What are the requirements to become a check airmen? I understand everyone wants to move on, and I do too eventually, but if the company needs more check airmen, what do they like to see in a candidate? Do you have to get in good with the ‘in-crowd?’ If that’s the case, I won’t bother applying for the position once eligible, but I’d like to eventually be in a position to help sign off new FO’s and help the company in any way I can.

I feel like everyone is very starry-eyed and eager to move onto a major right now, and that really, really is great, as I said I do too. But the industry is just shooting itself in the foot with the way things are moving. It’s not looking very good. Once the music stops, and it likely will later this year/next year, those people moving on to majors right now are potential furlough bait come recession time. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I can see a recession on the horizon. At best, I think the shortage of pilots and the numbers of retirements will still keep things moving a little, but the movement will slow substantially, allowing more companies to catch up with hiring and become better staffed. At worst, things could turn out the way it did in 08/09, hopefully not though. We need more people to step up to the plate and get into positions in the training department/Check airmen since we are losing so many of them. But on the same token, I can see many many people not wanting to do that, and quite honestly why would they if delta or United calls?

This whole situation is good and bad. Its great for those moving on, assuming the economy still holds up for awhile. It’s bad for those still at regionals, especially the ones still in training like myself, as we slowly watch our companies fall by the wayside. And if it gets to the point where we have too few people to train new FO’s, then what? This model will no longer be sustainable. I mean it’s nobody’s fault, there’s so many opportunities available now that weren’t there before. It’s creating massive amounts of movement in the industry, especially the regionals, but it’s simultaneously going to cause the regional industry to implode. It’s great for the majors, but it will decimate the regionals.