Pilots who recently got hired at Air Canada Mainline without going through Air Canada Express, what was your path?

[amazon1234]

Pilots of Westjet are also welcome to answer.

So how strong is the competition to go to these major airlines for those who don't go to Jazz, SkyRegional, Evas, Georgian, (and Encore for WS).

Cheers

[FOD_Vacuum]

*eating popcorn*

[flyinhigh]

haha, this will get interesting,

[CanadianPilotQc]

should of posted in in the AC section. curious to know if these people had degrees/aviation college diploma.

[AvifiskAlly]

Pilots of Westjet are also welcome to answer.

So how strong is the competition to go to these major airlines for those who don't go to Jazz, SkyRegional, Evas, Georgian, (and Encore for WS).

Cheers

Anything in the past is irrelevant at this point. The new PMA announced a couple of weeks ago redesigned the hiring protocol at AC. This combined with a new VP Ops at AC who is far more "old school" than the past guy who was very pro education anti "a pilots pilot" will bring further changes. My guess is far less emphasis will be placed on education going forward but more on Express.

[98 Corolla]

Going through the new hire bios the non-express people were a mix of military and civilian. C-17 Captains, A310 Captains, Fighter pilots, Snowbirds, etc. Sunwing 737 Captains, Overseas carrier A320 Captains, WestJet/Transat/Cargojet/First Air Boeing pilots, etc. These are the kind of people you would be on course with if hired. Most have post-secondary educations as well.

[Lemon]

Lots of Porter and Encore captains recently as well.

[Air.Field]

Pilots of Westjet are also welcome to answer.

So how strong is the competition to go to these major airlines for those who don't go to Jazz, SkyRegional, Evas, Georgian, (and Encore for WS).

Cheers

Anything in the past is irrelevant at this point. The new PMA announced a couple of weeks ago redesigned the hiring protocol at AC. This combined with a new VP Ops at AC who is far more "old school" than the past guy who was very pro education anti "a pilots pilot" will bring further changes. My guess is far less emphasis will be placed on education going forward but more on Express.

I've heard the good things about the new VP, similar to past promising VP's. While it would make the most sense of logic to hire based on experience then education, end of the day it's the HR who sadly decide whom to hire currently, and I would imagine in the future. Sadly that translates into education over experience. Great for office peeps, not so much for flying airplanes.

[Dry Guy]

Well everyone thinks that their experience is what the requirements should be. After a couple months of pouring over manuals and memorizing SOP's it becomes quite obvious that having more education doesn't hurt. For the study habits alone if nothing else.

[nightbird]

Well everyone thinks that their experience is what the requirements should be. After a couple months of pouring over manuals and memorizing SOP's it becomes quite obvious that having more education doesn't hurt. For the study habits alone if nothing else.

A lot of people completed that degree a decade or more ago so study habits could go from very rusty to non-existent at this point.
I think having completed several type ratings in the near past is more relevant to the ability to learn and translates exactly into the ability you need to demonstrate to get a new type rating at Air Canada. Learning derivatives in school 10 years ago didn't help me with V1 cuts or learning new SOPs, being a captain on a 705 Jet and having to do more or less the same every 6 months did help tremendously. I have yet to see how having a degree makes me a better candidate than some of the other guys that don't have one.
At the end of the day whatever you think is irrelevant, they want pilots with degrees and that's where they set the bar, tomorrow they might drop it or set another ridiculous requirement and you either tick the box or you don't get in, nobody said life was fair.

[AvifiskAlly]

Pilots of Westjet are also welcome to answer.

So how strong is the competition to go to these major airlines for those who don't go to Jazz, SkyRegional, Evas, Georgian, (and Encore for WS).

Cheers

Anything in the past is irrelevant at this point. The new PMA announced a couple of weeks ago redesigned the hiring protocol at AC. This combined with a new VP Ops at AC who is far more "old school" than the past guy who was very pro education anti "a pilots pilot" will bring further changes. My guess is far less emphasis will be placed on education going forward but more on Express.

I've heard the good things about the new VP, similar to past promising VP's. While it would make the most sense of logic to hire based on experience then education, end of the day it's the HR who sadly decide whom to hire currently, and I would imagine in the future. Sadly that translates into education over experience. Great for office peeps, not so much for flying airplanes.

That is not really how it works. They simply have enough great applicants with both that they don't have to pick one over the other. That decision resides with Flp Ops not HR

[lyrad6]

4 years - Uni Degree & Flight Training
1.5 years - Instructing PPL/CPL/Multi-IFR
2.5 years - Non-express regional (705 F/O & 704 Capt)

[RVR6000]

Many are hired with just a 2 year aviation college diploma. A degree isn’t a must, last I heard was they over a 1000 qualified resumes on file.