Originally Posted by
yancharlie
Piedmont has a history of hiring low timers, and getting them through the course. The training is difficult, but not impossible. It takes a dedicated low experience guy to make it all the way. Experience is necessary as well as valuable, but it has been proven all over the world that you can hire a guy with zero hour and train them to fly Airbus and Boeing. At the end of the day, it all depends on who you get. Some of them are ready to take such a challenge, because of good prior training and study habits, and others just need more time outside the 121 environment before they can do it. What I have to say is, all the low timers that made it through the piedmont training are outstanding pilots. Experience or no experience, that training is tough. I know for a fact that you can bring any mainline glass cockpit drivers into our sim, and it will take them a minimum of four sessions to get caught up with that thing. Most of them forgot how to enter a hold without the FMS.
I was an IP and DE for PDT back in a day...... When I was there it took 2500/500 just for an interview. The dash isn't a hard aircraft to fly, in fact it is one of the easiest and most forgiving aircraft I have flown during my career. But when a company takes guys that have ZERO experience you can expect to have a low success rate.
The other part of the equation is what experience does someone with wet ink on a commercial ticket bring to the line? There is a lot more to being an airline pilot and good FO than just making it through training..... Having knowledge, judgement, and decision making skills are very prudent for the well being of the flight.
You are correct that in other parts of the world companies take zero timers and check them out in a transport jet. But (and heres a bid thing) the screening process and training is much different and extensive than what we do in the US. Here we pretty much do the minimum! I was just over in Tokyo last week and met a pilot that was from the USA and was working for ANA. His checkout was 9 months long for the 767 and he was already typed in the aircraft.
As for your statement about "knowing for a fact that you can bring any mainline glass cockpit drivers into our sim, and it will take them a minimum of four sessions to get caught up with that thing. Most of them forgot how to enter a hold without the FMS"....... Well this would undoubtedly be very accurate. But by the same regards taking someone who has been flying steam gauges for years and throw them into a glass aircraft and you have the same learning/re-learning curve. Both types of aircraft presentation systems and FMS require one to be proficient.