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Atlas Executive Council Flight Action Alert (FAA)

Atlas Crew Members,

This action alert is to advise you of a recent turn of events regarding B-747 training. The FAA has recently instituted enhanced training requirements for flight crews and in particular with respect to First Officer PC Check Rides. Apparently, this relates to the company’s unwillingness to negotiate an appropriate AQP program, as a vast number of carriers in the industry have already done in order to enhance their training programs.

It appears that from this point forward, first officers on the B-747 will be required to complete a PIC check ride on their PC. You should all be ready to take this type of check ride, in addition to an extended and enhanced oral examination. The company, with the FAA observing, has run a few tests of this new requirement and the results have not gone well. You can expect the FAA to sit in on your check rides on a more frequent basis going forward, especially during the initial stages of this transition to the agency’s enhanced requirements.

The recent increase in failures underscores the fact that our crews, and in particular our first officers, are being required to take check rides for which they are not adequately prepared.

It is the union’s position that these problems are, in part, attributable to the poor quality of our simulators, inadequate training provided to the FOs for this requirement, a lack of familiarity and experience of flying from the left seat, and a rapid change in the training program and the requirements needed from our pilots.

The union considers this a serious problem that can have serious adverse consequences on a pilot’s career. Indeed, as a pilot progresses in his or her career, their path to advancement might be curtailed by a training failure on their record that should never have happened if he or she had received adequate training and support in the first place. As a result, we have taken immediate action to rectify this issue.

A letter was sent yesterday to Captain Jeff Carlson, SVP Flight Operations, requesting the following training measures be instituted immediately:

1) An additional simulator session to bring the FOs up to a level of proficiency to fly this check ride (PC & RFT). Also, this extra simulator session should be comprised of the same crew that will be working together on that particular PC or RFT.

2) An independent company, approved by the union, be brought in to evaluate and issue a report that will detail what is needed to bring the current simulators at Atlas and Pan Am up to industry and FAA standards.

3) An in-depth oral prep ground school instruction period to bring our pilots up to speed on items to be covered on the newly expanded oral exam.

The union will work quickly and proactively to get this problem corrected and under control. If you have any concerns that you may not be properly prepared for a training event, we encourage you to get in touch with the union’s Training Committee for assistance.

We will update you further as this situation evolves.

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