Yesterday on the 'staff' shuttle, I sat next to a Line Check Airman who flies CRJs.
What he described to me, with no exaggeration, would have been unbelievable, if I had not heard it from him.
Not only is he avoiding any OE/IOE trips with brand-new FOs, he refused to fly over his monthly max, even after the company offered to pay him time and a half, in order to make such flying avoidable.
He claimed that due to some strange 'attitude problems' (?) (my words) among some IP or simulator Check Airmen, most of the pilots who left ACA and went there failed training or checking. And many had about 2,000 hours in the same jet-the CRJ. I have heard other stories, but not first person, about the company's sim. training. Maybe the ACA guys came over before this serious recruiting problem/shortage began? It is possible for a pilot trainee to have an attitude problem or adjustment problems to new, different expectations.
But based upon what he learned, he could not figure out why such a large fraction did not receive better treatment.
I was unable to comprehend why such problems were allowed to exist, unless the people in charge of their training, or budgets, are totally arrogant (which would not surprise me..) or just all "out of their league", maybe both. Maybe the head Training Captain has almost no authority? If not, why is he staying in the job? If he has real authority, why is he allowed to operate such a department? If he can not get a large fraction of new-hires through training, why does the FAA allow their syllabus allowed to remain as it is? These questions are based upon the Check Airman's comments to me. What a nightmare for these eager, naive young aviators. One major problems at this and some airlines appears to be the lack of positive, realistic, progressive training (one large airline made superb, major changes over the years to its A-320 training and is able to get almost all students through the syllabus).
As for training, one of our pilots who was recalled from furlough this winter told me that he was really disappointed with his CRJ training at Chautauqua.
Anyway, the guy on the shuttle claimed that with pay about as bad as that at Mesa, their recruiting and training problems are no surprise to anybody.
As an interesting side-note:
A brand-new FO during IOE said "WHEE!" The Check Airman asked "What?"
The very brand-new pilot, being second-in-command on a jet (which he might immediately operate into ATL, ORD, LGA, JFK, BOS, LAX etc) said that he had never before flown through a cloud!
Some new-hires were sent away, even after doing ok up to that point, because they had no multi-engine rating! Not even with the center-line thrust restriction. He stated that if the FAA has sat in on a certain check ride, the young applicant might have had the center-line restriction, which would have allowed him to continue training.
Last edited by Ignition Override; 26th July 2007 at 04:01.