Originally Posted by
rickair7777
It's going to be a problem. I finally got seriously motivated to leave the regionals in significant part because the quality of new FO's plummeted abruptly as staffing pressures first caused the elimination of most screening standards, and then caused the training dept to start dragging candidates through the system.
As a CA I didn't mind training/mentoring the occasional noob but it turned into perpetual IOE with weak (by historical standards) pilots. It turned into a rare treat to fly with an FO who knew his flows and could do a GA or TCAS RA and not get into an UAS without my intervention.
That was annoying. What really concerned me was the fact that the company was going to start dragging these people through upgrade next, and MY financial future depended on these pilots (upgrading without about 20% of the airline experience that I had when I upgraded) not bending metal and thereby getting feed contracts revoked.
Not looking forward to seeing more of the same flowing up to mainline.
Not sure what the regionals are going to do about quality candidates, since they've already about exhausted the accumulator of previously experienced folks waiting in the wings. The need to incentivize *talented* candidates to enter the pipeline.
Facts! Truth! Truth! Truth! Just simple reality of the situation over the last 3 years and going forward. I’ve taken noticed, I’ve heard similar thoughts from other WO captains as well. Most feeling as tho they’re doing a lot of teaching/guiding/mentoring ON THE LINE than they should be. Performing “like” a LCA’s on IOE along with associated career risks, but without the pay and glory.
Makes WO captains strong pilots if you look at it from a different light. Should not be that way. Not on the line in 121 “crew” environment. Overall I’ll be surprised if APA is not fully aware of the situation playing out. I know they do not want to touch WO flow thru or flow back & quality of WO new hires discussed above (50% or more of all AA NH class) with a 50ft pole.
Strategically thinking, APA members need to be more aware. For the sake of future “crew culture dynamics“ and “voting strength of the membership.”