Maybe/ maybe not.

If half a class washes out there is a breakdown somewhere. Is it recruitment? Is it quality of training? Both?

When we were phasing out the CRJs a lot of the pilots (FOs and CAs) were swapped over to the Republic and Shuttle certificates. Multiple classes on the Shuttle side had 50% failure rates. But, on the Republic side they had near perfect pass rates. Similarly experienced pilots going through two different training programs for the same equipment with two polarized results.

The military comparison is not an apples to apples comparison.

The talent pool on the military side is much deeper and wider. Many more kids want to be Maverick than they do Waterski, Brickyard or Chautauqua.

Before a pilot ever burns his/her first drop of highly refined diesel they've gone through a much more rigorous selection and training process. ASVABs followed by AFOQT/AFAST test. Rigorous physicals. Background/ security checks. Pilot selection boards. Service academy or officer candidate training. And a much more in depth ground training program.

Even then, for a pilot to get completely washed out of military flight training due performance issues is pretty rare. Most washouts are due to personal issues (family, injury, security clearance revocation, DUI, ect.). By the time they have failed a checkride, gotten the retraining, retaken the checkride, failed it, done the 88 and 89 rides, and gone to the review board, whatever issue the student has is usually cleared up.

That's not even close to what happens on the airline side.

Usually after you bust a checkride you get another training session and a retest. After that it's out to the flightline or unemployment line.

When I went through indoc and initial we had quite a few mil pilots. Mainly helo, -130, and taker guys. Probably eight in all. Three of them failed their checkrides the first time. They all did pass on the second try. Another first time failure was a Mesa guy who was already typed on the -145. We lost a 135 cargo guy and one of the four guys who came straight from the instructing route. And that was a high pass rate compared to some of the other classes.

Agreed. But, they should be weeded out long before they get on property, before the sim and definitely before they get to the checkride. And the training should be much more consistent between what FSI teaches and the Company checks, sim and ground instructors who have flown the actual airplane, and indoc instructors that have flown for any 121 carrier and not coming straight from a Purdue classroom.

That's a whole other topic that I'm too lazy to tackle tonight.