Originally Posted by
FixTheMess
I disagree. We do have a few excellent instructors whom I can't lump in with the training department as a whole. That being said, PDT training is a disgrace. There are also plenty of "instructors" who should be ashamed to call themselves one or collect the additional pay. I have no doubt that I received and gave better instruction in my part 91 days, and I by no means ever considered myself a great instructor. Vagueness, and "I don't know" seems to be the motto of quite a few of our instructors. Reading a lesson plan is NOT a pre brief. An instructor should actually explain the content in detail, and tailored to each student. I wonder when the last time was that they read over the "Flight Instructors Handbook." You will feel very much like you are getting pushed through, (and you are). Study materials and power points are very out of date. Upgrade captains do 75% of the actual instruction for new hires. (if there are any) . AQP was not designed fire liow time pilots with no 121 experience, and PDT does not get that. Many of those new hires that do get pushed through should not be on the line without further instruction. Many of us that are not in the training department act as IOE captains because of the low experience/ poor instruction. I can't compare with other 121 training programs, and no,I am not bitter because of a failure or anything. I do think people interested in coming here should be cautious and realize it is going to take some hard work/a lot of home study. I myself would not be proud to be a part of Piedmont's training department.
DISCLAIMER: I am not saying that the training department is without fault just trying to give my own opinion on the training department
Granted I did not have every instructor and some of the ones i did have were not as good as the instructors I had in college. That said I had an instructor go over the lesson plan as a pre-brief but it was a point by point discussion based on the lesson plan. he would read the info directly from it but also ask us questions and explain what he was talking about, which is the purpose of a lesson plan. I think the best way to go through training at PDT is to just study, keep a low profile and just try as hard as they can. If you have not flown steam gauges I wold not come here. They wont take the time to teach you how to fly them.
On the note of getting through training I had an SOE instructor(most PDT people will know who) who had the complete opposite beliefs of me including religious and was not afraid of airing them in the cockpit. So because I wanted a job I shut up and tried to not pay attention. Worked wonders, passed in 40 cycles and out on the line. I was also hired with 330TT and 50 ME.
I think there are a lot of downsides to PDT training mainly having to deal with the direction the AQP program is used for(getting rid of people) but you can't wash out if you study and try. the few people I have heard about who washed out in training either went home a lot on the weekends or just didn't study.
any of the people who are waiting fro a class feel free to PM me and I will go into more detail..