Originally Posted by
DontLookDown
Out of curiosity, what does everyone think will happen to the flow program if an AA airplane ever crashes and it turns out the pilot flying it had a criminal history, a few checkride failures and only a high school education?
Then the media goes on to explain how that pilot wouldn’t have been hired at Delta or United, but AA has a “flow” program set up that allows pilots with those kinds of backgrounds to still get hired.
That could be a PR nightmare. I think AA is counting on the fact that once the flow program gets established it will take a pilot 8-10 years to flow.
Being able to explain that a pilot has to prove themselves by maintaining a clean record for 10 years would restore everyone’s faith in the AA hiring practices should the worst ever happen. I think that AA will always try to balance making the flow process as long as possible, while keeping it just quick enough to still be an effective recruitment tool
I would venture to say, that pilots WITHOUT a criminal record and WITHOUT check ride failures have crashed airplanes too...just study the accidents involving major airlines over the last 50 years, I am almost certain a majority of those pilots did not have a criminal back ground, check ride failures, and had 4 years degrees...but they still crashed an aircraft too. Just because someone has had set backs in their careers, doesn't mean they will crash an airplane or be any less compentent.