Thank you gentleman for the congrats, I appreciate all the sentiment.
Bagrat: I started flying at the age of 16 in 1995, washing planes pumping gas, etc,. Was supposed to start at another Regional Airline in September 24th, 2001. Obviously, there was a "major" downturn in the industry beginning that month all new hire classes where canceled and we were told to re-apply in 6 months. The regionals didn't really start hiring again until 2003 with minimum time requirements "through the roof" ,3,000 - 4,000 hours,then as the demand for pilots started increasing and the minimums came down to 1500 hours total time I was hired in 2004. It took me 6 years at American Eagle before I was awarded a captain bid and I'm 31 now, still with 34 years left to go in the Airline Industry. For anyone interested, there will be a huge sucking sound in the airline industry, barring another major catastrophe. The demand for Pilots starting well...now is starting to soar amongst the regionals and the major/legacy carriers will follow soon here in the US due to the massive amounts of retirements expected. According to the FAA, they haven't issued nearly enough new "student" pilot certificates to offset the projected amount of retirements forecast to begin here in the near future. The military is not training and releasing pilots into the major airlines like they once were and with the implementation of new more strict experience requirements imposed upon 121 air carriers the pool of available pilots is shrinking quite rapidly. The industry is going to suffer a huge "labor shortage" here in the near future and those that are already qualified will be in great demand.
