Is anyone else experiencing big training delays with their airline? Some friends have had 6 months before type rating due lack of training captains. And even then up to 12 months until check to line (from start of employment). Seems ridiculous but these are some of the stories that I’m hearing. They are also bonded to the regional airline with the contract stating that the bond commences from the first day of employment! Crazy! It seems to be the regionals getting thrashed the most with the current pilot shortage - training captains at the regional level will just move on to bigger and better things with such ease now it appears.

Training captains move on because they’re sick of training all day every day..sometimes you just want to fly the line and look at the world going by and not be watching the other guy like a hawk to make sure he doesn’t get you an incident report

Do your friends work at Air North?

Nope not Air North, head west.

I am hearing it’s not just regionals suffering from significant training delays. Im told the bigger operators’ HR and bean counting folk have decided it would be a good idea to offer well below world standard rates of pay for instructors employed to deliver type rating training. This results in a lack suitable applicants for any new training positions and existing instructors heading off to better paid positions. In addition to these factors, it is the HR Dept understanding an instructor will walk in the door and start training. In reality it can take up to 6 months for an instructor to complete Part 142 induction training.

I believe a mass of training captains left at the same time as friends joining this airline. The result... Pilots on days off for 5 months until training capacity is available for type rating. Once type rating complete (in sim) a further 3-4 months on days off (full pay), followed by a recurrency sim and then 1-2 line training flights a week. As previously stated, 12
months from joining until check to
line. No F/O’s sticking around until captains. Fleets of 6 aeroplanes with 4-5 captains, less then one captai per aeroplane. Must be costing the airline significant $$$$ on top of already parking aeroplanes/cross hiring due insufficient crewing.

Not sustainable.

One must worry about regional airlines moving forward. The answer? Pay more? Yes - But pilot syndrome of bigger is better will always take precedence. Especially when regional airlines won’t be able to match or even come close to the pay of big airlines without even considering additional perks such as staff travel and massive over time $$.

One has to worry about the sustainability of regional airlines given the current job market.

Interesting times ahead...

What’s wrong with training delays? Is it slowing your 5 minute quick march to the airlines? The training Cpts are probably on that same march but, just ahead of you. The aviation industry is cyclical and self regulating, especially anything to do with the mining industry. All it will take is a change in the economy and these ‘regionals’ will collapse. The training issues will be solved but, the same people will be then complaining about some other impedance to their career. Bonds are a way of reducing training delays because it supposedly reduces training that is wasted on people that are planning to move on even before the training starts . Higher salaries also rarely work as pilots will never refuse them on the basis that they are not there for the long term. As for ‘resting instructors’ well, in all fairness to the company, that should be accompanied with an appropriate reduction in pay. After all, the ‘rest ‘ would increase training delays. Is the term ‘ millennial ‘ appropriate here?

‘What’s wrong with a training delay’...? How about being on a training wage for a year longer then you expected for an absolute starter... You don’t know other people’s situation so I don’t know how you can apply a blanket ‘5 minute march to airlines’. You then continue to say the regional could potentially go under (which I agree with). The employee won’t have turned a dollar over for the company for a year and has actually been an overhead cost to the company (more then one pilot if my understanding is correct)! As if potential unemployment is not a good enough reason to be worries about being on a training delay!

I don’t want to enter into an argument but, I will pass on some advice learned from years of experience ( decades actually). If one is finding it tough on a training salary and not turning over a dollar for the employer, I would suggest that you might not be flying and have time on your hands. You could supplement your income by taking other work in the meantime, I know that I did , many times. In fact after accepting a job with an airline and resigning from a the previous job, I was advised that the employment would not commence for several months to a year( zero training pay) . One friend not content with that situation found another job and now holds probably the highest post in that major international airline . We all thought it a brave move at the time but, in reality it was brilliant. If digging ditches or driving Uber is beneath you, sit and wait. As for the ‘ 5 minute’ comment; if the position was truly a goal of the individual, a training delay would not dampen his spirit nor reduce the size of his simile. However, someone using the job as a stepping stone and perhaps in a hurry, may well have that attitude. There appears to be plenty of aviation job vacancies at present.

Does Skippers not have a maximum time on Training Wage? Everywhere I have worked it has been “Checked to Line or X months, whichever is sooner”. This protects the employee (somewhat) against delays like this. Sometimes X has been 3, other times 6 months.