Anyone who gets thrown in the 1900 (or any other type they are unfamilar with for that matter) is going to struggle to fly at a level close to someone who is checked and current on that type. This MUST be taken into the consideration of the check pilots carrying out the exercise, and from what has been said in the post this is not the case!
I could understand if Eagle gave theses fullas a very thorough briefing (standard sim briefs are 1.5 hours) and then asked them to carry out some simple IF manouvers, in order to assess their competency and situational awareness. What I cannot understand is the reasoning behind putting these guys in an overloaded and unfamilar work environment, and then critising them for their performance, or should I say lack of. What do they expect? Its no wonder they were unable to fly the aircraft to an IR standard..... They havnt done the 30 hours sim training? They havnt done the 100 hours line training? Nor a ground course or a flight test! It peeves me off that stupid incidences like this still occur at Eagle..........
I really enjoyed my time at Eagle, flying a 1900 around New Zealand. What I didnt enjoy is the fact that most people live in fear of an upcoming interivew or annual check with Eagle becuase of these isolated incidences.
Another thing I could never understand was the high failure rates, as mentioned in this post. I dont know what the companies reasoning is behind this method, all I know is that it does nothing for a pilots confidence or improving their flying. There are times when a failure of a check is required but how can u justify 70-80% of people within the company failing? These arnt made up numbers, however hard it is to believe they are real!...... Surely the CAA should get involved if a company has such high rates of failure? Something is not right, and I am 99% sure that its got nothing to do with the level of pilot competency within Eagle, you just need to look at the sucess of Ex-Eagle drivers. Once again I think it comes back to the uneccesary pressures placed upon Eagle pilots and Interviewees, when they are in the seat.
There are plenty of great guys in Eagle, I dont think that can be emphasied enough. Hopefully one day there will be a major re-jig of Eagle check and training policies, and when that one day comes It will be an awesome place to work.