Originally Posted by
Peabody17
jtf,
While I agree entirely with the rest of your post, the part quoted above is potentially misleading. You can’t just take a NJ pilot one day, sprinkle holy water on them and POOF, they’re a qualified instructor the next day. It is an arduous process and would require (amongst other things like curriculum development and FAA approval) removing both potential instructors AND the train-the-trainers from the line while the process is built. This can easily take months and would do nothing for the short-term pain except exacerbate the shortage of pilots on the line. While it is an admirable goal, it should be done carefully and absent a staffing crisis such as exists right now.
I didn't say it would fix the current problem instantly, but there is an LOA that allows FOs to be instructors. Check Airman can also do it and I beleive some did within the last few years. It definitely takes a lot of effort and training to do well, but year after year, FSI consistently falls behind on our training needs. Either they should staff up properly or we should at a minimum train up some of our own to relieve the pressure in times like this. At least our own pilots could go fly the line when not needed in the sims.