O position coming up on a corporate jet.

As for the helicopter time, yes it's very valuable. A resume with 4600 hours will certainly get more consideration than one with 600 hours.

May I ask why you specify corporate? With your specified experience I would think a 2 crew helicopter operator or even the airlines would be a better fit. Many corporate operators have helicopters as well as jets, and are crying for 2 crew / IFR helicopter pilots. If you don't want to fly helicopters any more, even if you are approaching 40 I would still think the airlines are a better route.

[Outlaw58]

The problem with trying to transition military to civilian is that the civilian person doing the hiring is unlikely to understand how much the training can overcome the lack of experience, and the military person looking to get hired is unlikely to understand the few but important areas where the lack of experience cannot be overcome by military training.

However, there are plenty of of corporate operators out there who will view your training and experience as valuable and I think you'd be a serious candidate for any F/O position coming up on a corporate jet.

As for the helicopter time, yes it's very valuable. A resume with 4600 hours will certainly get more consideration than one with 600 hours.

May I ask why you specify corporate? With your specified experience I would think a 2 crew helicopter operator or even the airlines would be a better fit. Many corporate operators have helicopters as well as jets, and are crying for 2 crew / IFR helicopter pilots. If you don't want to fly helicopters any more, even if you are approaching 40 I would still think the airlines are a better route.

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond

You confirmed what I thought but from the few feelers I sent, I had a nasty feeling that my helo time was hurting me more than helping. Hindsight 20/20, I am now pretty sure it is only my very low fixed wing time.

Why corporate? Short answer is mostly lifestyle. That being said, that is my prefered avenue but I am considering every possibilities. I enjoyed my military helicopter career tremendously but as time goes, I find myself enjoying more and more flying cross-country/IFR and helos are not the best platform for that

I started my release process and will be establishing myself in the Montreal area. So far I found it hard for potential employers to look past the helo time and realise that I spent the last 4.5 years teaching IFR on multi-crew/FMS/EFIS helicopters, which I hope could be valuable.

I will definetly keep my options open!

Thanks again for the reply

JP