Originally Posted by microfilter
Seems things have changed since my day- I heard that things aren't so good out at Goodyear- 'backseating' aircraft for hours at a time- no OAT rep out there- miles from anywhere...sorties at 5am....can anyone out there tell us what's going on?
Microfilter, suggest you need to check your sources as they're incorrect on several counts. As a student currently at GYR, I can help correct the inaccuracies:
Yes students back seat each other, but if they are backseating who is in the frontseat? Answer another student! And then they will swap over.
GYR is a fully operated OAT base and is staffed only by full time employees of OAT, several who have come either from Oxford or SDL.
Training does start at 6am. But as pointed out by Groundloop training in the desert requires an early start as temperatures can exceed 43c by 2pm during summer, so training in that kind of weather would be difficult. This is standard practise for all flight schools in this area. Furthermore most airlines will operate flights starting at these times, so early mornings/late nights are an occupational hazard for all in (and hope to be in) the airline industry.
Hope this is of some help.
R