Originally Posted by
Adlerdriver
I think you put way too much stock in whatever training program airline X, airline Y or even FedEx has for Captains. You seem to place minimal value on previous PIC experience when it's probably the most important asset any future airline Captain can bring to the table. There's no substitute for it. Removing the PIC requirement is an economic decision by various airline's management who have decided they have no choice. If it is such a great improvement, why didn't they make the change 5, 10 or 20 years ago? Just because those airlines have reached that level of desperation definitely doesn't mean it's the best option. FedEx has always stated they're hiring future Captains because every single one they've hired up to now has already proven they can actually fulfill that role and their experience was part of the qualifications that got them the job. That's not the same thing as flying around in the right seat and somehow getting that command experience by osmosis.
Justifying hiring pilots without PIC time just because they might be able to pass the training necessary to get into a left seat at an airline doesn't negate the fact that they are behind their peers who already have thousands of hours as PIC in a military aircraft, RJ, corporate or ACMI cockpit. Foreign airlines like to put ab initio pilots into the right seat of an airliner with 250 hours, the ability to run a checklist and use the autopilot. That doesn't mean that FO is going to be worth much if the flight goes off script. It definitely doesn't mean it's the best way to cultivate solid FOs and future Captains. Same thing for us. We have the option at the moment to continue hiring pilots who have already proven they can be a Captain. What value does moving away from that requirement bring us? Absolutely none. We're not a training ground for pilots with no PIC experience because we don't need to be. I'll take a new Captain in command of the aircraft on which I happen to be jumpseating who already has plenty of experience as PIC any day over someone who is using that flight for OJT.
You hit the nail on the head.
In my Indoc class at AA this month....EVERY SINGLE PERSON there had TPIC experience. Even though HR has the ability to hire zero TPIC people it is still the exception. Even AA is hiring with the mentality that you are a captain from day 1. People are getting hired at the "Big 4" with no PIC time, but they are still the exception and not the rule. The market isn't short on pilots, the market is short on captains and people who can make the jump to the left seat quickly.