Thank you. What will your perception be of those who are hired through this program? Will you perceive as them as their individual competence/professionalism/attitude/etc dictate & treat them as you would any other new FO? Or will Destination 225 FO’s have a “unique” experience as they seek to make it through IOE & Initial in general and fit well with the SWA pilot group?
Originally Posted by
Duke Beamer
In my “other” job, I just recently went from a flying gig to a non-flying gig working with high school kids interested in serving their country as a way of providing educational opportunities, like ROTC, the Academy, etc.... 90%+ of them want to be pilots. So I’ve had the opportunity to talk about this program a lot with kids & parents. To be honest, it was a great idea on paper. But in its current state, it’s not that big of a deal. At least not that good of a deal for a high school kid dreaming of flying for Southwest. It looks like to me, the cost is all on the individual and the company doesn’t have any skin in the game. I hope SWA tweaks this and makes it a program where the individuals and the company have a mutual beneficiary relationship.
If a kid asked me today, what would I recommend, getting his/her PPL, going to college, and then joining their local Air National Guard unit and then eventually going to somewhere like SkyWest and then coming to SWA..... yes I would. I don’t think D225 has an inherent advantage over the Guard/SkyWest route. Or the pure military route. Or the pure civilian route. Not yet anyway.