Originally Posted by
Da40Pilot
2 months have passed and I hear that DOH to IOE is getting upwards towards 5-6 months. This is quite a waste of money to be shelling out for pilots to just sit around and do nothing waiting for their turn, not to mention how much you forget of the material since you're not constantly keeping yourself current during those long breaks.
They are adding check airmen as fast as they can, but it is still backed up. If they had planned ahead, this problem would not be occurring. It is simply a failure to plan type of problem. I do think the time will start coming down again, and would expect it to plateau at about 6 weeks from sims to IOE.
Right now, pilots are worth a lot of money to a company, and they don't seem to mind paying you to sit at home for 2 months waiting for IOE. Yes, you do forget some things, but the LCA's understand this and are patient (at least the majority of them) for the first few flights.
I actually enjoyed the first month off. I knew I wasn't going to get called and traveled freely.