CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Although just 25 years old, Katie Leslie, captain on US Airways Express Flight 5481, had 3,400 hours of total flight time with the airline and 1,800 hours flying the type of plane that crashed Wednesday, a typical level of experience.
First Officer Jonathan Gibbs, 26, had less flying time — 1,100 total hours with the airline and 750 hours in the Beechcraft series — but had graduated from a rigorous two-year training program.
According to an Associated Press report, Jonathan Gibbs graduated from the University of Oregon in 1997 with Spanish and economics degrees. His father, Skip Gibbs, spoke to Santa Rosa’s The Press Democrat.
“(Jonathan) had an incredible range of interests and skills,” Gibbs said. “He was very generous, full of humor and kindness.”
Jonathan Ornstein, chairman and chief executive officer of Mesa Air Group, also spoke highly of the pilots.
“Both of our employees were fine airmen and fine people,” Ornstein said. The Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group is the owner of Air Midwest, which operated the plane under the US Airways Express banner.
Although the crash investigation appeared to focus Thursday on maintenance and mechanical issues, the National Transportation Safety Board is also looking into the experience of the pilots.
It was unclear late Thursday which pilot was at the controls as the plane took off. But both were among a cadre of commuter pilots who work long hours to rack up flying time, often with an eye on someday flying larger jets, pilots and aviation experts said.
Frank Graham, an experienced pilot and former safety director at CCAir, a Mesa subsidiary, said Leslie’s experience level was typical for an operator of a 19-seat aircraft. And 700 hours for the first officer is equivalent to about a year of flying that type of plane. Gibbs would have had at least 250 to 300 hours of training on top of that before flying for the airline, Graham said.
He also said it’s not unusual to have a captain of Leslie’s experience teamed with a first officer of Gibbs’ experience.
Mark Kaufman, a former commuter airline pilot in Charlotte, N.C., also noted that pilots at regional carriers can gain experience quickly, practicing takeoffs and landing on as many as six flight legs a day.
“We’ve got 23- and 24-year-olds flying $200 million aircraft defending our country with less flight experience,” Graham said.
Leslie joined Mesa in March 2000 and was promoted to captain about a year later. Gibbs was hired in May 2001. The Mesa training program he participated in at San Juan College in New Mexico has a “high washout rate” because of its rigorous requirements, Ornstein said.
With 3,400 hours, Leslie was at the middle of the seniority list at Air Midwest. By comparison, Ornstein said, pilots leave the military with about 4,000 hours.
Even at regional airlines, companies train pilots how to handle stalls and abnormal situations, such as rolls and steep pitches, said Dave Esser, professor of aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at Daytona Beach, Fla.
Commuter pilot salaries can start below $20,000 but reach about $100,000, said John Mazor, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association. That compares to major airline pilot salaries which can max out at more than $200,000. Mesa wouldn’t say what Leslie and Gibbs earned.
Before being hired by a regional airline such as Air Midwest, pilots often gain flight hours by flying cargo or working as flight instructors, pilots said. After that they might strive to land a major airline job. Increasingly, though, more are opting to stay at commuter airlines.
“They are making a lifestyle decision,” Mazor said. “Although the pay is less, most of the flying is local. In many cases, they can go home at night.”
The airline industry’s financial problems, including mass pilot layoffs, also have made jobs scarce at the big airlines.