Hey — it’s been a minute.

I want to try and get back on a regular send schedule.
I learned a few things these past months I’m going to share with you, that I hope can make the job search easier.

For now, let’s jump straight back into the deep dive series, with Sierra West Airlines. They’re a Part 135 Air Carrier based in Texas, and the cool thing about today’s guest is that he got hired with very low hours.

If you read the subheadline of this email, easy to guess what the big takeaway is.

But for context, here’s an archived job description of the job he got.

Diving in… 🤿 

“I got in at very low time. The published minimums were 250 TT, 25 ME, and I applied with 350 TT and 25 ME. I had a referral, which is truly what I believe got me the position with SWA. I knew the person who referred me through a friend, they both worked at the same banner tow place, and my friend had reached out to him about any opportunities he had seen. I wasn't really confident i'd get it, being as I was at 350 hours, but I thought why not apply anyways. I would recommend a referral as i'm not sure what the application pool was like but I was the only FO hired and I had a referral. Keep checking the employee website as they only seem to post the position there. Hard minimums seem to vary as i've heard it as high as 850.

I was doing banner tow and just about to get a spot doing glider tow, however banner tow local to me was very sporadic, and upon getting hired I only flew about 10 hours or so with them.

Interview was pretty easy, with TMAAT type questions, and how would you deal with "X." Interview did not have any technical questions whatsoever. I attempted to rehearse on technical and IFR knowledge, but I wasn't asked a single question about either. There was a phone screen which basically asked about my background, if I met the hours, willing to relocate, and then a zoom call with HR. Questions were very basic HR ones, such as tell me a time you had to make a difficult decision, how would you deal with someone who isn't a team player, etc.

Training was done in-house in ELP. Scheduled for four weeks, was completed in two as I believe the Chief was coming to the end of his rotation and wanted to wrap things up. It was a pretty easy checkride all things considered, a pretty quick oral on systems questions, then onto the flight which was akin to an IPC. I completed my checkride, had 14 days off to move, and flew my first trip a month later. Training contract is 18 months or you owe the company $12,000 and upon completion of training you get an SA227 SIC type. Captains are sent to FlightSafety only for recurrent and upgrade training.

You MUST relocate to El Paso, so I ended up moving everything down to El Paso. Rent is cheap, but i'd recommend picking up a hobby. 0 relocation assistance to ELP is provided. Bad fit for anyone with a family unless they're willing to move to El Paso with you. I enjoy El Paso, I feel like there's a decent amount of stuff to do and plenty of places to eat, get groceries, etc.

About the job…

Typical day is you'll be sat at home as the schedule is 22 days on, 8 off. Shortest call-out i've had is 1h which seems to be pretty common, but others have gotten call-outs of up to 6 hours or so. On-call day is wake up, do whatever and wait for the call to come. Usually you can predict when you'll be called. Once called, pack your bags and head to the airport. Last trip I got was a 5h call out for 9pm, so I took a nap and then woke up, checked the weather, grabbed a bite to eat and went out to the airport. If there's no call, go to bed with my phone on maximum volume in case I get a call, however I haven't had any past 11pm yet.

Days are long, you will probably end up flying max duty if needed on the metro liner. As for what i've done to fill my time besides errands, I joined a pick-up soccer team in El Paso. Good way to get outside and stay fit, and if there aren't any games then I usually just go to the gym or lounge by the pool. I personally love the schedule, as I feel like I can get errands done quite easily, as well as have personal time for hobbies.

Airplanes are in great shape, write ups get fixed, and the worst GPS package here is a garmin 430. Two airframes have G700 touch screen packages, another one has a G600, and all except one have a GTN 750/550 combo.

Overnights can vary, sometimes you'll stay long enough to get your rest and leave, other times you'll be on the road for a few days as the company tries to sell you a trip out of where you're at. As I mentioned earlier, the flying is sporadic, one rotation you may have 6 trips, and the next rotation you'll only have 1. Average so far i've gotten about 20 hours a month, however i've heard you can go a full 22 days without a single flight. Cargo varies, can be anything from car parts to airplane parts, last trip was parts for a jet that went AOG.

The captains truly do care about you, they offer a lot of insight, help, and want to see you improve as a pilot. Management is also fantastic, HR truly cares and the DO is fantastic as well. I've met most of the other FO's, and they're all a great group, sometimes we all go out for dinner or go out and do something in ELP together.

Pay is 45k/yr for FO's, all salary so if you don't fly much it doesn't affect your pay. Bonus is given every 100 block hours you'll receive $1k. Company does provide insurance, however they don't pay for it. 401k plan is available as well as CASS and KCM after 90 days of employment. Per diem is $2.09 an hour, paid once you are 24 hours away from ELP. It starts on block out and ends at block in back in ELP. Paperwork needs to be done to receive your per diem, as well as everything cargo paperwork wise. Captain's usually handle all of that, as an FO you're responsible for your duty log as well as your own per diem.”

I’m sure at 350 hours, you and I would have taken that job too, right? Doesn’t sound bad to me. Not at all.

The bad part is how to even land those jobs.

Everybody knows how to find them now. But getting hired, whole other story.

Well, next week, to move us one step towards that goal, I’ll send you an updated “guide” on how to build a pilot resume.

The amount of questionable resumes that are being posted daily in the Low Time Pilot Facebook Group feels like a good enough reason to.

If you’re already happy with your resume, let me know what you’d need help with, I always read every reply! Is there a company you’d like a deep dive on, maybe?

Happy to chat.

As far as community notes on hiring news are concerned, this is the slow season. I expect some survey jobs to open up late winter potentially but other than that, should be pretty slow… For what it’s worth, the market is leaning towards preferring CFIs, at the 121 level at least, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get yours if you haven’t already AND instruct.

Your low-time pilot buddy,
— Ivan