Originally Posted by
proletariatav8r
The way NATCO was set up on the ground side was that there were staff instructors, most of whom were not on the seniority list. A handful were from the military, a handful of college graduates with an aviation background from ERAU, Purdue, UND etc. and the others were retired NWA pilots. Each person would specialize in a particular system. Ground school was a class act all the way. Many were angling for an interview and a number made it onto the list. I think it was, teach for 3 years and you could be put up for an interview.
Not entirely true. NWA had "aircrew training instructors" that were non-seniority list. They mostly taught a/c systems and some "systems integrated training". Seniority list F/O instructors would teach in the sims and could do seat fill duties for check rides and other training. All checking was done by seniority list captain instructors and APD's. All sl instructors where current on the a/c, as most of them worked 6months of the year on the line and 6 months in the box.
For a short time NWA had in internal hire program similar to what you described. I believe it was scrapped when some had trouble checking out.
At least that's how I remember it.
Tr