Olala, Hit a nerve did I? Wow. Let's just say, I have probably seen and been involved in more training than most here. Without a shred of doubt in my mind, this training here, historicaly (and I believe MM is trying to turn the tide), is the worst I and many contempories have ever seen. You probably know as well as I, that a true and competent captain is not measured by what he can recite but rather where to access the information and his resources.
To me it is a sad state of affairs when someone has been here for 4-5 years has to take a psyometric battery of testing and then have an UNTRAINED person in HF, human performance, and psychology, evaluate a persons ability to be a captain by the interpetation of testing that is way outdated (check the original date of the MMPI). If through line checks, PPCs, and line operations over 4 plus years you can't get the measure of the pilot; what will a two hour interview provide? Fail on body language?
I have been involved in developing training for airlines, administrating the training, setting up standards and standardisation criteria. The very very first item on the agenda is to standardise the checkers and training. That my friend is the crux of the whole matter here. And that HAS been documented here. I have seen the same filmed event been evaluated a 1 and a 5 by two different sets of TREs. You want to tell me how to prepare for that?
One example...first officer here for 4 years. Never a blip on his PPCs, line checks, highly experienced in numerous wide bodied aircraft and including several captain stints. No counseliing, no "chats" with those in cubicles about anything, no nothing....But was told he will be delayed another year, because SP wants to see another PPC result. Never an explaination when asked. Just the way it is.
Finally, Olala, I will agree, if someone shows up unprepared then they deserve not to be upgraded. However, prepared for what? Memorise the OMA, recite all of the weights, etc? Not enough asking the copilot if he is "happy" or not? But do we set or f/o's for failure? According to those in training, most failures are due to the lack of decision making ability. How do you "prepare" for that? EK beats down any decision making outside of their little box. Then it is not decision making. (eg, removed from roster until we, sitting in our cubicles, decide your decision agrees with ours) And when do firsts really get the opportunity to make decisions (re, prepare) here? When they have captains telling them to not disconnect the a/p until clearance to land has been received, IMHO, we are setting up a system rife with failure.
But there does seem to be a disparity between pass and failure rates on the two fleets. Where's the standard. If there is a high failure rate, perhaps it's time to look inwards. But Pool
expressed the reason for that much better than I am capable of doing.
But Olala, you hit the nail on the head. If a copilot shows up unprepared don't expect for me to ........and he can f@ck off for the rest of his career in the right seat. And that does exemplify the attitude of many trainers. "Don't expect me to train, teach, mentor, or cajol your preparedness." Easier to say just F@ck off. I love it.