Originally Posted by
Airbubba
Will the NTSB address these multiple training failures with a call for higher employment standards for transport category pilots? Or will they call for even more remedial training for those folks who can't do the job?
Similarly, is an occasional crash just the price we pay for overlooking a horrible training record in an effort to embrace a broader workplace recruitment demographic?
Things seemed to tighten up around the training building at many places after the Colgan crash for those 'frequent flyers' in the sims who never passed their checkrides without a lot of additional instruction. 709 rides were given by the FAA and a few of the legacy problem children quietly negotiated non-contractual early retirements and cash settlements in lieu of company provided training to get their tickets back.
The 1996 Pilot Records Improvement Act (PRIA) was intended to flag imposters and folks with training issues prior to hiring. Unfortunately, the current custom seems to be to offer a pilot being terminated for cause a chance to resign to avoid further litigation. The union and in many cases gender and ethnic advocacy groups cut a deal with the company and nothing adverse shows up on the PRIA record.
@Airbubba
Always a privilege to join your conversations; I've interviewed at Atlas. I found them an extremely professional and diligent group. HR and Technical folks were very well tuned in, and they certainly were not so desperate pilots that, in my opinion they lowered their guard in any meaningful way. Less than half the qualified applicants that day got offers. they turned away a ME 777 CA and several experienced 121 skippers.
Their reputation is that they won't hire anyone with any training failures.
While I fly recognize this fellow wouldn't be suited to driving the hotel van to the overnight; my experience of the recruiting event was that the entire group was extremely professional. This is not. a cowboy outfit by any measure..
The union will generally not step in to New Hire Pilot training problems, and Atlas does wash out a good few during training, certainly on the 747.
With all that said however, there is enormous pressure on everyone in the US to increase diversity in the workplace, and as troubling as it is, that reality is unlikely to change..