I guess never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence but this was a flagship thing. This was billed as the primary way they were going to open up the profession to all these different groups who just needed a path. They didn't supervise it? They didn't have managers from Chicago on site to protect their interests?

Not everyone is going to make it through training but everyone who has been anywhere near a training department knows the keys to success. Maintain instructor continuity (not too many cooks in the kitchen), make sure the equipment is maintained to prevent excessive downtime, keep the cadence of training as stable as possible to minimize and push through learning plateaus.

Small schools can struggle with that formula because of money. United doesn't have that excuse. If American can pay regional check airmen WB captain salaries, United could have paid flight instructors enough to get the best and make them stay long enough to train the next group. I don't even think that would cost $50/hr based on my surveillance of the industry.

How could they have botched this up so bad? Now it's a PR disaster.