I won’t say that is the intent, however, to answer your Questions.
Q1. Yes, it is happening. At my old regional shop, there were a few APDs out there busting folks for little stuff or a certain demographic of pilots failing with a certain APD (Military Rotor guys being busted by a certain individual). Pattern and trends don’t line.
Q2, I am not going to say that it is a strategic maneuver by the regionals to hold guys back. But it wouldn’t surprise me about GoJet.
If a regional trying to hold folks back, there other means. I know of other shops and my previous one loving to throw letters into ones files to delay one’s ability to flow by 2 years.
I will say that the training at the regionals aren’t great in comparison to Mainline or ACMI. The training environment at a Major, LCC, or ACMI is definitely more relaxed in terms of how the training department treats their new hires or folks in training/upgrades vs the regionals. It’s not even close. As a result, the quality of training and output at the regionals aren’t great…..